Big sur

you can try the Cruickshank-Salmon-Buckeye Loop Trail at Silver Peak Wilderness

This might be a little further south then you would like but each camp is about 4-6 miles apart, but there are very little amount of people during these months.

http://www.ouachitamaps.com/Silver%20Peak.html

Pine Valley is very nice. From China camp, near Tassajara road to Pine Valley it's about 6 miles. We did an in and out. In is mostly downhill and out is uphill. There are some beautiful waterfalls and a very, very cold swimming hole.

Thanks Kat and Keegan. I'll check those out.

-Frank

Kat,

How is the road to china camp. Is it a dirt road with a bunch of pot holes or a little bit better than that?

And is there plenty of places to fill up on water??

-Frank

Tassajara road is not a good road, not in summer and definitely not in Winter. I think it's around 6 miles of steep, rutted, pot holes. It usually gets worked on in April and then it's still a rough road. I have made it fine with an old Ford Ranger and in winter with an AWD. Definitely go slow, but it's doable.
Water..From the trailhead the first for sure water is about 4 miles down. After that there is plenty, although it can be rather slow moving right at Pine Valley, depending on the season. Right in Pine Valley you will find a hand made cabin and hopefully the old man that lives there is still alive. I forgot his name but he is very happy to have some company and will gladly share his water and coffee with you. Just talking with him is worth the trip in my opinion. He built the cabin with his wife and he still has her ashes in a box and lots of pictures of their adventures in Alaska.
From Pine Valley it's a bit of a hard mile to find the swimming hole, but it's a gorgeous emerald pool at the bottom of a steep shoot.

Thank you very much Kat. I appreciate your information.

I'll keep a look out for the nice old man and his cabin.

-Frank

Jack English. He makes beautiful Violin bows.

Kat, you wouldn't happen to know a ballpark price on his bows, do you?

Kat,

Do you remember the trail being hard to find or really overgrown?

-Frank

@ Travis. I don't know. He inlays them with abalone and I think he mainly makes them for his son. He is 93. Maybe Frank can find out….?
@ Frank. It may be a bit overgrown but myself and 3 teens had no problem finding it. I would say it is an easy trail to follow.

Thanks Kat. My violin was made in 1943 by a man named Carl Becker. His son, who is 90, still continues to make violins in a small town in the Wisconsin north woods during the summers. He winters in Chicago. I need to go visit him at his cottage before it's too late. Since I spend a lot of my time in the woods up there, its kinda cool to look at the trees and know my instrument came out of that very same wood.

P.S. Sorry for the thread drift.

Great story Travis. Thread drifts can be great : )

An acquaintance hiked out there a few weeks ago. Jack English is still there and still happy to have guests.

Tassajara road can be driven up in any car, but you have to drive carefully. And watch for overheating of the engine. Drive it slow and steady and steer around the gullies and so on and you'll be fine, try to just drive up it as if it were paved, or using the wrong (too high) gear, and you might not be fine. If your engine starts to overheat, drop the gear to a lower one, the one you should have already been in that is, and slow down. If it won't drop temperature, stop and wait, then restart, and don't try driving it in a high gear and too fast. It's not unlike the road into the lost coast, except the lost coast in winter can't safely be done in any rear wheel drive vehicle.

I've driven up that in the worst beater, shot suspension, etc, and it made it, but you do have to drive with awareness. Given that the zen center is at the base of the climb, a bit of mindfulness should be in order anyway.

Harold,

Thank you for tips on driving along this road. I've driven on plenty of dirt roads, but there are not two that are alike.

-Frank