Big Sur - Hiking and Backpacking Big Sur - page 328

Trip Description
This hike begins along the first 4.2 miles of Coast Ridge Road, which offers con-
venient mile markers. From the gate (1040'), the road skirts the prestigious Ventana
Inn and its short guest trails. In a few minutes, you'll pass several private driveways
and cross a shallow redwood-fringed gully (1 mile, 1420').
Past this creeklet, the trail crosses a smaller gully, where a creek cascades 40
feet down a sugary white marble stalagmite (1.2 miles, 1460'). This formation deve-
loped as marble deposits flowed downstream and accumulated at the base of the gully.
Marble is one of the oldest rocks in the youthful Santa Lucia Range, stretching back
hundreds of millions of years to a mountain range in what is now Mexico. The ancient
rocks migrated north along the numerous northwest-trending faults to create some of
the region's most dramatic features.
Beyond the gully, you'll continue to climb exposed Coast Ridge. Briefly return-
ing to shade, the route passes through a second locked gate (1.5 miles, 1635'). After
half a mile, the trail switchbacks and leads to impressive views northwest along the
Big Sur River canyon to the Pacific. Continue 0.3 mile to a saddle, where dramatic
inland views feature 4853-foot Ventana Double Cone, whose barren notched peak
dominates the skyline just 5 miles northeast.
The road veers right from the saddle to a minor gully (3 miles, 2100'), passing a
steep, gated private driveway on your left. Onward, the vegetation changes to rolling
grasslands, highlighted in spring by spectacular wildflowers. You'll steadily climb
four minor ridges, then crest a fifth, which offers the best views thus far.
From the saddle, you'll cross to an adjacent ridge and head north toward a prom-
inent saddle. At mile 4, the road turns east past a spur road on your left. A hundred
yards farther, you'll reach a second saddle and the signed Terrace Creek Trail junc-
tion (4.2 miles, 2590'), also on your left.
From this junction, you'll descend 1270 vertical feet along the steep 1.6-mile
trail. Start out past encroaching brush that rebounded aggressively following a fire
years back. Keep watch for abundant poison oak. After 0.3 mile, the trail crosses the
typically dry headwaters of Terrace Creek and switchbacks down oak- and madrone-
clad slopes.
You'll follow the east bank for the next quarter mile before crossing the creek
to continue your descent of the steep canyon. The creek holds true to its name, as it
cascades past terraces of lush ferns, emerging mushroom caps, and delicate redwood
sorrel. Follow the switchbacks another mile through the primeval redwood forest to
Terrace Creek Camp and the Pine Ridge Trail junction (5.8 miles, 1320').
Nestled along the creek beneath a narrow belt of redwoods, the camp offers three
small sites above the trail junction (with a pit toilet) and three below the junction. The