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HIKE 2 Vicente Flat

Highlights Golden coastal bluffs and ancient redwoods

Distance 10.4 miles round-trip

Total Elevation Gain/Loss 2,000'/2,000'

Hiking Time 6–10 hours

Recommended Maps A Guide to Ventana & Silver Peak Wilderness by the US Forest Service, Big Sur and Ventana Wilderness by Wilderness Press, USGS 7.5-min. Cone Peak and Lopez Pointi

Best Times Year-round

Agency Ventana Wilderness, Los Padres National Forest

Difficulty

EXTREME TOPOGRAPHY defines the coastal flanks of Cone Peak, where soaring ridges and chasmic valleys crease the mountainside. The area is also known for its exceptional bio-diversity, from wildflower-painted grasslands to yucca-studded chaparral, fluttering oak woodland to towering old-growth redwood forest. And don’t forget the sweeping ocean views, which look out for miles across a glittering aquamarine sea.

The Hike ascends nearly 2,000 feet above the wave-swept coast and then traverses inland to reach Vicente Flat along redwood-lined Hare Creek. Open terrain allows dramatic coastal and canyon vistas as the trail initially climbs the grassy slopes, then heads inland through an increasingly lush forest to reach Vicente Flat, which offers campsites in a sun-drenched meadow or beneath old-growth trees. Spring welcomes a profusion of wildflowers to the otherwise golden slopes. Summer brings view-shrouding fog and the majority of visiting hikers. At other times of the year, you may have the trail entirely to yourself. Water is available near the trailhead in adjacent Kirk Creek Campground.

Old-growth dreams: an ancient redwood tree at Vicente Flat

To Reach the Trailhead Take Hwy. 1 to Kirk Creek Campground, 38 miles south of Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park and 36 miles north of Hearst Castle. The trailhead is on the east side of Hwy. 1, across the road from the campground.

Description From Hwy. 1 (0.0/190'), Vicente Flat Trail quickly climbs a series of switchbacks past coastal scrub. Flowering lupines, poppies, sticky monkeyflowers, and sagebrush highlight the hillside in spring. In 0.3 mile you cross a minor gully, head toward a minor saddle, then turn north across rolling grasslands and coastal chaparral. After crossing a gully choked with invasive blackberry and broom species, listen for water trickling from a nearby spring (0.9/700').

The grade steepens as the trail passes scattered yuccas, spiny testaments to the aridity of these exposed slopes. You next reach a ridge (1.4/1,000') offering spectacular views of the convergence of land and sea. Continuing, the trail quickly enters the Ventana Wilderness and reaches shade beneath a canopy of oaks, madrones, and bays. You follow the ridgeline through four gullies and past a dense band of redwoods, then climb steeply to a prominent ridge (2.9/1,610'), where exceptional views entice you to linger. To the east, 5,155-foot Cone Peak (Hike 3) and its neighbor, double-notched Twin Peak, loom over Hare and Limekiln creeks. Hare Canyon is one of the state’s deepest gorges; Limekiln Canyon boasts the steepest coastal slope in the Lower 48.

The trail now descends off the ridge, veering northeast through varied microclimates that support a range of drought-tolerant and moisture-loving plants. The contrast is stark—yuccas dot the arid slopes, while moisture-reliant redwoods cluster nearby in damp gullies. You next reach a short spur to Espinosa Camp (3.4/1,660'), marked by a large fallen redwood 100 yards past a major gully.

The spur leads 100 feet to several small campsites atop a minor ridge in the shade of live oaks, bays, redwoods, and rare, endemic Santa Lucia firs. Rock outcrops offer unobstructed views toward the coast. This is an excellent picnic or overnight spot, though the nearby gully is usually dry. The continuing hike contours inland along the slopes, rounds a prominent ridge, and reaches the first reliable water source, a creeklet cascading past redwoods and ferns. Open grassy slopes return as the trail tops out at 1,860 feet and begins a gentle descent to Vicente Flat.

You cross three rubble-strewn gullies (4.1/1,800'), their adjacent marble faces misted in winter by a seasonal flow. After the next dry redwood gully, the trail contours north and enters dense woods a quarter mile before reaching Hare Creek and several large redwoods. A few feet farther, a spur cuts upstream to a pair of sites in the open meadow of Vicente Flat itself. The main trail continues a short distance to the Stone Ridge Trail junction (5.2/1,620'); beyond lie many beautiful campsites in the redwoods.

Nearest Visitor Center Big Sur Station, 831-667-2315, just south of Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park on Hwy. 1, is open daily 9 a.m.–4 p.m. Memorial Day–Labor Day; the rest of the year it’s open intermittently depending on staffing availability.

Backpacking Information No wilderness permit is needed, but a valid campfire permit is required. The established tent sites of Espinosa and Vicente Flat Camps are exceptional places to spend the night.

Nearest Campground Kirk Creek Campground (33 sites, $22) is located at the junction of Hwy. 1 and Nacimiento Rd. Eighty percent of the sites are reservable year-round; visit recreation.gov or call 877-444-6777.

Additional Information www.fs.usda.gov/lpnf, ventanawild.org