Los Padres National Forest / Ventana Wilderness, 2005

Los Padres National Forest encompasses nearly two million acres in central and southern California. It stretches across almost 220 miles from the Big Sur Coast to the western edge of Los Angeles County. For more information, check the USDA website.

Ventana Wilderness Almost half of Los Padres National Forest is undeveloped and primitive. It has 10 congressionally designated wildernesses comprising approximately 875,000 acres. One of them is Ventana. What can I say? It REALLY is wilderness! There are hiking paths, but they are not as well maintained as in State Parks. Firstly to keep it wild and secondly because all the maintenance work is done by volunteers only.

It is not necessarily the best place for inexperienced hikers like me. Recently, I tried a couple of trails. Here is what I have seen so far in 2005:

Rocky Creek Trail April 2005	Indians Road April 2005	Horse Bridge April 2005	Pine Ridge Trail June 2005

For trail reports and everything else you ever wanted to know about the Ventana Wilderness, check Ventana Wilderness Alliance.

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