Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Back at the saddle, the Gamboa Trail begins just left of a large pine snag, 50 feet
before you reach a large fallen oak across the trail. The trail follows an ancient Amer-
ican Indian trading route past Coulter pines and Douglas and Santa Lucia firs. Filtered
views overlook the South Fork's remote swimming holes and glistening
Pacific
bey-
ond. Trail conditions along this stretch are dramatically better than on the Stone Ridge
Trail. The route is well defined with no encroaching brush. Descend the gentle grade
1.6 miles to
Trail Spring Camp
and the
Coast Ridge Trail junction
(10.9 miles,
3800').
Trail Spring Camp offers one small site on sloping ground beside the unreliable
headwaters of South Fork Devils Creek. To find water in dry months, anticipate a
steep 300-foot descent 0.3 mile along the boulder wash. The
Coast Ridge Trail
con-
tinues 1.5 miles across the boulder-strewn gully to the end of
Cone Peak Road.
Twenty feet above camp is the signed
Cone Peak Trail junction
(10.9 miles, 3800').
Short switchbacks climb quickly to a broad, boulder-lined creek bed, only wet
during heavy rains. Here enormous sugar pines tower above an open canopy of
scorched manzanitas, tanoaks, scrub oaks, and ceanothus. As you climb longer
switchbacks toward the isolated summit, you'll pass rare, endemic Santa Lucia firs,
Santa Lucia bedstraw, and Santa Lucia lupines.
The trail reaches a narrow ridge between Devils and Limekiln Canyons that leads
west to Cone Peak's neighbor, 4843-foot
Twin Peak.
Follow this ridge east to the
Cone Peak Summit Trail junction
(12.1 miles, 4830'). The 0.3-mile spur climbs
short, steep switchbacks to the 5155-foot summit (see
TRIP 62 Cone Peak Trail
,
for
details).
From here it's 2 miles east along the Cone Peak Trail to Cone Peak Road. Again,
refer to
TRIP 62 Cone Peak Trail
and follow that trail description in reverse. At Cone
Peak Road, turn right and descend 530 feet in 1.5 miles to reach the
Vicente Flat
Trailhead
at Mile 3.7. For directions to
Vicente Flat Camp
, see
TRIP 64 Vicente
