If Your Going
Pine Ridge Trail
This trail is a wilderness freeway between Big Sur Station and Sykes Camp ~ hot springs. All the climbing is moderate, and with many opportunities to relax in the shade, maybe next to a creek. Wilderness camps dot the Big Sur River along which this trail follows. I haven't camped in every camp, but most are pleasant and some have pit toilets. Hiking the trail between BSS and Sykes is rather interesting as you jump the ridges between the river camps AND the vistas are somewhat restricted by the vegetation and trees, though the steepness of the canyon walls are evident everywhere.
Past Sykes (your first crossing of the Big Sur River), the climb is brushy and steep, and in the spring~fall will also be hot and very dry. Please take extra water, as the 3 mile hike to Redwood Camp will be uncomfortable if you run dry. Redwood Camp is my favorite place in the Sur. You arrive there after miles of dry trail and agave, to beautiful redwoods and a delightful stream. The best camps are located on benches either side of the stream. Look for a small use trail that will lead you to these camps.
The accent out of Redwood Canyon is a 3000' hike from hell to Pine Ridge Camp! I mean it, you will suffer in this direction. Best to get an early start if your traveling East towards either Big Sur Trail or fully up Pine Ridge, maybe to the beautiful Black Cone Trail? The trail East of RWC to PRC is dry but there is (and check this out before you go), a small spring at Pine Ridge Camp. A short hike East of Pine Ridge Camp are the junctions of Bear Basin, Pine Ridge, and Black Cone Trails. The junction of these three trails is obvious, but may not be well marked.
ALSO~If your going to the hot springs, there are camps on both sides of the river, BUT don't continue climbing the steep trail after crossing the river! Several times at Redwood Camp parties would stumble into my campsite and ask me where the hot springs are!! I always had bad news to give them, "three miles back the way you came."!
Big Sur Trail
This trail is a foot powered roller coaster between Coast Ridge and the Pine Ridge Trail. I recommend this as a two day hike, with Rainbow Camp being the best place to lay out your bag. The photos in my gallery say it all. In addition, the trip up the Devils Stairway twixt Rainbow and Cold Creek Camp is sheer torture of a hot day, and must be a real knee knocker in the other direction! Hiking up from Rainbow, I've never made it past Cold Creek. Always overnighting at the smallish roadside camp. Works out good though, because the trip out in the morning has always given up breathtaking vistas of the Ventana Wilderness inner core. As with all of the wilderness's back country trails, adaptability and a spirit of perseverance will go a long way to smoothing out the roughness, brush, lost tread, slideouts, and deadfalls along the trail!
Black Cone Trail
Drop dead gorgeous vistas West to the ocean. Venturi Camp is small, but comfortable. It is on a high ridge so nights can be cold, and there is no water. In fact, I found the whole trail dry except for a good spring near White Mountain. Mostly good tread, even in areas that were overgrown. A volunteer trail crew works Black Cone and it shows. This is my favorite trail so far!
South Fork Trail
Upper South Fork Trail between the South Fork of the Big Sur River and Strawberry Camp is very steep and probably overgrown with tread being feint in places. It in fact might not be, just expect it. Downstream of South Fork Camp a slide has damned up the river, and the trail in this area has disappeared. The trail crosses the river just past the dam, and you might have to look hard if it's not marked (I missed it the first time and had to backtrack). South Fork Camp is shady under all those hardwoods but be prepared for mosquitoes, and probably lots of everything else that crawls and slithers. Think tent!
Coast Ridge Road
This is a well maintained dirt road, at least as far as Cold Springs. Although gated in numerous locations this is a thoroughfare for hikers and equestrians. Certainly you should always respect the privacy of property owners along this, and any other trail. if the coast is not fogbound the views over the ocean are spectacular. My little galleries certainly don't do justice to these vistas. Also, even if the coast is wrapped in fog, the inner core of the Ventana is wide open, with tongues of fog licking the canyon bottoms (I should really work on my writing ;>) ). It's all very gradual, wide, and private, with the entrance from hwy. 1 at the beautiful Ventana Inn.