Ventana/ Big Sur/ Sykes Hot Springs?

[Kattt]

Sounds fun, but not in poison oak country. Way too much of it there and I am very allergic.

[Matthew Black]

Definitely. The poak is evil.

[Sharon J.]

a more positive report:
http://www.ventanawild.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=859

Last chance to object to dog!

[Richard Niemi]

I'm interested in Sykes but it depends on what weekend.
I hiked in a year ago over X-mas. The poison oak was not bad if you stayed on the trail.

[James Winstead]

May be a dumb question but are there any food storage options, lockers or whatever at the campsite? Worried about critters more than anything.

Looking forward to it!

[Jay Wilkerson]

James, I was there a couple of years ago and there was no lockers for food. PCT style.

[Sharon J.]

I can bring my bear can to share. Should be plenty of room.

[James Winstead]

Thanks all for the answers about food storage (or lack of)

Sharon, thanks for the offer of the bear can but I'd hate burden you so. I'm more than happy hanging my food.

See everyone soon… Looking forward to it.

[Richard Niemi]

I won't be able to make it the weekend of the 28th. I'll be snow camping up near Lake Alpine.
Have fun!

[Harald Hope]

James Winstead, hang the food, it's not hard. You don't have to hang it that well, 5 or 6 feet up is fine, there's either no bears or just a few, all I worry about is raccoons, and they don't seem very interested in stuff this year, don't know what is up with them, they used to come around to camps to check things out and unroll your toilet paper just for the sheer joy of it, but this time around I didn't hear anything at all over a week there, not even a faint whisper of rattling stuff at night. Same went for, amazingly, Point Reyes, no sign of raccoons there either. Not even jays, amazingly. I've never had anything happen to hung food there over decades, using regular methods, tie off to branch / tree. Nice opportunity to test your rock sack, which is the greatest invention in backpacking I've yet to see, no more strained arms/shoulders, just whirl it around and there it is, after a few tries.

Can't see any point to crowding Sykes even worse than it already is, and impacting it more. By the way, it is VERY hard to get far enough from the stream for safe cat holes (50 feet from water), the canyon walls are just too steep, another reason I don't go there.

I'm thinking, health depending, on taking a real trip down there again this winter, to test all my new gear and myog stuff, before spring, for a week, and it would be fun to meet up with a few bpl people who are into getting further up and in, ie, a real trip, not a weekend thing, for a night or day somewhere in there to be agreed on. I'll post if I do that, but I'm restricted by the winter bus schedules, only can get there weekends, which means saturday-sunday arrival/departure, and midweek meetup, to me the pine ridge camps up to/including sykes are only good as a stopover to a real place, to be left behind as soon as you can wake up and pack up in the AM.

Remember, re poison oak, the leaves have dropped off many, making the still oil bearing stalks much harder to spot and avoid. That's why I would personally want to avoid dogs too, they are in it all day.

Watch for ticks, tiny deer ticks, safest time of year is now, but they do have lyme there, so be aware.

If you treat deadfall as part of the experience instead of an obstruction on the highway, you will find them much more interesting, a small climbing challenge to entertain you on the way.

The descriptions of sykes are accurate, it's not a backpacking destination, it's a camping/hot springs destination that just happens to be about 10 miles from the trailhead. I've passed kids coming back wearing flipflops, there is nothing hard about getting there if you have any kind of conditioning at all, and if you have light gear, then there is nothing hard about it.

Barlow is about 4 hours give or take your speed from the trailhead, and Sykes is 2 to 3 hours further, so I'd put Sykes at just around 10 miles, maybe a touch more.

By my topo map, Sykes looks to be about 1000 feet, give or take, Redwood Camp is about 2000 feet. You do a climb that starts after Barlow until you get to the top of ridge, then you go down again to Sykes, so there's actually more climbing than the end altitude indicates, 2000 is a good estimate to get to Sykes camp I'd say, but if you go on, you have to climb back out of the canyon to go further.

Barlow is a radically superior spot to try to do a group meetup, it has working pit toilets on both sides of the stream, far bigger and better campsites, by a huge measure, and is way cleaner and 'wild'. But it makes no difference how many times this is seen, people still insist on going to Sykes, because… well because that's what they have heard of, and hot springs, no longer in their old natural funky state I guess, might as well just stop in at Esalon and soak in theirs on your way back, they overlook the Pacific… and are surely cleaner, less poison oak oil filled, etc…

If you do a day hike to Sykes from Barlowe, you will have a nice hike to the springs, then hang out there until dark, then a really fun night hike back to Barlowe.

Oh, one more thing, after the recent rains there might be higher water, and no logs crossing the river anymore.

[Kattt]

I have been asked to lead an interpretive hike and teach a class on edible plants at the local resort, where I sometimes work on weekends. I am sorry to pull out from this trip, I could use a warm soak, but I cannot turn down good money and rewarding work. Have fun and I will see you all at Coe :)

[Chris S]

That's too bad….well, the not being able to go part, not the good money and rewarding work part :)

Are other people still planning on going? I decided not to bother with skiing this weekend and would be up for a local backpacking trip of some sort, whether it's Sykes or something else. My girlfriend would also join.

[James Winstead]

Im still interested although not opposed to alternative locations.

This is a good season for Ohlone, Sunol, Coe or any others. I'm also down for big bend, or Henry
Cowell etc.

[Bob Gross]

"I'm also down for big bend"

Big Basin State Park.

–B.G.–

[Chris S]

The original Sykes plan, somewhere else in Ventana or any of those alternatives sound good to me.

[Jay Wilkerson]

How about the Briones Reservoir Loop at 14 miles off HWY 24 in the East Bay. Less drive time for sure. A permit is required. A STEALTHY undercover trip maybe?!?!

[James Winstead]

Jay, sounds good to me but I'm also fine leaving this all for another weekend. My backup plan if this falls all the way through is a stealth trip somewhere anyways. I'm open to anything.

I'll bring my most ninja kit

[Marc Eldridge]

My brother and I are still doing this. We are leaving this afternoon and hiking in tomorrow morning.

[Chris S]

Looks like we have some options. Less drive time is definitely appealing, but if it were a small group (I guess 4 or more of us?) would there be issues being stealthy enough? I'm not too familiar with Briones.

Julie and I are also considering just heading to Coe and hiking to Mississippi Lake or something.

[Sharon J.]

Ohlone and Sunol require 1 week advance reservations, according to the EBparks site.

EBMUD permits are available online to print out – $10/1yr and allow three guests http://www.ebmud.com/recreation/trails
I haven't been able to find out if they require reservations to camp, but it may not be necessary to be *too* stealthy.

[Chris S]

So we did decide to just head to Henry Coe. Not sure our exact destination, but we'll be starting from the headquarters and heading out from there….probably to Mississippi Lake. If anyone's interested in joining, just PM me.

[Jay Wilkerson]

I am out too.. Darn your new job Kat just kidding:) Going on a day hike in Mt. Diablo State Park than doing some way over do yard work. See you all at Henry Coe.

[Marc Eldridge]

Just got back last night from Sykes. Yikes there were a lot of people. Were able to squeeze into the lower pool for a while with a couple of other guys otherwise a nice trip. Will post some pics later.

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