Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Beyond the ranch, the trail closely follows Church Creek for the next 0.3 mile
before beginning a moderate ascent of the east bank toward a minor ridge. Pause here
for views of the sloping sandstone beds that parallel
Church Creek Fault,
as well
as the open ridges and oak savannas back along the trail. Past an often-dry creek bed
(4.7 miles, 2630'), the trail reenters the Ventana Wilderness and climbs 0.2 mile, skirt-
ing prime wildlife habitat. These oak savannas teem with grazing deer, moles, rabbits,
mice, stealthy bobcats, and scavenging coyotes. Acorn woodpeckers hammer away
noisily at the thick bark of oaks and pines, building caches for their favorite nut.
As the trail again strays from the creek, it climbs past scattered oaks to the
sixth
divide
(5.3 miles, 3130'). Notice the striking differences in plant communities amid
the sandstone outcrops, with chaparral on higher slopes, small clusters of Santa Lucia
firs and ponderosa pines nestled along the canyon, and open oak woodlands below.
Past two small seasonal creeks, the trail wraps along steep slopes through dense thick-
ets of ceanothus, manzanita, scrub oak, and poison oak.
Fire-scarred madrones, ponderosas, black oaks, and manzanitas have made an
impressive comeback since the 1999 Kirk Complex Fires ravaged these slopes. Un-
fortunately, these aggressive, fire-adapted species are quickly overtaking the trail.
Someone has managed to slash back much of the encroaching vegetation, but regular
maintenance is needed to keep the trail clear. Beyond these densely overgrown sec-
tions, the trail crosses several gullies past the often-dry headwaters of Church Creek
to the seventh and final divide,
Church Creek Divide
(6.8 miles, 3651').
PICTURES FROM THE PAST
On Bruce Church Ranch, amid arching overhangs and rock shelters labeled
THE
CAVES
on the USFS map, visitors will find a series of ancient pictographs. The many
handprints on these rock walls offer proof of the practically vanished Esselen people,
whose homeland once encompassed the Ventana Wilderness. A 1972 excavation of
the rock shelters along Church Creek recovered artifacts that prove the Esselen sur-
vived in this canyon for many years following the arrival of Spanish missionaries
in 1770, perhaps remaining in remote areas of the Santa Lucia Range through the
mid-1800s.
Hostility toward American Indians was commonplace in California during this
period. Most Esselen either assimilated, succumbed to disease, or were killed in war-
fare. Tragically, much of their culture, trading systems, religion, and language were
also lost. No one knows why the Esselen left this rock art, but in 1929, poet Robin-
son Jeffers wrote the following verse to commemorate the pictographs:
Hands
Inside a cave in a narrow canyon near Tassajara
