Condor (California coastal) trail of 440+ miles proposed legislation

[HkNewman]

A 440+ mile scenic trail (including  the “Big Sur” region) has been proposed along the length of the region as part of a California coastal act.

via Los Padres ForestWatch

https://www.edhat.com/news/carbajal-reintroduces-central-coast-heritage-protection-act

 

Think most of the trails are loops or just span the width.   Seems this would be a good extreme shoulder season hike with a wet winter..

[Diane “Piper” Soini]

You can already hike this trail. Only one person that I’m aware of has actually completed it as a thru-hike. It’s not easy even though it is only 400+ miles long. I’ve hiked portions of it.

[Erica R]

Some of those trails are just lines on a map.

[Link .]

. Congratulations Brittney Nielsen on becoming the first person to complete the Condor Trail. Brittney started the trail in May 2015 at Lake Piru. 37 days later , and BPL member MINER HIKED IT AND WROTE ABOUT IT .

[HkNewman]

Think this is legislation making it an official scenic trail and probably more trail maintenance as the shrubbery can grow pretty swiftly into the trails.  Also access as MINER’s trip report mentioned basically bushwhacking around private property.  Prefer hikes without having to carry garden shears ..  did a trip up there with a little backpacking and experienced the shrubs first hand.

The side facing the imperial valley has an old military (Army) gravel road that bike tourers took as the pavement ended, but would like a nice backpacking trail sorta overlooking the ocean.

[Rex Sanders]

Posted descriptions of Condor Trail hikes sound like first class suffer-fests. While I’m intrigued by the overall route of the trail, adding pain just because isn’t on my radar.

Two thoughts:

– I hope that National Trail status means more and better trail construction and maintenance. But given the Forest Service’ abysmal track record on much better known trails, I’m not holding my breath. Will probably depend on lots of well-organized volunteers, as usual.

– Any long sections of the Condor Trail that could be hiked soon by someone who is not into thrashing?

— Rex

[Diane “Piper” Soini]

Yes. Here are some trip report videos of mine.

My big Santa Barbara to Agua Dulce trip has portions of the Condor Trail: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChHngTv-KTQ&list=PL-9yXoCfg54NAnLDkwU72V5dEPJZ5Zth0

Parts that show Condor Trail sections:

• Day 3 from Alamar Saddle down into Santa Barbara Canyon. I show a page from a log book with people hiking the Condor Trail.
• Day 4 to first part of Day 7 is Condor Trail. I leave the Condor trail at Pine Mountain Lodge.

This video shows a portion of the Condor Trail along the Sespe River, which you would arrive at from Pine Mountain Lodge: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSvYb93KjBs

This video series, Videos 2 and 3, also shows a portion of the Condor Trail along the Sisquoc River, showing what it’s like from Pine Mountain Lodge down toward the Sespe. Day 4 connects you to the Sespe River and the parking lot where you would probably attempt a resupply: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wn4Z77rHvyU&list=PL-9yXoCfg54PSIlhuCiK7J2pn–KSh8qO

[Miner]

Hi.  I hiked it in 2016 as someone mentioned.  Another guy who section hiked it the year after me, posted videos of his hike: https://sites.google.com/site/mmaki2321/condortrail

They might give you an idea what to expect in different places.

Every so often, there is proposed legislation to making the Condor Trail a national recreation trail which would be really helpful as it might bring in some funding to help maintain and build more trail.  The Condor Trail in theory, at least on older maps, does mostly exist.  Due to a lack of funding and various fires, some of the trails were allowed to return to the wild.  I’m grateful to various animals and some cattle that have kept a few faint trails alive.  There are some good sections of trail though that do get love due to the wonderful work of the Los Padres Forest Association and their volunteers.  They maintain a website of all the trails in the Los Padres NF with field reports from those who hiked them: http://www.hikelospadres.com/

[Author]

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