Pine Ridge Trail

[gfelsman]

Date Hiked: October 17, 2020
General Condition: Clear (no obstacles and tread well defined)

*** Volunteer VWA/USFS Ranger/Trail Crew Report ***

Forest/Trail Status: CLOSED, Los Padres Monterey Ranger District is closed per Forest Order 05-07-51-20-22

Current Fire Restrictions: No Campfires, No Stoves in backcountry. Cold Camping Only.

With the Monterey District Ranger Forest still closed Volunteer VWA/USFS Rangers continue to prepare for its reopening. Today they repaired the Wilderness Boundary Sign at the upper end of the Pine Ridge Trail.

As always do your part to protect your Forest. Leave a place nicer than you found it. Pack out all your belongings and trash.

For more information about the Volunteer VWA/USFS Ranger Program and the VWA visit http://www.ventanawild.org.

For the latest updated information, be sure to check the Los Padres National Forest Website.
https://www.fs.usda.gov/lpnf/

[AaronP]

Date Hiked: September 1, 2020
General Condition: Passable (some brush and/or deadfalls, tread evident)

Hiked from Tassajara Rd to Pine Falls before the closure order was in affect. We could see from the top of the first ridge that the Dolan fire had jumped over Marble Peak and into the Lost Valley Area. The trail from the road to the top of the ridge is starting to encroach into the trail but from there down to Jacks Cabin was fairly clear. At Jack's cabin we noticed something had broken into Jack's shed there and strewn miscellaneous tools, cans of oil, MREs, and rags about just behind the cabin. The culprit was obvious after we noticed evidence of bear scats and claw marks on the shed itself. It's going to be quiet the job cleaning all of this up and fixing the shed.

[Snatchcutterz]

Date Hiked: August 1, 2020
General Condition: Passable (some brush and/or deadfalls, tread evident)

China to the divide is clear wilderness freeway. Divide camp to pine ridge camp is a little brushy with a few developing snatches. Pine ridge to redwood is mostly clear till the lower section right above redwood. The trail still has a few nasty old snatches on it but its mostly clear, tread is pretty washed out and still needs work. The trail is almost back to passible/ freeway.

[Guest]

Date Hiked: May 18, 2020
General Condition: Passable (some brush and/or deadfalls, tread evident)

Hiked 11 miles to Redwood Camp
China Camp to Church Creek is a wilderness highway
Church Creek to Pine Ridge Camp is passable. It's fairly overgrown and there are some deadfalls.
Pine Ridge Camp to Redwood Camp is quite overgrown. There's some tread but it can be difficult to follow. Also a couple of washouts that are mildly treacherous. Passable but difficult.

[taylorg353]

Date Hiked: May 16, 2020
General Condition: Passable (some brush and/or deadfalls, tread evident)

Short weekender into Pine Valley from China Camp trail head. The trail is in good shape for most of first 3.5 miles to Church Creek Trail Junction, however there is some overgrowth on the trail, particularly near the top of the ridge. Trail down into the valley is well traveled however it is becoming moderately to heavily overgrown with brush. The trail down to Pine Falls is even more overgrown, with substantial fallen trees but is still passable. Jack's cabin is still lookin' good.

Hey Captain George, what was the water situation at Pine Valley? Was the river flowing, or did you have to go to the spring?

[Captain George]

Date Hiked: May 16, 2020
General Condition: Passable (some brush and/or deadfalls, tread evident)

Short weekender into Pine Valley from China Camp trail head. The trail is in good shape for most of first 3.5 miles to Church Creek Trail Junction, however there is some overgrowth on the trail, particularly near the top of the ridge. Trail down into the valley is well traveled however it is becoming moderately to heavily overgrown with brush [Ed. Note- this is the Carmel River Trail). The trail down to Pine Falls is even more overgrown, with substantial fallen trees but is still passable [Ed. Note- This is a use trail, there is no trail to the falls].

[jfelts]

Date Hiked: January 7, 2020
General Condition: Passable (some brush and/or deadfalls, tread evident)

Church Creek Divide to Pine Ridge Saddle and to Campsite.

Evident erosion on a burned creek drainage before divide camp. Tread still momentarily in tact.

Counted 13 downed trees before Bear Basin Jct. A mix of oak, manzanita, mostly charr. Brush is non issue for most this section, with little issue. Didn’t seem to burn as much on this shaded, often moist N facing slope.

A section of widow makers starts right before saddle that starts the Tassajara creek drainage to the S.
I counted around 6 downed trees before the saddle. Brush was a non issue. Most severely burned portion of the trail.

The section from the saddle downhill to Pine Ridge Camp is looking solid. With the only down trees right before the camp, deadfall maybe 1ft width.

Spring and creek across from camp had a very strong flow.

[pantilat]

Date Hiked: November 10, 2019
General Condition: Passable (some brush and/or deadfalls, tread evident)

From China Camp to Church Divide: Clear. No blowdowns, but some light brush developing in a few spots where the post-fire regrowth is vigorous.

From Church Divide to Bear Basin Connector: Passable. There's about a dozen blowdowns on this stretch, some new and some old (from last winter/spring). Most are step-overs. A couple are messy with a short work around off the covered tread. One large burnt ponderosa trunk (3+ ft thick) is new and is the most difficult to surmount. The tread is characteristically thin in a couple spots west of the Carmel River headwaters with leaf litter and gravel build up. There's water still water flowing near Divide Camp and also the reliable Carmel River headwaters crossing has plentiful water.

[seagoat]

Date Hiked: May 10, 2019
General Condition: Passable (some brush and/or deadfalls, tread evident)

Pine Ridge Trail, between Big Sur Trail and Pine Ridge Camp Trail
Trail: Passable. Gets progressively better as you go along. Some heavy brush sections and blow-downs but also many open sections or areas where chaparral is shorter.

Pine Ridge Trail, between Pine Ridge Camp Trail and Black Cone Trail
Trail:Wilderness Freeway. Very open. Recently (last year) maintained by Ace crew. Camp sign replaced with legible writing.

Pine Ridge Camp Trail between Pine Ridge Camp and Black Cone Trail
Trail: Wilderness Freeway. Cleared same time as previous entry. Ace crew.

[scotcal]

Date Hiked: May 24, 2019
General Condition: Impassable (completely overgrown or tread obliterated)

Pine Ridge camp to Redwood Canyon

Plenty of good trail info to this point. At the junction, the trail virtually vanishes. Its flagged with ping plastic, but flags are strating to deteriorate. The growth is well over head height in many places with the tread barely visible. We worked our way down the ridge to the start of the final descent into redwood canyon before pulling the plug and backtracking.
Theres so much deadfall at the lower elevations that we were forced to crawl through the overgrowth. No campsite is wprth that kind of effort.
I would venture to say currently impassable, but everyone has a different perception of suffering.....

We backtracked uphill through the overgrowth to Pine Ridge camp, which btw is an amazing camp. The spring has a pipe mortared in for sub surface water. Filtered of course.

We hiked back into pine valley via the bear basin trail. This trail has a fair amount of overgrowth and deadfall. Some of the deadfall is big and messy, requiring detours through the brush.

Ticks are sparse, deerflys are out but slow.
The big question is, how to get the thick layer of plant resin off our clothing.