Backpacking the San Rafael Wilderness, Los Padres National Forest
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 ต.ค. 2024
- Follow "Over the Hills" on a rugged 4-day backpack along the upper Sisquoc River in the San Rafael Wilderness, Los Padres National Forest, California (April 18-21, 2019). This backpack is not for the faint of heart and, on account of the multiple hazards, we highly recommend you carry a satellite communicator of some sort if you aim to follow this route.
The GPX file for this backpacking loop can be downloaded from:
www.dropbox.co...
You two are the cutest couple ever! And gnarly hikers...I'm impressed! Thank you for sharing!
The Los padres is my home away from home forest. I went to ucsb and backpacked a ton in school. That being said, your description is absolutely spot on with the San Rafael experience. Rattlesnakes. Poison oak. And tick bites. Lesser known and less used than other forests, but in my opinion, much harder than any sierras trails I’ve done. all things considered. Great video.
We've done a bunch of trips there along both the Sespe and Sisquoc. I shot video on a clockwise loop from Nira via Manzana Schoolhouse to South Fork and back via Fish Creek. We've done this loop twice and each time it was epic but I've never compiled it into a video. The upper Sisquoc is even harder, going past the Bear campsites to Alamar camp and looping back to the car. I'm worried that if I compile any videos of those backpacks my wife will watch them and she'll never want to return.
Ive hiked most of what you did on this trail over 5 separate hikes with my daughter and sons.. my first piece was through mission pine spring in 1972
I love it! Did you know that NIRA stands for the National Industrial Recovery Act? I did my own big adventure in some of the same area in May. That Big Cone Spruce trail was really horrible! You're not kidding it was the hardest 2 miles ever. On my hike I specifically avoided the upper Sisquoc because I knew it would be so many creek crossings. I did a thru-hike from Nira to the PCT. Our backcountry is so much better, so much more a wilderness experience, than the PCT.
No, I didn't know what NIRA stands for. The upper Sisquoc has a lot less creek crossings than the lower. We'll have to revisit the lower some time. That's just as wild as the upper and, yes, so much more wild than the PCT.
When I backpacked there in 1989 or 90 there had been a drought so the creeks were all dry. We backpacked to upper Bear camp and ran into a black bear in the trail camp.
We figured all those camps must be called Bear for a reason, but we've never seen one thereabouts. You were lucky!
This is a fantastic video. The shots are really well done, the music sets the tone and the dialogue all weaves seamlessly. Makes me think you may have worked in media. Also you have a real nature bent and I was thinking you could be a stand in for Attenborough should he need to take a break. Looking to do a hike with friends and family up in the Padres this Summer. This video gave me lots of inspiration. Thanks for sharing.
Richard or David Attenburgh? Thanks for the kind words, or more likely you're pulling my leg::-) I've got another video to do on the lower Sisquoc, from Manzana Scoolhouse to South Fork. That was also a gnarly trip and equally remote but well worth the effort.
I've backpacked and day hiked several times in the San Tafeal wilderness before I left California. I never made it to Mormon Camp with the ruins and cemetery. Lots of ticks there
Thanks for sharing. Some of my favorite trails. I did the lower Sisquoc loop a month before this. It's had some work done and is in pretty good shape for now. Too many crossings to stop and take you shoes off though - gotta wade through. p.s. Technu Extreme
We've done that loop too, going from Manzana schoolhouse to South Fork station, back in 2013. It's also very wild. Fortunately, very fortunately, we don't seem to be allergic to poison oak.
"I'm just a Patsy!" - Lee Harvey Oswald
Different Patsy :-)
🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
Another good video Richard and Patsy I was probably one of the people watching sports and drinking beer last Saturday. Did either of you get any poison oak after walking through so much of it or did you have some sort of poison oak wash or remover?
We are both extremely fortunate not to be allergic to poison oak. Along the Sisquoc it was avoidable, but on the 2 mile stretch from Big Cone Spruce to Manzana Narrows it was unavoidable. It would literally be in our faces as we crawled through the fallen trees. Patsy's doctor prescribed a course of Doxycycline, just to be on the safe side, and sent the tick off to be tested. I had removed most of the tick and kept it. There was no bull's eye rash but that's not 100% reliable as a negative indicator of Lyme disease. I made the video to remind us, in another 8 years when our memory has faded, that we might want to consider doing something else instead of repeating this loop a third time :-) Meanwhile there's another great loop along the lower part of the Sisquoc River, from Manzana Schoolhouse to South Fork. Patsy recalls that being even more difficult, but maybe that's because it was then that we were trapped at South Fork by a freak storm.
Over the Hills My backyard it was nice to see people from far away come and enjoy it I enjoy you people you were very nice I can see thank you for the video