Big Sur- Pine Ridge Trail- Sykes Hot Springs Trip - Day 2

There's something awesome about waking up next to a river. There's something awful as well.

I woke up cold and shivering, which is odd when I'm packing a 20 degree bag. I knew to expect colder temperatures near the river, but what I didn't expect was the condensation getting to my bag. Apparently, during the night, I had shifted enough that my toe box had come into contact with the end of my tent. The condensation went straight to my bag, soaking the down in my feet area. Not good.

Still, it could be worse. The sun was out, and it was time for breakfast!

I wasted little time and broke down my tent, getting everything ready. After finishing breakfast, I waited for the others to pack up, and we were on our way.

Soon, we were back on the trail. The morning sun position gave us plenty of shade for the remainder of the hike, which was far more severe than the first day.

Once again, we passed more hikers, all heading AWAY from Sykes. Each person said there were only ten people there, but having passed ten people or more on the trail, we started to doubt their estimations.

The more people we passed, the more we started to worry. Why did everyone keep saying there were only ten people there, when we just passed yet another ten within the hour? 

For miles, it seemed, we climbed and climbed. It felt like the entire path was uphill, which made little sense, as the river was well below us. At one point, we reached a rock on the ground with an arrow. We stood over it, puzzled, until we saw what the arrow pointed to:

Whoever wrote that, we thank you. True to the word of the rock, the rest of the trip was all downhill.

Closing in on the river, we came across to lads who were sweaty, tired, and disgruntled. They explained they had started the trip three days prior, searching everywhere for the hot springs, but had never found them. I looked down the hill, to the river that was now visible- I pointed, and gloom covered their faces. Apparently, they had taken the trail across the river that we had been previously warned about. Instead of following the river downstream, they continued up the trail, miles past Sykes, clear to Redwood. I invited them to join us, but they left dismayed- they were out of food, and had already made arrangements to meet people that night. We said our goodbyes and continued on. At this point, I was grateful yet again we had stayed in Barlow Flat. Had we tried to traverse this section in the dark, who knows where we may have ended up.

That opinion was only reinforced later.

We finished the short hike down the hill, arriving at the river. Sure enough, across the riverbank was a trail heading up and right, but I knew the springs were down the river to the left. Curious enough, though, there was no trail to be seen. We trudged down the river, fording across to the other side. It was there we met an older gal fetching water. She pointed downstream, where the trail would pick up again. She invited us to pitch camp next to her group, but I was looking for isolation. We set our packs down and searched for potential campsites.

Aside from the older folks at the initial campsite, there were few people at the springs. A couple down the way with a dog, a young gal in her 20's, and two other guys in their 30's, was closing in on that magic "10" that everyone spoke of. We were told there was another couple far down the path, but we never saw them.

We picked a campsite within eyeshot of the springs, and left one of our group to hold the spot. I grabbed her pack and brought it back to our new spot, where we pitched camp.

Once camp was set, we went back to the hotsprings, relaxing as we soaked- alone. There was no one else in the springs, leaving us our choice of each of the tubs. When facing the hot springs from the river, there is a large one up top, a large one in the center, a dirty one on the bottom right, and cold one in the bottom center, and a nice hidden one on the bottom left. After soaking for an hour, we headed back to camp for dinner.

My friends quickly learned the river is not nearly as warm as the hot springs.

I did my laundry and set my clothes out to dry, then cooked dinner.

Never underestimate how useful a clothesline can be.

My Skyscape X to the left, their REI Half Dome T2 on the right.

 I was very happy with my water filtering system. I loved my Platypus Gravityworks system, but I wanted some more versatility. Here I have a mini sawyer filter working as an inline filter with a Platypus Big Zip LP 3L.

Here's a closeup of my Six Moon Designs Skyscape X tent. I love this thing. 

As you can see, the nearest tent was still a ways off.

Don't stay too long in the hot springs.

After dinner, we found a hot spring that was empty, and soaked for a long time under the starry night. Some people were starting to show up late, shining flashlights around, but for the most part it was very quiet and peaceful. Granted, there were still more people around than I would have liked, but the springs made up for it.

More hidden trails.

View from the first campsite, where we dropped our packs.

Getting to the hotsprings meant taking one of several hidden trails. You can avoid getting in the river altogether, if you can find the right trails.

To be continued in Part 3.