Date Hiked: May 3, 2026
General Condition: Difficult (brushy and/or many deadfalls, faint tread)
I backpacked the Stone Ridge Trail out of Hare Canyon. From Hare Canyon to the top of the ridge is passable. Trail gets faint in some areas but easy to stay on track. However, once you begin the decent into the next canyon (Limekiln) conditions change to difficult-impassable. Dead fall, fallen trees, and overgrown trail is the norm. You will loose the trail several times, but with a gps app it was easy to get back on track. Once you cross Limekiln creek and begin your accent, conditions worsen. Endless fallen trees and deadfall, requiring you to take off your pack to climb over or under. I began to feel like a guerilla solider tromping through dense jungle. Once you reach the oak woodlands the trail is completely overgrown and impassable. However, you can navigate around the section and meet up with the trail again (with GPS assistance). After that it is all clear until you meet the intersection with Twitchel Ladder. At that point my friend and I decided to abort our mission to Goat camp as conditions were too rough. We opted to head down Twitchel Ladder and camped at lower elevation for the night. Stone Ridge is doable, but a GPS and durable pants/longsleeves a must. Obviously the poisin oak was everywhere. Incredible scenery, but definitely not for everyone. I would not recomend doing this solo as too many oportunies for injury etc.
Stone Ridge Trail
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jarofb
Re: Stone Ridge Trail (Twitchell Junction to Limekiln Creek)
Date Hiked: November 23, 2025
General Condition: Difficult (brushy and/or many deadfalls, faint tread)
Hiked the stone ridge connector trail from the twitchell junction to limekiln creek. After leaving the side of the mountain, you quickly descend into a gully with a completely missing trail. The trail can be quickly found again, but its covered in trees and overgrown completely. After this, you begin steeply descending towards the creek. In this section, the trail had nearly completely eroded, is overgrown, and is littered with trees. I needed water, so I did it, basically falling down the mountainside to get the water I needed.
If you have a choice, probably don't do this, but if you need to, try and do it eastbound. If you have decent clothes and are adventurous, you can basically cut the whole steep downhill section into the creek. Going up was a pain, and wouldn't say its impossible, but its miserable, and easy to get off trail.
General Condition: Difficult (brushy and/or many deadfalls, faint tread)
Hiked the stone ridge connector trail from the twitchell junction to limekiln creek. After leaving the side of the mountain, you quickly descend into a gully with a completely missing trail. The trail can be quickly found again, but its covered in trees and overgrown completely. After this, you begin steeply descending towards the creek. In this section, the trail had nearly completely eroded, is overgrown, and is littered with trees. I needed water, so I did it, basically falling down the mountainside to get the water I needed.
If you have a choice, probably don't do this, but if you need to, try and do it eastbound. If you have decent clothes and are adventurous, you can basically cut the whole steep downhill section into the creek. Going up was a pain, and wouldn't say its impossible, but its miserable, and easy to get off trail.
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hiker_girl
Re: Stone Ridge Trail (between Gamboa and Goat Camp)
Date Hiked: April 12, 2025
General Condition: Impassable (completely overgrown or tread obliterated)
Could not stay on trail, ended up scrambling down a drainage and contracting poison oak. Do not do this. It was so scary.
General Condition: Impassable (completely overgrown or tread obliterated)
Could not stay on trail, ended up scrambling down a drainage and contracting poison oak. Do not do this. It was so scary.
Stone Ridge Trail (but also including Twitchell Road and Elevator)
Date Hiked: January 19, 2025
General Condition: Passable (some brush and/or deadfalls, tread evident)
I decided to revisit my "3 Forks Limekiln" route which goes between Limekiln State Park and Kirk Creek Camp and traverses all 3 forks of Limekiln Creek (for the first time since before Soberanes fire). This trip we took the "clockwise" route which starts at Limekiln State Park and follows Alvin Trail|Twitchell Road|Twitchell Elevator|Stone Ridge Trail|Kirk Creek Trail. I will report on the Alvin Trail and Kirk Creek Trails in their respective threads.
PRELIMINARY ADVICE--I STRONGLY ADVISE THAT YOU DO NOT DO THIS ROUTE UNLESS YOU HAVE AN ACCURATE GPS TRACK LIKE THE ONE THAT IS POSTED ON BIGSURTRAILMAPS.NET
Section: Twitchell Road from the top of the Alvin Trail to the "end" of the road at the bottom of the Twitchell Elevator: Clear. The State Park (I assume) has cut back the perennially encroaching high brush along the first 1/4 mile section and the uphill from the West Fork Limekiln crossing.
Section: Twitchell Elevator to Stone Ridge Trail at the "Apex" (where the Stone Ridge Trail makes its pronounced "U" at the center of the Stone Ridge and where the Sea to Sky route up to Twin and Cone Peaks continues its climb): Clear but STEEEEP (hence the name). On most trips I've take here there is usually a single prominent track that you can follow, on this occasion there were numerous such tracks but ultimately you just need to generally stay near the center of the ridge as it climbs and then high up as you approach a steep rocky face look for a track that goes left and takes you around the back of that rocky face and then climbs up to the Apex.
Section: Stone Ridge Trail, grassy section before the sharp 90 degree left turn down into the Middle Fork Drainage: Passable to Clear. This section starts clear but as you round the corner and start descending the grass obscures some sections and there are several slipouts on some of the steep sidehills.
Section: Stone Ridge Trail on descent to Middle Fork Crossing: Difficult! As you start down there a several spots where the trail disappears and some trailfinding is required and there is one large area of blowdowns where as far as I could tell the trail is completely covered, I used my GPS track to pass around that and regain the trail further ahead, but there are multiple blowdowns/diversions/encroaching brush sections/tread slipouts, in particular along the steep sidehill before the sharp switchback down to the creek crossing, that last switchback down the the creek is slightly easier as tread is always visible but there are obstructions here as well.
Section: Middle Fork Crossing to Hare Ridge: Passable to Difficult. The lower sections are in the "passable" range as this is more forested with less low brush, but as you get higher you will encounter more blowdowns and diversions and slipouts.
Section: Hare Ridge to Vicente Flat: Clear to Passable. This section I would call generally clear but on some of the steep narrow gully crossings the tread it a bit treacherous.
General Condition: Passable (some brush and/or deadfalls, tread evident)
I decided to revisit my "3 Forks Limekiln" route which goes between Limekiln State Park and Kirk Creek Camp and traverses all 3 forks of Limekiln Creek (for the first time since before Soberanes fire). This trip we took the "clockwise" route which starts at Limekiln State Park and follows Alvin Trail|Twitchell Road|Twitchell Elevator|Stone Ridge Trail|Kirk Creek Trail. I will report on the Alvin Trail and Kirk Creek Trails in their respective threads.
PRELIMINARY ADVICE--I STRONGLY ADVISE THAT YOU DO NOT DO THIS ROUTE UNLESS YOU HAVE AN ACCURATE GPS TRACK LIKE THE ONE THAT IS POSTED ON BIGSURTRAILMAPS.NET
Section: Twitchell Road from the top of the Alvin Trail to the "end" of the road at the bottom of the Twitchell Elevator: Clear. The State Park (I assume) has cut back the perennially encroaching high brush along the first 1/4 mile section and the uphill from the West Fork Limekiln crossing.
Section: Twitchell Elevator to Stone Ridge Trail at the "Apex" (where the Stone Ridge Trail makes its pronounced "U" at the center of the Stone Ridge and where the Sea to Sky route up to Twin and Cone Peaks continues its climb): Clear but STEEEEP (hence the name). On most trips I've take here there is usually a single prominent track that you can follow, on this occasion there were numerous such tracks but ultimately you just need to generally stay near the center of the ridge as it climbs and then high up as you approach a steep rocky face look for a track that goes left and takes you around the back of that rocky face and then climbs up to the Apex.
Section: Stone Ridge Trail, grassy section before the sharp 90 degree left turn down into the Middle Fork Drainage: Passable to Clear. This section starts clear but as you round the corner and start descending the grass obscures some sections and there are several slipouts on some of the steep sidehills.
Section: Stone Ridge Trail on descent to Middle Fork Crossing: Difficult! As you start down there a several spots where the trail disappears and some trailfinding is required and there is one large area of blowdowns where as far as I could tell the trail is completely covered, I used my GPS track to pass around that and regain the trail further ahead, but there are multiple blowdowns/diversions/encroaching brush sections/tread slipouts, in particular along the steep sidehill before the sharp switchback down to the creek crossing, that last switchback down the the creek is slightly easier as tread is always visible but there are obstructions here as well.
Section: Middle Fork Crossing to Hare Ridge: Passable to Difficult. The lower sections are in the "passable" range as this is more forested with less low brush, but as you get higher you will encounter more blowdowns and diversions and slipouts.
Section: Hare Ridge to Vicente Flat: Clear to Passable. This section I would call generally clear but on some of the steep narrow gully crossings the tread it a bit treacherous.
Re: Stone Ridge Trail
Date Hiked: December 15, 2024
General Condition: Difficult (brushy and/or many deadfalls, faint tread)
Between Vicente Camp and the Stone Ridge route/Twitchell Elevator intersection: Most of this is passable but there's just enough blowdowns, brush and lost tread in a couple spots that that a difficult rating is prudent. I highly recommend downloading the GPX track of the trail from BigSurTrailMap.net. Expect a lot of encroaching deerweed and poor tread on the climb out of Vicente Flat. There a plenty of old and some new blowdowns here too. Rounding the ridge down and into the Middle Fork Limekiln there are several large blowdowns and some brush encroachment. Ascending out of Limekiln Creek to Stone Ridge there are some large blowdowns on the long switchback. Before exiting the canopy there is a section where the tread is gone. The grass section before Stone Ridge is more obvious, but here again there are some lost and/or poor tread issues.
General Condition: Difficult (brushy and/or many deadfalls, faint tread)
Between Vicente Camp and the Stone Ridge route/Twitchell Elevator intersection: Most of this is passable but there's just enough blowdowns, brush and lost tread in a couple spots that that a difficult rating is prudent. I highly recommend downloading the GPX track of the trail from BigSurTrailMap.net. Expect a lot of encroaching deerweed and poor tread on the climb out of Vicente Flat. There a plenty of old and some new blowdowns here too. Rounding the ridge down and into the Middle Fork Limekiln there are several large blowdowns and some brush encroachment. Ascending out of Limekiln Creek to Stone Ridge there are some large blowdowns on the long switchback. Before exiting the canopy there is a section where the tread is gone. The grass section before Stone Ridge is more obvious, but here again there are some lost and/or poor tread issues.
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sangeetkhalsa
Re: Stone Ridge Trail
Date Hiked: January 28, 2024
General Condition: Passable (some brush and/or deadfalls, tread evident)
Hiked from Vicente Flat to Middle Fork Camp. The first section through the oaks was clear and easy to follow, occasional poison oak on the edges but avoidable. When the trail climbs up into the open scrub the tread progressively becomes narrower and off-kilter, with occasional small blowouts and encroaching deerweed. Long pants advised. Continuing on to the section on the west facing slope there are quite a few brushy deadfalls and fallen tree trunks of various sizes, but easy enough to navigate over, under or around. More poison oak along the trail here, but not too much other shrub encroachment/overgrowth. The creek was flowing well and temp was relatively warm (ie--not freezing!). Otter-hopped up to a big beautiful waterfall further up the creek from Middle Fork Camp!
General Condition: Passable (some brush and/or deadfalls, tread evident)
Hiked from Vicente Flat to Middle Fork Camp. The first section through the oaks was clear and easy to follow, occasional poison oak on the edges but avoidable. When the trail climbs up into the open scrub the tread progressively becomes narrower and off-kilter, with occasional small blowouts and encroaching deerweed. Long pants advised. Continuing on to the section on the west facing slope there are quite a few brushy deadfalls and fallen tree trunks of various sizes, but easy enough to navigate over, under or around. More poison oak along the trail here, but not too much other shrub encroachment/overgrowth. The creek was flowing well and temp was relatively warm (ie--not freezing!). Otter-hopped up to a big beautiful waterfall further up the creek from Middle Fork Camp!
Re: Stone Ridge Trail
Date Hiked: January 13, 2024
General Condition: Difficult (brushy and/or many deadfalls, faint tread)
We "ran" this section from Vicente Flat to the Stone Ridge Firebreak/Spine. For about half of a mile, the trail was a little brushy but solid. Then it was very brushy for awhile, ripping up our shins at a running pace and in shorts. On the descent to Limekiln Creek, it got a little less brushy but there were a lot more trees down, ranging from small diameter but very branchy trees to maybe 12 inch diameter trees. Probably 5-10 downed trees in total. One in particular made following the trail hard for about a minute, but the GPS and general looking around helped solve the puzzle. Overall, tough but not horrible to the creek.
The west side of the creek was a different story. The trail wasn't too hard to follow, but there were so many branchy trees over it that we decided it was more efficient to cut uphill off trail and meet back up with the trail later. So that was what we did, and the last 0.7 of the trail before Stone Ridge was pretty solid and clear. We're not sure if we made the right call or not, but we didn't regret it.
Overall, kind of awful but definitely beautiful and worth it (once, or at least until it gets maintained again, if it does ever).
General Condition: Difficult (brushy and/or many deadfalls, faint tread)
We "ran" this section from Vicente Flat to the Stone Ridge Firebreak/Spine. For about half of a mile, the trail was a little brushy but solid. Then it was very brushy for awhile, ripping up our shins at a running pace and in shorts. On the descent to Limekiln Creek, it got a little less brushy but there were a lot more trees down, ranging from small diameter but very branchy trees to maybe 12 inch diameter trees. Probably 5-10 downed trees in total. One in particular made following the trail hard for about a minute, but the GPS and general looking around helped solve the puzzle. Overall, tough but not horrible to the creek.
The west side of the creek was a different story. The trail wasn't too hard to follow, but there were so many branchy trees over it that we decided it was more efficient to cut uphill off trail and meet back up with the trail later. So that was what we did, and the last 0.7 of the trail before Stone Ridge was pretty solid and clear. We're not sure if we made the right call or not, but we didn't regret it.
Overall, kind of awful but definitely beautiful and worth it (once, or at least until it gets maintained again, if it does ever).
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Danny DeGeorge
- Posts: 1
- Joined: Mon Sep 12, 2022 8:14 am
Re: Stone Ridge Trail
Date Hiked: October 28, 2022
General Condition: Passable (some brush and/or deadfalls, tread evident)
Hiked from Twitchel Use Trail to Ojito Camp. Use trail was easily passable.
Stone Ridge Trail to Goat Camp: Passable as well, did some lopping and removed a couple dead falls to make the trail more pleasant.
Goat Camp to Ojito Camp Trail intersection: Passable, Lopped encroaching brush and removed deadfall. This section has a couple bad washouts towards the top that can make finding the trail a little difficult but definitely passable.
Trail to Ojito Camp: was pretty much impassible, however we did a rough cut down to the camp so it is now passable
General Condition: Passable (some brush and/or deadfalls, tread evident)
Hiked from Twitchel Use Trail to Ojito Camp. Use trail was easily passable.
Stone Ridge Trail to Goat Camp: Passable as well, did some lopping and removed a couple dead falls to make the trail more pleasant.
Goat Camp to Ojito Camp Trail intersection: Passable, Lopped encroaching brush and removed deadfall. This section has a couple bad washouts towards the top that can make finding the trail a little difficult but definitely passable.
Trail to Ojito Camp: was pretty much impassible, however we did a rough cut down to the camp so it is now passable
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klucas
Re: Stone Ridge Trail
Date Hiked: June 21, 2023
General Condition: Passable (some brush and/or deadfalls, tread evident)
Hiked from Vicente Flats to the Middle Fork of Limekiln Creek. My intent was to get to the Sea to Sky junction and camp there, but I turned back at the Middle Fork of Limekiln Creek due to poor trail conditions.
From Vicente Flats to the ridge between Hare Canyon and the Middle Limekiln---clear to passable.
There is a ton of encroaching deerweed, often you have to walk on top of it. It appears some hikers have gone before me, because it was stomped down in many places. The tread is starting to wear out on the downslope side in many places, but it is almost always very clear where it is. There is a lot of encroaching branches that are more of an annoyance than a real obstacle. Poison oak in many places. There are a number of fallen trees, mostly small, that should be removed. Hand saw and loppers could suffice for most of it, but a big saw might be helpful on a couple of them. Just outside of Vicente Flats there is a big fallen oak over the trail with branches everywhere. In this section of trail, all the treefalls had pathways around them.
From the ridge between Hare Canyon and the Middle Limekiln---passable to difficult/impassable.
I emphatically recommend using GPX if you dare to connect between the Middle Fork and Sea to Sky junction. Going east to west, the tread is visible and easy to follow at first, but as you descend, it gets brushier, and there are more treefalls, all of which require climbing, ducking, or crawling. There are false game trails that can easily divert you off trail. Exercise patience and routefinding. The ground is steep, slippery, brushy, burned logs can break underfoot, etc. Switchbacks become faint as you approach the bottom of the canyon where there are redwoods and tanoaks. The bottom of the gorge has a lot of burn damage and fallen trees. A large treefall that covers two switchbacks can be circumnavigated, but be warned, soon after that there is a switchback with visible tread that seemingly fades into nothing. The trail apparently dissolves about 100 ft above the creek. I descended to the creek in search of the lost tread, but there were many false paths, natural benches, eroded slopes. The combination of Dolan Fire and the rainy winter has made crossing the Middle Fork of Limekiln Creek trecherous. I was unfamiliar with this location, and I did not upload GPX before going, so I did not know where the old trail was. It may still be there, and I simply missed it from all the brush, etc. Nevertheless, I recommend only attempting this section if you have plenty of experience in the Ventana backcountry, have plenty of daylight, GPX, and understand the importance of being able to self-rescue in the event something goes wrong. After an hour of searching, I turned back and camped on the ridge between Middle Limekiln and Hare Canyon.
Otherwise, the trail was golden and purple and pink and white with flowers. Deerweed in massive bloom and many flower blooms have been unseasonably prolonged thanks to the cool spring.
Stone Ridge Trail is truly a gem. I want to echo the previous report user Hoser, it deserves trail crew love. Probably 40+ man-hours on the deerweed and more than that on the treefalls and missing tread.
General Condition: Passable (some brush and/or deadfalls, tread evident)
Hiked from Vicente Flats to the Middle Fork of Limekiln Creek. My intent was to get to the Sea to Sky junction and camp there, but I turned back at the Middle Fork of Limekiln Creek due to poor trail conditions.
From Vicente Flats to the ridge between Hare Canyon and the Middle Limekiln---clear to passable.
There is a ton of encroaching deerweed, often you have to walk on top of it. It appears some hikers have gone before me, because it was stomped down in many places. The tread is starting to wear out on the downslope side in many places, but it is almost always very clear where it is. There is a lot of encroaching branches that are more of an annoyance than a real obstacle. Poison oak in many places. There are a number of fallen trees, mostly small, that should be removed. Hand saw and loppers could suffice for most of it, but a big saw might be helpful on a couple of them. Just outside of Vicente Flats there is a big fallen oak over the trail with branches everywhere. In this section of trail, all the treefalls had pathways around them.
From the ridge between Hare Canyon and the Middle Limekiln---passable to difficult/impassable.
I emphatically recommend using GPX if you dare to connect between the Middle Fork and Sea to Sky junction. Going east to west, the tread is visible and easy to follow at first, but as you descend, it gets brushier, and there are more treefalls, all of which require climbing, ducking, or crawling. There are false game trails that can easily divert you off trail. Exercise patience and routefinding. The ground is steep, slippery, brushy, burned logs can break underfoot, etc. Switchbacks become faint as you approach the bottom of the canyon where there are redwoods and tanoaks. The bottom of the gorge has a lot of burn damage and fallen trees. A large treefall that covers two switchbacks can be circumnavigated, but be warned, soon after that there is a switchback with visible tread that seemingly fades into nothing. The trail apparently dissolves about 100 ft above the creek. I descended to the creek in search of the lost tread, but there were many false paths, natural benches, eroded slopes. The combination of Dolan Fire and the rainy winter has made crossing the Middle Fork of Limekiln Creek trecherous. I was unfamiliar with this location, and I did not upload GPX before going, so I did not know where the old trail was. It may still be there, and I simply missed it from all the brush, etc. Nevertheless, I recommend only attempting this section if you have plenty of experience in the Ventana backcountry, have plenty of daylight, GPX, and understand the importance of being able to self-rescue in the event something goes wrong. After an hour of searching, I turned back and camped on the ridge between Middle Limekiln and Hare Canyon.
Otherwise, the trail was golden and purple and pink and white with flowers. Deerweed in massive bloom and many flower blooms have been unseasonably prolonged thanks to the cool spring.
Stone Ridge Trail is truly a gem. I want to echo the previous report user Hoser, it deserves trail crew love. Probably 40+ man-hours on the deerweed and more than that on the treefalls and missing tread.
Re: Stone Ridge Trail
Date Hiked: July 2, 2022
General Condition: Passable (some brush and/or deadfalls, tread evident)
Hiked from Kirk Creek Campground to Vicente Flats. There is a very large redwood over the trail but it is not difficult to duck under. Removing this redwood would cause more damage than leaving it. From Vicente Flats out to Hare Ridge there are no dead falls on the trail.
There is a lot of plant growth on the uphill side of the trail causing people to walk beside the original trail. The original trail is much flatter than the new off trail paths most of the time. This trail is in serious need of some trail crew love. Still, a wonderful hike as usual!
General Condition: Passable (some brush and/or deadfalls, tread evident)
Hiked from Kirk Creek Campground to Vicente Flats. There is a very large redwood over the trail but it is not difficult to duck under. Removing this redwood would cause more damage than leaving it. From Vicente Flats out to Hare Ridge there are no dead falls on the trail.
There is a lot of plant growth on the uphill side of the trail causing people to walk beside the original trail. The original trail is much flatter than the new off trail paths most of the time. This trail is in serious need of some trail crew love. Still, a wonderful hike as usual!
