I always say I will never return to Ventana Wilderness. It is always too tough. Too many ticks. Too much poison oak. Too brushy. Too crazy. Then I always go back. What is wrong with me? This trip turned out no different than usual. Only three out of seven planned waterfalls seen.
With my work I need to submit my vacation requests at least one month in advance. That is very difficult for me. How can I possibly know what the weather will be like? It was not looking good at first with an extremely dry January but then it started raining on Feb. 1 and cleared up precisely on time for my backpacking adventure. Big Sur had about 11 inches of rain. It was going to be a glorious weekend. Thank you God for this perfect timing.
The first waterfall on my list before I even started the backpacking was Ghostly Falls. I had no idea what this waterfall was like. It seemed like a very easy hike on the map. NOTHING in Ventana Wilderness is easy. Even though short, it was quite difficult with a lot of tree blowdowns and it took a lot longer than I wanted. I needed to get going on my main hike for the day. I don’t think it was even worth it. Ghostly Falls is pretty but it is small, 21 feet high exactly. Alrighty then. One waterfall seen. Let’s go backpacking!
A recent trail report I read said the Cone Peak Trail was in decent shape. NOT! It was horribly overgrown. I was battling through incredibly thick brush. I could not continue for another 3 miles like this. I decided to give up and try the Coast Ridge trail instead. This one was supposed to be in worse shape so I did not have much hope for it. It was very difficult but I did manage to get through it and up to the top of the ridge. At this point I was incredibly tired and it was getting late. I thought it would be an easy walk down to Trail Camp from here. HA! Ventana Wilderness wins again. The Gamboa Trail was COMPLETELY OBLITERATED from the Dolan Fire of 2020. It was utterly IMPASSABLE. Now I am completely spent. I could not continue. There is no water or place to camp. I did not want to go back down the difficult Coast Ridge trail and I did not have the energy for it either. What can I do?
I decided to go down the Carrizo trail to Carrizo camp. It was about 3 miles out of my way but downhill and this trail was supposed to be in good shape so it should hopefully be an easy hike. It was not an easy hike and it took longer than I thought but at least the trail was not horrible.
There were quite a few ticks in the last mile before camp. Up to this point there had not been any ticks or poison oak. Ventana ticks are an advanced species. They cling to all sorts of branches on the trail, not just the whitish colored grasses that most ticks hang on. They also change color to blend in. There are white-grey colored ticks that cling to these white colored grasses in addition to the brown ones. You think I am joking but I am not. I did not see any green colored ticks on the green branches but I will not be surprised to see those in the future. My clothes were treated with permethrin which is supposed to keep the ticks off but I still got ticks on me. One was actually trying to bite through my pants. That were treated with permethrin. Welcome to Ventana Wilderness.
I was dead tired when I got to camp. It was late and the sun was setting. I was also cold. I got my tent set up and ate my dinner and got into the warmth of my sleeping pad as soon as I could. I slept well. On to day two.
