Ventana Wilderness: Stone Ridge / Cone Peak
January 2005


A series of storms had passed through, leaving huge amounts of snow in the Sierras, and even some
on local peaks.  I decided to go hiking in the southern Ventana, do some trailwork, and see how
the trails had fared.


Day 1: 10.7 miles / 3300' elevation gain
--
Started from Highway 1 (near sea level & Kirk Creek campground) and hiked up along the Vicente Flat trail,
which gradually climbed from coastal grassland, into the redwoods, oaks, and madrones of Hare Canyon.
Spent a little time sawing deadfalls along the way, but hurried along somewhat and reached Vicente Flat
camp (1600') around noon.  Skies were mostly sunny, and the weather was cool - excellent for hiking.

From the camp I headed north on the Stone Ridge trail, up and out of Hare Canyon, enjoying incredible 
views of Cone Peak (5155'), the coast, and the steep canyon walls as the trail threaded through oak and 
douglas fir into grassland, and then descended at the divide towards Limekiln creek (middle fork).  
Lots of sawing and some clipping to do.  The creek crossing was aided by a large redwood.

Spent lots of time sawing between there and Goat Camp (2200'), up out of one drainage and into another,
so did not start dinner until around 5pm.  The firey sun set against the ocean.  Temps were moderate.


Day 2: 16 miles / 3200'
--
The day dawned clear and warm.  Ascending from Goat Camp to the Ojito Saddle is always fun - 1300' gain
in 0.9 miles.  The views of the sea and redwood-filled canyon from the top made it all worthwhile.

Heading up the Gamboa trail things started to cloud up a bit, and I was worried that I might
arrive atop Cone Peak while it was in the clouds.  Around 3500' I started to notice sugar pine and Santa 
Lucia fir, while the brush thinned out a bit.  Here on the shady north-facing slopes, some patches of snow
remained from the storms five days ago.  By the time I arrived at Trail Spring (3800') it was downright chilly.

I headed up the trail to Cone Peak at the junction.  A couple of fallen trees still lay across the trail
that I recognized from last December (2003), but some of the blowdowns were new.  At around 4000' or so
the snow became more continuous, and it was not powdery, but several inches of more consolidated stuff.
To keep my footing on anything that resembled a slope required step-kicking.  So it went for the next 1000', 
where the trail came out of the trees and joined the south-facing summit trail.  There was a surprising 
amount of snow left at this elevation on the north-facing slopes, and even atop the summit.  I noted with
some pride that mine were the only footsteps in the snow atop the peak.  The weather was perfect - 
clear in every direction.

After lunching and some basking, I headed down to Cone Peak Road, and made maximum speed towards the upper section 
of the Vicente Flat trail.  The trail descends steeply down into Hare Canyon, with views of rock faces above 
the tops of tall redwoods on the floor of the canyon.  Did a little sawing along the way, but nothing serious.  
Soon I was parallelling Hare Creek, traversed around some large & recent deadfalls, and again arrived at 
Vicente Flat camp.

By then I decided that I might as well hike out, since it was only 5 miles to the car from there, and mostly
downhill.  I made my way out of the canyon and down through coastal grassland, where it was surprisingly warm 
out in the sun.  Back at the car, I packed up and drove to Big Sur for dinner.