Big Sur trail reopening raises questions
Path to Sykes Hot Springs prone to hikers’ excess
It’s a bittersweet moment for Big Sur hikers. The wilderness trail to the beloved Sykes Hot Springs — regarded as one of the most popular hikes in North America — reopened this week after a 4½year closure. It provides a quick escape into the rugged Santa Lucia Mountains that rise from the Pacific over Highway 1 in Big Sur.
But feelings of elation are tempered by apprehension about where the Pine Ridge Trail’s restoration may lead.
Sykes had become an “attractive nuisance,” said Mike Splain, executive director of the Ventana Wilderness Alliance, a nonprofit that helps conserve the landscape encompassing the trail and hot spring. “It drew a lot of really unpre
pared folks and, frankly, just too many. That kind of use was unsustainable.”
Nestled into a bend in the Big Sur River, deep in a steep canyon 10 miles east of Highway 1, Sykes had become a notorious destination for backcountry shenanigans. A sparse wilderness campground designed for seven sites, and with only one pit toilet, was routinely mobbed on popular summer weekends by 200 to 300 people fueled by the prospect of a long soak in a mountain setting.
High foot traffic turned the narrow Pine Ridge Trail into a hiker highway strewn with trash, poop and abandoned gear, a shameful eyesore to outdoor enthusiasts who pride themselves on leaving no trace. Both the environment and experience were suffering, locals say.
“It was really stretching the capacity for what the trail could handle,” said Marcos Ortega, superintendent for the Big Sur Sector of California State Parks.
Conditions were so bad that when the Ventana Wilderness Alliance formed in 1998, Splain said, “we saw it as a sacrifice zone” — an unsalvageable mess of degradation.
Then in the fall of 2016, nature took the trail back.
The Soberanes Fire, sparked by an illegal campfire in northern Big Sur, scorched a swath of mountains between Carmel Valley and San Luis Obispo. Months later, historic El Niño rains doused California, pummeling Big Sur’s denuded landscape and tearing up its infrastructure.
One landslide buried part of Highway 1 and another damaged Pfeiffer Canyon Bridge, closing much of the remote area for most of a year. Sections of the Pine Ridge Trail, which cuts along the steep slopes of the Big Sur River Gorge, were completely washed away. The makeshift sandbag tubs at Sykes were dislodged and destroyed.
While some people worried that the trail may have been lost forever, others felt a sense of relief.
“I had mixed emotions about
it,” said Steve Jackson, 75, of Pacific Grove, who has hiked Big Sur since the 1970s. “I missed the trail. But I’d been thinking that the only salvation for this place was for it to be closed to all humans for maybe 10 years. The forest needed time to heal.”
On Tuesday, after four years of restoration work, the trail and wilderness camps, including Sykes, are back.
The route to Sykes is not for the unsteady or overburdened hiker. The trail is a narrow bench tracing the 45degree mountainsides above Big Sur River and bisected by occasional stream crossings. The total elevation gain is more than 2,600 feet, according to AllTrails.com. This time of year there are ticks and rattle
snakes about too.
But it provides access to a stunning slice of Northern California scenery.
The trail’s exposure gives hikers panoramic views of chaparralcovered mountains across the canyon the entire way to Sykes. On a clear day, hikers can spot the bare peaks of the area’s highest mountains, including the Ventana Double Cone and Kandlbinder.
The route passes under oaks, around lilacs and through stands of redwoods with trunks still charred from the 2016 wildfire. A series of shaded creeks and streams that feed the Big Sur River provide ideal stops for snack breaks and water filtering.
“We’ve been waiting five years for this,” said one member of a group of six older men hiking the trail on Thursday. They belong to a Monterey Peninsula hiking group and had been keeping close tabs on the trail’s reopening date.
Several hikers and backpackers had already ventured out to Sykes two days after the trail reopened. More are sure to follow in short order.
On Thursday, a couple in their 30s from Washington, D.C., were backpacking along the Pine Ridge Trail after having spent a night at Sykes Camp — part of their first trip since the onset of the pandemic. They said an employee at REI in Monterey and a park ranger in Big Sur had both recommended they visit Sykes, now that it has reopened.
But even after hiking the 10 miles out and setting up camp for the night, the couple didn’t feel compelled to hunt for hot springs.
“We didn’t even bother looking,” said John Bonner, drying off after having just crossed the Big Sur River at Barlow Flats Camp on Thursday. “Honestly, cold water felt better after a day of hiking.”
The appeal of the hike wasn’t the reward of a hot spring, just the pleasure of being in the mountains, the couple said.
The Forest Service, which oversees the Ventana Wilderness, has taken steps to guard against Sykes devolving into its former state. A placard nailed to a tree at Sykes and postings on the service’s website urge hikers to pack out their trash and not to rebuild the hot spring pools. The service says it is recommitted to patrolling the trail and removing any manmade structures at Sykes.
Campfires are not allowed unless campers get a special Forest Service permit.
The Ventana Wilderness Alliance is doing its part as well. It is asking hikers to selfregister at the Big Sur Station trailhead — hoping to gain a clearer picture of how many people set foot on the trail. It is also posting volunteers at the trailhead to educate users on Leave No Trace principles.
“This is a place where nature is supposed to come first,” Splain said. “We’re supposed to tread lightly, exhibit restraint and meet nature on its own terms.”
If Sykes again becomes a problem area, the Forest Service may eventually have to step in with stronger rules, Splain said.
“The writing is on the wall,” he said. “At some point, the Forest Service will have to limit the number of hiker entries per day. Unless the behavior and sheer numbers improve, I think that’s inevitable.”