
Pack out your trash and protect natural water sources. When hiking the trail please refrain from entering the campground section of the park. The Nature Station Store, which is located at the Big Sur Station, provides hikers with maps and other literature associated with the natural history of the Big Sur region. The recently opened trailhead at the Big Sur Station has excellent parking, plenty of water, and clean restrooms. The Pine Ridge Trail (closed until further notice) provides visitors to the Big Sur Valley with one of the most popular portals into the Ventana Wilderness. The 237 miles of trails provide access to the 55 designated trail camps. Hikers and backpackers can find solitude while enjoying the diverse natural features of the Santa Lucia Mountains.
#VENTANA BIG SUR WATERFALL NATIONAL PARL DOWNLOAD#
Los Padres National Forest maps, publications, alerts & notices, learning center, "about the forest," news and events.Ģ) Do I need a Campfire Permit? Yes, and you can download it here.ģ) Do I need a campfire permit if I'm using a gas stove? YESĤ) Is Plaskett Ridge open for camping. This rare spire-like tree is only found in the Santa Lucia Mountains. Scattered stands of the endemic Santa Lucia Fir are found in rocky outcrops and rugged slopes at higher elevations. The deep canyons cut by the Big Sur and Little Sur Rivers support virgin stands of coastal redwoods. Contrasting annual grass meadows and open pine stands may be found throughout the Wilderness. Much of the Wilderness is covered by chaparral. 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.


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. Waterfalls, deep pools and thermal springs are found along major streams. Most streams fall rapidly through narrow vertical-walled canyons flowing on bedrock or a veneer of boulders. Elevations range from 600 feet, where the Big Sur River leaves the wilderness, to about 5,750 feet at the wilderness boundary circumventing Junipero Serra Peak. Topography in the Wilderness is characterized by steep-sided, sharp-crested ridges separating V-shaped valleys. The forest stretches across almost 220 miles from the Big Sur coast in Monterey County to the western edge of Los Angeles County. Los Padres National Forest encompasses nearly two million acres in the beautiful coastal mountains of central California.

The Ventana Wilderness contains 240,026 acres straddling the Santa Lucia Mountains south of the Monterey Peninsula and is part of the Los Padres National Forest. Because of this legend, the early Spanish inhabitants named the outcrop Ventana, which means window in Spanish. Legends relate that at one time the unique notch at the mountains top was roofed over by a rock bridge. T he Ventana Wilderness owes its name to a dramatic mountain peak known as Ventana Double Cone.
