Camping the Santa Lucia?

July 18, 2005 11:00 AM

Big Sur and the Ventana Wilderness offer limitless camping potential. I'm new in the area and would appreciate the recommendation of experienced troopers. Specifically: drive-to primitive no rules backcountry with vista - surface running water a big plus. Whither goest man?
posted by saknussem to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (3 answers total)

Check out ventanawild dot org. the forums and trail updates are usually good. There are some good spots along los burros rd,(7/10th mi.N.of Gorda) sycamore flats has the water but sometimes there are a few people around, nearby willow creek requires a short hike from the road but is a great place to camp,but the steam is not for drinking.Oh I forgot to mention poison oak, watch out! it is everywhere.
posted by hortense at 11:53 AM on July 18, 2005

I'm not sure exactly what you're looking for here--you can't drive into a designated wilderness area, and those places certainly aren't "no rules backcountry". You'll most likely need some sort of permit to stay overnight within Ventana or any other wilderness. Otherwise, your best approach to Ventana is probably up Palo Colorado road, which heads east from highway 1 about 13 miles miles south of Carmel, and a couple hundred yards south of the Rocky Point restaurant. A major trailhead into the wilderness lies at the far eastern end of the road. I haven't gone camping there myself but I did pick up the official map, which cautions about scarcity of water. Despite the presence of intermittant streams at the bottoms of canyons and valleys, I would personally not rely on obtaining water within the wilderness area; especially not this time of year.

It appears hortense's experience is a little better than mine, though.
posted by LionIndex at 12:12 PM on July 18, 2005

All the rules are at NFS email me for some advice outside the rules.
posted by hortense at 2:17 PM on July 18, 2005