Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Mosquito Springs Camp Trail
leads east, dropping 500 feet in half a mile. This can
be a slippery descent over loose tread obscured by overgrowth. Fortunately, someone
has placed yellow flagging at the major switchbacks. As the trail levels off, you'll
reach
Mosquito Springs Camp
(8.6 miles, 3940'), which offers a few flat tent sites
nestled between granite talus and aggressive growth stemming from the 1999 Kirk
Complex Fires. Be aware that the one or two decent sites lie along the runoff path
for winter storms. True to the camp name, mosquitoes thrive here in spring and early
summer, diminishing again by fall. While water is available before camp during the
wet season (November through April), it's reliable year-round at camp in all but the
driest years.
From the junction, the Black Cone Trail contours just west of the ridgelines that
separate the
Big Sur
and
Arroyo Seco
drainages. You'll meander on and off the spine,
eventually arriving at a saddle atop a steep, narrow canyon that holds the western
headwaters of
Tassajara Creek,
just below point 4135 feet on the USFS map. The
saddle hosts
Venturi Camp
(10.7 miles, 4100'), littered by such random artifacts as
a pair of pliers and a rusty rake. There's enough room for two tents, but the nearest
water is 0.4 mile farther along the trail at
White Cone Springs.
The sheer topography
exposes the camp to strong, cold winds that funnel up from the canyon.
Beyond camp the trail skirts the western flanks of an enormous white granite
peak known locally as
White Cone.
Over the next 0.3 mile you'll pass two impressive
peaks marked as 4721 feet and 4719 feet on the USFS map (the trail doesn't thread
the peaks as drawn on the USFS map, but remains well below them on the contour).
You'll soon reach the first of three reliable springs (11.1 miles, 4240'), though this one
may run dry in drought years. White Cone Springs is 0.1 mile farther, gushing over
moss-covered white granite cliffs. Head east 0.4 mile toward a massive granite face
to find the
third spring
(11.5 miles, 4100').
Beyond the springs, the trail descends toward a prominent forked
ridge
(12.1
miles, 4100'), offering views northwest to the Big Sur watershed and Pacific. From
this vantage point, you can see most of the remaining 3 miles of the Black Cone Trail
as it winds past the western flanks of
Black Cone
before dropping into
Strawberry
Valley.
