The Quick and Dirty:
Location: Klamath River and Miner’s Ridge Trail near Elk Prairie Campground.
Distance: 2 miles of walking around Klamath River and 8 miles round trip to Miner’s Ridge Trail
Terrain Type: Coastal, partial shade and good coverage on Miner’s Ridge Trail
Good to Know: Spend some time walking around the beach at the mouth of the Klamath river. It’s a good spot to watch for marine wildlife.
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The drive from Big Sur to Little River in Mendocino, California took about 4 hours. We decided to pamper ourselves after two nights of camping at the Glendeven Inn in Little River. We first stayed at this quaint Bed and Breakfast last year after our Lost Coast backpacking trip and fell in love with the property.
There are two main houses at the Glendeven Inn, the main house and Inn at Cobbler’s Walk across the street. Both times we have stayed at rooms within the Inn at Cobbler’s Walk because they were cheaper than the main house. We checked in at 5PM, made a reservation for dinner at a local sea food restaurant and took a much needed shower before dinner.
View of the alpacas at the grounds of the Bed and Breakfast at sunset
The Quick and Dirty:
Location: Backpacking Sykes Hot Springs in Big Sur, CA. The Pine Ridge trail head starts from Pfeiffer Big Sur State Beach and overnight parking is free at the lot.
Distance and Duration: 10 miles one way on the Pine Ridge trail to Sykes camp, we finished the hike in about 4 hours one way.
Permit: No advanced permit reservation is required however a back country fire permit is needed if you want to cook with a stove or start a camp fire. At the Pfeiffer Big Sur State Beach ranger station, you can obtain the back country fire permit and for a $1 donation, the rangers will provide you with a nice trail map of the Pine Ridge trail.
Dogs: Dogs are allowed in the national forest and to the hot springs
Trail conditions: This is a very popular trail, therefore the it is well maintained and clearly marked.
Good to know: Beware of the abundant amount of poisonous oak on the trail. When arrived at Sykes camp, you will be required to cross the stream several times to get to the campsite and the hot springs. Be extra careful crossing the streams in the spring time when water flow is fast. It’s always a good idea to walk up and down the stream and pick a spot where the flow is the slowest before you cross. Having water shoes to cross the stream is a good idea or we just took off our hiking shoes and went bare foot across the stream.
Louis getting ready to start hiking at the Pine Ridge trail head
We truly believe we live in one of the most beautiful places in the world. Whether it’s going east towards the majestic mountains of the Sierra Nevada or driving up and down the California coast, the scenery always takes my breath away. For our week long vacation, we decided to take a road rip up the coast of California from Orange County all the way up to Redwood National and State Park.
Over the next couple of weeks I will update the blog with detailed trip reports of each of the places we visited. See links below to jump to any one of the places that interests you:
Saturday (Day 1)- Car Camping at San Simeon State Park
Sunday (Day 2)- Morning guided tour of the Hearst Castle and back packing into Sykes hot springs in Big Sur, California
Monday (Day 3)- Hike out from Sykes hot springs and drive to Medocino, California Tuesday (Day 4)- Drive to Redwood State and National Park
Wednesday (Day 5)- Day hikes around Redwood State Park and car camping at Elk Prairie campground
Thursday (Day 6)- Depart from Redwood State and National Park and drive south to Sonoma, California
Friday (Day 7)- Day in Sonoma, drive to San Francisco to visit friends
Saturday (Day 8)- Drive home to Orange County
The Google Map shown below outlines our travel itinerary along with the links of the detailed blog post on each place.
Hike Now, Work Later 