Hiking from Bottchers Gap to Pfeiffer park
with notes on how to find Vado and Launtz campsBack to hiking in California | Back to Bay Area hikes | Back to travel } Pictures
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Warning: this is not for the faint of heart.
This is a one-way hike that requires leaving one car at Pfeiffer Park and driving with the other car to Bottchers Gap. The main attraction is Mt Manuel, that is reputed to have the best view of Big Sur (but not in summer because of the fog). A cross-country detour to Pico Blanco is also possible (although not legal, apparently). Trailhead: the end of Palo Colorado Rd. Take Hwy 1 south from Carmel, and (after about 20 kms) turn left into Palo Colorado Rd (just after Rocky Point Rd). The road is paved but very narrow and winding. The campground is at the very end. There is a fee ($12 in 2008) to camp. The trailhead is the very visible fire road (usually gated). Trailend: Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park. The Mt Manuel trail is called Gorge Trail at the very beginning (pass the ranger station to the left and go to the end of the road).
The driving distance between the two trailheads is about 35 kms
(23 kms from the Palo Colorado turnoff of Highway 1 to Julia Pfeiffer Park and 12kms from the same intersection to Bottchers Gap). Count 45
minutes minimum because Palo Colorado has low speed limits.
From Bottchers Gap the road descends steeply for about 1h45' to the Little
Sur River. This road is open to 4WD vehicles now the lodge is completed, and
you can even reserve parking down there.
If the footbridge is working, it is located behind the chapel. If the
footbridge is closed,
you have to wade the creek (the creekbed is paved, so
no big deal). On the other side a lodge has been built. Walk up to
the lodge and coast it to the left. You should find the sign for the Mt Manuel/ Pfeiffer Park trail.
The trail now climbs steeply towards Pico Blanco, leaving Pico Blanco to the
right. There is one section where the trail may disappears under dead leaves:
just go straight 50 meters until you pick it up again. Now you are heading
east. Look carefully for a sign (my GPS: N36.31984 W121.79889).
That's the fork: to the right you go to
Pico Blanco Camp and (if you take the dirt road) to the Old Coast Rd.
The sign points to the
left for Mt Manuel and Pfeiffer.
That trail has long been gone, completely buried in vegetation.
Continue roughly
straight along the Launtz ridge (more or less southeast). As you follow
the ridge, you are facing a little peak. Your route drops down to the south
(to your right) just before that little peak.
The trail basically coasts this peak to the right.
How you do it depends on how much bushwhacking you want to do. I personally
leave the ridge about 100 meters after the junction sign and head straight
down for the creek, with minimal bushwhacking.
(If hiking this in the other direction, from the South Fork to Launtz Ridge, beware of gaining the Launtz ridge too soon: that ridge is a nasty jungle of deadfalls, poison oak and all sort of thorny shrubs, so you should aim for the Launtz ridge as close as possible to Pico Blanco, avoiding thick vegetation for as long as you can). For the record, the ancient trail was going through the tiny Launtz Creek camp on the north bank of the Launtz creek (N36.30990, W121.79012). If you want to visit this lost camp, it is not difficult. As you are heading upstream, look for the junction between the Launtz and the South Fork creeks (N36.30892 - W121.79137) and turn left into the Launtz creek (this is a tiny creek). There might or might not be water tumbling down this northern tributary. With or without water you will soon be stopped by a waterfall. It is safer to climb the right bank and proceed parallel to the creek for about 200 meters until you find an easy way to descend the right bank. That's the south bank of the Launtz Creek. Cross the creek (even in the rain season it is no more than 2 meters wide) and you should find the Launtz Creek Camp sign on the north bank. This boulder in the creek is a good reference point:
Beware of barbed wire when you enter Launtz camp from the creek. It is submerged in the vegetation but no less damaging to your skin.
An alternative way to get to the South Fork-Launtz creeks junction is to
take the trail to Pico Blanco Camp and leave it at 36.31727,-121.80302 or
36.31743, -121.79697
Back to that intersection of the two creeks, head upstream on the South Fork creek, that now bends south. In front of you there is a long steep canyon that climbs roughly towards the Cabezo Prieto ridge, Post Summit on your right (north). Maps show that the old trail followed the east side of this canyon, a little high above the creek. I found countless sections that seemed to belong to an old trail but it is hard to tell. If you walk up the creek, it can get dangerous and it is very time consuming. Here is what i found in an old map:
As you head up the South Creek you will pass a section with giant redwood trees. After about 30 minutes you will reach the confluence with a creek (that i have always found dry). You can recognize this place because it is a relatively flat area and the water (of the South Creek) is coming down from a tiny layered waterfall. Get on the left side of the dry canyon and you should find a decent trail. It makes sense that the trail would be on the eastern side because the western side has several subcanyons that greatly increase the walking distance (the trail would have to contour each of them). The eastern side is a relatively affordable slope with relatively affordable vegetation.
Note that modern maps do not show this trail at all, and there's a reason
for it:
My map of the camps:
You are basically climbing the left side of the canyon that separates your ridge from the ridge of Post Summit. If you get into any degree of bushwhacking, it probably means you got too close to the creekbed. Move up left. Here the problem is not "no trail" but "too many trails". You will find that you can go up vertical and cross so many use trails (or animal trails). You start right by the creekbed but you need to be about 500 meters away from the creekbed in order to find the next major milestone. That is where you can get on the fire road that runs along the Cabezo Prieto ridge. There is a surreal "Trail" sign in the middle of nowhere (N36.28178 W121.77326) that used to mark the trail when it was still visible. That's where you pick up the very visible fire road (overgrown with wildflowers and tall grass in the spring of 2010, but still very visible). You will get to that sign if you keep to the left of the canyon and never enter the jungle. At some point the foresty terrain will open up to a grassy slope and you will be confronted by a family of tall yuccas. Head straight up and you should see the sign or at least hit the road. If you are lost, just climb Post Summit (the highest thing you can see to your right, towards the ocean) and you'll hit the fire road (it starts at Post Summit, then it rolls down south to a helicopter landing and then it reaches the "Trail" sign). Follow that fire road south along the ridge and you'll reach Mt Manuel. The trail is fairly easy to follow although you might lose it here and there. When the trail disappears, just remember to stay on the ridge heading south. Eventually you will get to the fire outlook of Mt Manuel (an easy reference point is the "billboard": my GPS said N36.26964 W121.76896). If you lost it, the trail is a short distance from that billboard, slightly on the western side of the mountain. Now you should find a much better trail. The only catch is that, as you start descending, the trail begins on the western side but then suddenly switches to the eastern side and it happens precisely at the point were the trail is relatively faint. There is also a trail that continues along the ridge and dead-ends in the middle of nowhere. Now you are safe: the trail goes down to Pfeiffer, although you have to survive an endless number of canyons (the trail contours each and every one). In 2010 this trail was full of deadfalls and some of them quite challenging (if you make a mistake, you may roll down the gorge). While being an official trail, the Mt Manuel trail was in horrible conditions in 2015: if you are doing it after dark, it is not trivial to follow it. When you pass the steps of the trailhead (with a clearly visible sign to Mt Manuel), don't miss the cryptic sign with two arrows: you want to go left here, and it is the smaller of the two trails. This will get you to the Homestead Cabin and then to the paved road (turn right into it) and then to the official trailhead for Mt Manuel. There is a water fountain right next to the sign.
I described the route from Bottchers Gap to Pfeiffer because it makes more sense (lower elevation gain) but in 2010 i actually hiked in the reverse direction (better photos):
Water: always found water in the main creeks (even in the summer of 2014, the century's driest) and at the lodge. Insects: count on just about every insect that can make your life miserable when you are bushwhacking and climbing, notably the flesh-eating horseflies and the ubiquitous ticks. Pico BlancoOne can take a detour to climb Pico Blanco, leaving the trail (if coming from Bottcher's Gap) just before the trail turns left to go to the Pico Blanco Camp fork. It is relatively easy to find routes to the summit that don't involve any bushwhacking. From the top you can descend straight down towards the river heading for a very visible clearning: Pico Blanco Camp is located beyond that clearing by the river. In 2011 (trail conditions vary wildly from year to year): one hour to the wading of the Little Sur, one hour to the top of Launtz ridge, 1.5 hours to the summit of Pico Blanco, 1 hour to Pico Blanco camp. A longer way (but staying on trails) is to take the Pico Blanco Camp trail and then turn right into the fire road that ascends Pico Blanco. However, this seems to be private property, so you are technically trespassing. You might want to check first if you can get a permit (no idea how).Tin House CampAnother detour can be made to Tin House Camp, but the trail is mostly completely obliterated by vegetation. The "trail" (if you can still find it) does *not* follow the bed of the South Fork as some maps show: following the creek is dangerous and time consuming). If you are coming from Pfeiffer, the Tin House "route" splits from the trail to Launtz shortly downhill from the "Trail" sign and heads sharply east, parallel to the South Fork. The canyon is very steep and infested with the worst possible vegetation. Hiking down to the creek is not a good idea. Every now and then the trail reappears (although it could be just an animal track). It mostly keeps the same elevation. Simply hiking upstream from Vado is a difficult proposition. The South Fork has waterfalls, rapids, lots of deadfalls and the gorge gets so narrow that you can't help walking in the water. You recognize the location of the camp because there is a steep (steep) tributary coming down from the north into the South Fork. The camp is on the other (southern) side of the South Fork (N36.28885, W121.75773). The tin house does not exist anymore, so don't count on any visible structure. If you are really lucky, a little bit further up you will find a half-burned sign that announces the Tin House Camp. (In 2010 Wikipedia gave these coordinates for the "Tin Shack": latitude 36.28889, longitude -121.75667. But i think Wikipedia is sending you to a place further upstream, roughly where two creeks meet, by the eastern one, and i couldn't find any sign of humans having camped there). |
Other recommended hikes in the Ventana Wilderness:
Tin House location:
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