April 3&4, 2011 Arroyo Seco River and Ventana Wilderness

Christine and I ventured south for a weekend exploring the Arroyo Seco watershed and Ventana Wilderness. Left on a Saturday morning from Palo Alto and arrived before noon at Arroyo Seco campground. Our goal was to explore Tassajara Zen Center area along Tassajara Creek, but no luck. The water was too high to cross safely. We'll have to go back in a couple months when it's warmer and the creeks are lower. We did spend a great night along the river and barely saw a soul. We were the only ones camping overnight.

HOW TO GET THERE:

HWY 101 to Greenfield. From the town of Greenfield head west on Arroyo Seco Rd (G16). Arroyo Seco Rd. will split at Millers Ranch. If you stay right the road turns into Carmel Valley Rd (backway to Carmel). Stay left (south/west) on Arroyo Seco Road.
Eventually you'll see signs for Los Padres National Forest . Continue past the gate at Arroyo Seco Station (over the bridge) and continue as if you were going to the lakes.
Continue past the established campgrounds until you basically can't drive anymore because there is a gate before the road transitions to dirt & gravel. You'll see several small parking lots and signs for the "Gorge". Park in one of these, drop some money in the honors system box for parking and start hiking on the road. The road parallels the Arroyo Seco river, so just keep going as long as you'd like, even all th way to Big Sur.

MAP REFERENCES: Wilderness Press Recreation Map, Big Sur and Ventana Wilderness.

 Arroyo Seco River

 Fire Road that overlooks Arroyo Seco Canyon

 Arroyo Seco River along Indians Road

 The swimming hole under the bridge at the confluence of Arroyo Seco and Willow Creek

Great place to go swimming in early summer

 Willow Creek just downstream from Tassajara Creek confluence

 Our campsite at "Tassajara Creek" primitive campground

Christine's favorite part - crossing over Willow Creek

"THE GORGE"