Charlotte and I are headed south this morning to put in a big hike down in Big Sur. Our initial destination is Bottchers Gap trailhead in Los Padres National Forest and the Ventana Wilderness with a hike out to Mt. Carmel. It's an incredible, warm, sunny day and we're really looking forward to the views. Unfortunately we discover the entire area is closed due to the big fire this past summer. We get a nice view of the burn, along with a pleasant conversation with the ranger. Seems he's kept pretty busy reminding people they can't hike in the area.

We make a nice stop on the coast once we finally get back from the long, windy trip inland. This sure brings back the memories from my SLO ride last spring.

We head back to a trailhead we spotted in Garrapata State Park. The hills looked beautiful from the road, so it's time to pack up and head out. The hike starts out easy as we wind our way along the creek. It quickly turns upward very steeply as we head for the summit. We've got plenty of company as everyone sweats heavily with the effort.

Charlotte takes a GPS location at the top. Where are we?

Once we turn towards the coast, the views are outstanding. We're also enjoying the flat trail after all the effort. The trail down looks pretty steep.

It's a pretty intense hike heading all the way down to the coast again. It sure looks to me like we took the right direction on this loop. Going this way would have been a bear. What an awesome way to spend the day.