Hike 2 = Orange

Hike 2 = Orange  [Outbound=thick Return=thin]
(Click here for full-size interactive map + legend)

Learning from our last trip, this time we arrived at very early at Pico Blanco Boy Scout Camp, 7:30 AM.  The hike up the Little Sur Trail to the Mount Manuel Trail trailhead was a bit easier than last time, now being familiar with the route, arriving there at 8:45.

Heading out on the Mount Manuel Trail, we were in for a surprise.  Someone had been out on the trail, clearing some brush and also flagging their route.  The flagging was astounding – the most profligate flagging I’ve ever seen! Yards of magenta tape were hanging from branches, wrapped around tree trunks, etc.

In wonder we followed this extravaganza along the north side of the ridge, to see where it would lead. The clearing allowed easier passage than on our last hike, but its route lay to the north of what we had then taken.

And then we found a tent with an unhappy couple.

We learned they had intended to camp at Pico Blanco Public Camp, which lies along the Little Sur Trail.  Somehow they’d gotten sidetracked onto the Mount Manuel Trail, possibly allured by the flagging (which had not been on the Little Sur Trail).  What astounded me was the guy had a GPS! But apparently did not know how to use it.

When night came, they found themselves at the end of the flagging and had to camp on the ridge. Then had run out of water, having relied on finding water at the camp.  They’d planned a multi-day outing, so I tried to show the guy on his GPS how to get to Pico Blanco Public Camp.  We then left to continue our trek.

We continued further along the ridge, finding no more flagging beyond the tent site so that must have been the flagger’s destination – later made me wonder if the couple had been the flaggers, but too late to ask now. Bushwhacking to cross over the ridge, we regained our previous hike’s route on its south side and the brush lessened

After passing a “Boundary Tree” sign,

and rockwork, familiar from our last hike, the brushiness increased until finally we were stopped by the brush and downed branches wall at the “Apex of Brushiness”. That had defeated us on our last hike, but we attacked with saw and lopper and cleared a passage to squeeze through. After the “Apex” the route changed from southwest to southeast, so from a northerly to southerly exposure and the brushiness lessened – and tread became a bit more distinct

Soon some new rockwork indicated we were definitely on the trail.

Reaching a point on the slope above the Launtz Creek Camp, according to Schaffer’s map, to save time we decided to simply bushwhack down the steep slope instead of trying to follow the trail’s long switchback, skipping its additional 0.4 miles of trail (a good decision, since later hikes found absolutely no tread or trail indicators over much of that section).  After hunting around a bit, at noon we arrived at restful Launtz Creek Camp amidst the redwoods, with its USFS grill

and its sign on the ground,

with water available from Launtz Creek.

Launtz Camp had been “found”, 1/8 mile northeast from where the USFS thought it was. And their trail line was considerably off from the old tread we had followed (see map).

While eating lunch, we congratulated ourselves on this time being successful.  Paul decided to commemorate the event by taking a “Ventana Trails Forever” campaign card of his, adding the date and my name and placing it under the hinged plate atop the grill (you’ll hear more about this in a later post).

But Paul’s 73 years was telling on him, he felt too tired to go further.  Being a youngster of 66, I went on to investigate the old homestead site along the creek, then decided to see if I could follow the continuing trail.  A bit above the creek I found definite tread and followed it southwesterly.  But it became more brushy as it neared the apex where it would change direction – so being “a bit tired” myself went back to Paul at Launtz Creek Camp.

We returned the way we had come, noting that the tent and couple were now gone.  I wondered what happened to them, since the woman had made it clear she was not a happy camper – I suspected they might just decide to head back to civilization instead of trying for the Public Camp.

Arriving back at my Xterra just at sunset, we left with a feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction.

After the hike, I noted that after the “Apex of Brushiness” our track was off-set from Schaffer’s map route by 150-350 feet, indicating the topography of the map Jeff used differed significantly from the actual terrain.  So while his mapping was helpful, it could not be definitive.  The truer route was stored within in my GPSes. And it was quite different from the official USFS trail route.

Total hike time was 11.2 hours. A sense for the roughness of trail and hike difficulty can be seen in our hiking speeds: 1.4 mph (steep uphill) and 1.9 mph on our outbound and return legs along the Little Sur Trail but slowing to 0.36 mph and 0.26 mph respectively on the Mount Manuel Trail to the camp – the slowness of the last reflected our doing some sawing and cutting on the return trip.