Los Padres/Sequoia Nat’l Forest Trip Report

[SunMan]

Tomas Tierra and I had been planning this caper for months. Our mission: a one night stop at Pine Mountain up in the Los Padres NF and then a run down thru the Cuyama Valley, west on the 166 to the 101 and up to Big Sur via the back country (Nacimiento/Ferguson Road) and two nights of secluded camping on Prewitt Ridge. Sadly, the Indians fire forced us to abort the Big Sur portion at the last minute. After a brief discussion and some map perusal we decided Plan B would be to head east to the Sequoias as we’d heard of some good off-road, primitive camping options there. The following are some pics and tales from our road trip. Hopefully TT will chime in with some of his pics and witty observations too!

These first shots are of our rendezvous at Reyes Peak camp on Pine Mountain on Thursday evening. When I arrived it was a nice, warm 80 degrees at 7:00 pm (6,000 feet) with a magnificent sunset brewing due to the fires to the west of us. It should also be mentioned that we were both traveling with our trusty co-pilots, TT with Pinta (the Baja Wonder Dog) and I with Gunner, (aka Gunman).

 

[SunMan]

Day 2

We left Pine Mountain on Friday morning, driving down thru the Cuyama Valley, east thru Maricopa, Bakersfield, the Kern River Valley to Lake Isabella and up into the Sequoias. It was a stunning drive up into the Sequoias…

(Note to self: Never move to Maricopa)

 

[SunMan]

Day 2 Cont'd

After many detours down every dirt road we came upon, we decided to “settle” on unnamed camp #1 in the Sequoias (can you say hammock time?)…

 

[SunMan]

Day 3

The following day involved a bit of bushwhacking in search of our next camp. After a handful of roads better suited for ATV’s, a few dead end turn arounds and some lost paint on our rigs, our perseverance eventually led us to unnamed camp #2 (which quickly became a Kelty breeding ground)…

 

[SunMan]

A few of the sentinels standing guard over our camp and signs that we were definitely not alone…

 

[chnlisle]

Toyotas in full bloom I love it.

 

[lqhikers]

dogs life!

Nice trip,looks like the dogs really enjoyed the camp spots!Did you spot any condors?
Drive slow and enjoy "its the journey"
Les Lqhikers

 

[pvstoy]

Looks like a good get-A-way for a few days.....

 

[Marc]

Looks like alot of fun. Thanks for the pics and write up. I like the one of the bear mark. Did you see any ??

Marc

 

[SunMan]

No condor or bear sightings, although plenty of scratched trees and paw prints around. It was nice to finally get out for more than one night.

 

[Tomas Tierra]

Nice write up Sunman..

It was nice getting out there with you Compa..cool pic of the late June Kelty bloom

Did the bush scratch come off??

The only real wildlife sighting was at camp#2..Sunman saw a racoon the size of my dog just after I went down..I didn't get a peak at the animal, but leaving my truck window down overnight, I got a peak at the trail mix bag spread liberally throughout my truck...my own fault, big boy had a nice meal...Speaking of meals! the other big boys were eating like kings!

 

[DLN]

Great pics Sunman, I'm starting to really like the Kelty idea, thanks for posting.

 

[DirtyDog]

Wow, now that's the way to camp!

 

[Tomas Tierra]

more grub and grog...

Not having anything to chase, i.e kids, surf, wind, snow, leaves lots of time to cook, eat, and drink.

 

[Tomas Tierra]

forgot the pic's...(it's becoming my trademark)

 

[Tomas Tierra]

yuuuuuummmyyy! burp...


The dogs never saw a leash the whole trip, my kinda keeampin..

 

[DirtyDog]

How does one get an invite for one of your trips Tomas

 

[Tomas Tierra]

Would be my pleasure.

Any time your down here DD. Even if it's not a trip somewhere, my driveway is level, I got a fire pit/BBQ in the backyard, and the beach is across the street.

Actually I was the follower on this one..nice for a change..
and if I have to follow someone, it's nice to have an FWC in front of me

 

[SunMan]

I've definitely got a few permanent battle scars for sure, but no worries...that's what trucks are for.

DD, you can join us anytime...ya gots ta see TT lay down some serious voodoo with tri-tip and a Smokey Joe!!

 

[EdoHart]

I think this is the best trip report yet!

I especially like the pictures of the hammocks under the Kelty bloom. There's nothing better than camping with friends.