Big Sur Backcountry Offers a Bounty of Hiking Trails

The Ventana Wilderness owes its name to a dramatic mountain peak known as Ventana Double Cone. Legends relate that at one time the unique notch at the mountain’s top was roofed over by a rock bridge. Because of this legend, the early Spanish inhabitants named the outcrop “Ventana,” which means window in Spanish.

The Ventana Wilderness contains 167,323 acres  straddling the Santa Lucia Mountains south of the Monterey Peninsula. A unique area of rugged coastal
mountains, the Ventana Wilderness is managed by the United States Forest Service.

Topography in the Wilderness is characterized by steep-sided, sharp-crested ridges separating Vshaped valleys. Elevations range from 600 feet, where the Big Sur River leaves the wilderness, to about 5,750 f eet at the wilderness boundary circumventing Junipero Serra Peak. Most streams fall rapidly through narrow vertical-walled canyons flowing on bedrock or a veneer of boulders. Waterfalls, deep pools and thermal springs are found along major streams.

The climate is mild. Precipitation falls primarily as rain from November to April and ranges widely from more than 100 inches annually along the Coast Ridge to less than 30 inches only a few miles inland. The cool marine influence does not extend past the coastal ridges, thus most areas east of the divide are hot and dry during the Summer and early Fall.

Much of the wilderness is covered by chaparral. Contrasting annual grass meadows and open pine stands may be found throughout the Wilderness. The
deep canyons cut by the Big Sur and Little Sur rivers support virgin stands of coastal redwoods.
For local Big Sur trail information and for getting your backcountry permits and where to pick them up in Big Sur, call Big Sur Chamber of Commerce
(831) 667-2315 Or Visit web at www.bigsurcalifornia.org.