To park the return car, take the Greenfield exit off 101 south of Salinas and head west on Elm St. This turns into Arroyo Seco Rd. Follow this road until it crosses the creek on a metal bridge. Bear left on the next two junctions and continue straight to the end of the road. Park the second car at the end of the paved road, past the resort and past Arroyo Seco Campground. There is a gate that blocks the road. There is a parking lot right by that gate. This is the beginning of the closed Indians Rd that used to go to Santa Lucia Memorial in ancient days. It takes 25 minutes from Greenfield to the end of the road.

Now you need to start hiking from Santa Lucia Memorial. To get there, head back to Greenfield and the 101 freeway (direction south). Exit at the Jolon Rd exit of King City and head west. Follow the signs for Fort Hunter Ligget that will make you turn right into Mission Rd. See directions for the Junipero Serra Peak trailhead.

Count on almost two hours in order to drop one car at the Arroyo Seco Station and drive to the Memorial Park.

The hike starts right across the road at the Indians forest station. There is no sign indicating what trail it is, but it is the Santa Lucia trail. Initially the trail crosses a few meadows, then it becomes progressively steeper. A sign has the distance to Arroyo Seco Rd. Continue about another hour and you get to a second sign. This one is the point where you would turn right if you were climbing Junipero Serra Peak.

From the junction between the trail coming from Santa Lucia Memorial Camp (Indians forest station) and the trail that goes to Last Chance Camp, the route starts right behind the sign (and may be difficult to spot). The "trail" heads down and then up on the ridge to the northwest. This is one of the most intense moments of bushwhacking. Luckily no poison oak. Since your head is constantly being hit by very dense (and occasionally sharp) vegetation, it is a good idea to wear a hat, long sleeves and long pants. The trail has collapsed in several places, although it only takes a few seconds to figure out where it should continue. There are a couple of ravines that one has to traverse crawling on all fours. Eventually the trail becomes a bit more passable, and heads almost straight uphill. You can actually keep your head up for a while. Eventually it reaches an opening at the top of the ridge. This is probably the single best view of the hike, because you can see where you came from as well as where you heading to: the canyon of the roaring creek below. From this point one can also see the meadow by the creek, that i incorrectly assumed to be Last Chance camp (N36.1724, W121.4632), about 10 kms from Arroyo Seco Camp.

After a few more devastating bushwhacking efforts, one reaches that point, the meadow that i assumed to be Last Chance camp. There are clear signs of people camping there. From this meadow on, the route is marked by colossal cairns as it crosses a few dry creeks (tributaries of the main creek that roars on your left). At some point the cairns disappear. You are likely to get lost here. The trail is heading northwest along the promontory parallel to the creek, between 100 and 300 meters from the creek (right handside of the creek as you head downstream). After a while the trail's location should become obvious: high enough to avoid the thickest vegetation, just where the ravine becomes too steep. Look for branches that have been obviously cut with human tools (alas, a long time ago) and the rare ribbons tied to the low branches of the manzanitas. (We hiked this section in march 2008 and may have left quite a bit of footprints). Alas, poison oak becomes more and more frequent.

Another wide meadow appears and here you are likely to lose the trail again. Shortly afterwards, the trail crosses a creek for the last time. Now the trail is a real trail. This is approximately where the waterfalls are. The falls are located on the other side of the canyon. From this point till the end, the trail is in good conditions. (Last Chance Camp should be the meadow at about 36.1872, 121.4703). There is a junction marked with a cryptic sign for "Cawatre trail". If you head for the Cawatre trail, the trail plunges down into the canyon towards Arroyo Seco Camp (4 kms). If you continue straight towards the "Road" (as it is marked on the sign), the trail heads up steeply for about 1.5 kms until it hits the Indians Rd that is closed to vehicles. Turn right and you'll pass by the slide that caused the road to be closed. The road is a much easier hike, but beware that it winds around so much that you are multiplying the distance by a factor of 2.5. It is 10 kms from this point to the Arroyo Seco Camp. The only advantage of taking the road is that you can't miss your car parked right at the beginning of that road.

As of march 2008, there was a $7 parking fee at the Arroyo Seco Camp but no parking fees at the Santa Lucia Memorial Camp. Camping in the national forest is free as long as your car is parked properly. There are restrooms at Santa Lucia Memorial Camp (but i couldn't find any water). There are much nicer facilities at Arroyo Seco Camp, including water and showers.

Milestones for a one-way hike from Santa Lucia trailhead to Junipero Serra Peak to Arroyo Seco ranger station (in parenthesis the 2008 times):

• First sign on Santa Lucia trail 3.5 km
• Fork (Santa Lucia trail to Last Chance Camp and trail to summit of Junipero Serra Peak) 7km
• Junipero Serra Peak 10 km (3.5 hours)
• Back to the fork 13 km (4.5 hours)
• First meadow 24 km (8 hours)
• Last creek crossing (11 hours) and waterfalls (11 hours 15')
• Cawatre Trail junction 31 km (11.5h)
• Arroyo Seco ranger station 35 km (12.5h)
• or (if you continue straight at the Cawatre junction):
• Indians Rd 32.5 km (12 hours)
• Arroyo Seco ranger station 42 km (14.5h)