Chris_Brown

Cone Peak
http://www.summitpost.org/cone-peak/150519
Cone Peak is a 5100 ft mountain in the Santa Lucia range in southern Big Sur. Only a few miles from the sea as the crow flies, there are few mountains in the world that rise as high as this one, as close to the sea as this one is. The result is spectacular views and varied ecosystems, from the coast, the redwoods, to mixed chaparral. The total distance is about 12 miles. You can also drive up to it on Coast Ridge Road to a trail head at about 3300 ft.

Kirk Creek
http://www.forestcamping.com/dow/pacficsw/lospcmp.htm
Kirk Creek is in southern Big Sur. It is run by the Los Padres National Forest service. Campsites sit on a bluff overlooking the ocean. This is the closest to the ocean you can get when camping in Big Sur. If you want to hear the waves crash against the shore as you fall asleep this is the place to be. The spaces are small and close together which can be a bummer if your neighbors are slobs. But I have never had bad neighbors here. In fact the 'coolness' of the people is one of the things I like about it.
To get a spot at Kirk Creek, you have to be there first thing in the morning. You have to walk around and look at the reservation tags and try to figure out who is leaving that day. Then you have to go register and put your own tag up. I noticed there were some spots that were reserved. Apparently you can now reserve some spots on-line. This is new to me and I don't know much about it.


Thur
Thursday evening we packed our gear and drove down HWY 1 to Kirk Creek Campground. Kirk Creek is first come first served and it is always full. So we have a back up place we use just for this situation. Past Kirk Creek a few hundred yards is Nacimento-Ferguson Rd. Take a left up the hill and after about 300 yards look for a turnout on the right with a sign for Mill Creek. Park and walk a hundred yards or so and at the top of the hill you will find a nice flat place to camp. It was raining so we had to set up a tent in the dark and the rain which made the inside of tent wet and as a result we were wet and cold all night.

Fri
Got down to Kirk Creek first thing in the morning and secured a spot. The current occupants were not going to leave until late in the afternoon so they let us unpack our gear and leave it behind a tree. We were meeting our wives that day and they were scheduled to arrive about noon. So with about 5 hours to kill we drove down to Sand Dollar State Beach and I fished while my buddy snorkeled. Spiny lobsters are what he was going for. You dive down and try to be real still before just picking them up off the floor of the ocean with a net or spearing them. They are a little bigger than a crawdad so it takes a whole lot of them to feed anyone. I caught surf perch all day long but no one I know, including me, likes surf perch so I threw them back. After a few hours we had 15 spiny lobsters. We broke out the stove and boiled some water in a picnic area and within 30 minutes we were eating our catch. They were very very good but way too much work removing the shells for a very little bit of meat.

We headed back to the campground, met our wives and starting getting them situated. They were going to stay at Kirk Creek while we hiked Cone Peak. So we set up their tents and then headed up the 5 miles to Vicente Flat. Vicente Flat (Also spelled Vincente) sits at about 2000 feet in huge, old growth and second growth redwood trees along Hare Creek. We walked downstream a bit and set up in an area next to a crystal clear blue pool with a small waterfall. Absolutely beautiful. The rain had stopped but it was cold.

Sat
Today we day hiked up to Cone Peak and back. The last two miles are extremely tough with a bunch of elevation gain. The weather was cloudy and threatening but it never rained too much. Some sprinkles here and there. It was cold however. I don't think it got over 45 that day. Views from the top were poor due to the clouds.

Sun
Very cold this morning. Stayed in my sleeping bag as long as possible before getting up and making the 5 mile hike back to Kirk Creek. Arrived about noon and we spent the afternoon taking our time driving home. Stopped in Castroville for some Texan BBQ. http://www.yelp.com/biz/central-texan-bbq-castroville
Place is always hit or miss but today it was HIT. Love me some brisket!

Summary
Cone peak is probably better in the spring and summer. Was hoping to get lucky but the weather was disappointing. I hate climbing a mountain not to see anything. Oh well.

november_moon

So you had a rainy weekend camping too. We all should have gone over Halloween - the weather was fabulous then.

I love Kirk Creek campground, but we have never stayed there due to the popularity and first-come-first-served situation. It is a great location though.