Sykes Hot Springs
Sykes Hot Springs, Big Sur California Backpacking
First Trip to Sykes 8/31/13
The Plan:
At 3pm Friday I will pick Hanif up at his house and then I will drive to Joey's place to pick him up. We then drive the 5 hours to Big Sur. We eat dinner somewhere and then camp in the van by the trail head for Sykes. Saturday morning at sunrise we backpack to Sykes hot springs. We set up camp. Sunday morning we hike back to the car and drive home.
What Happened:
I picked everyone up by 4pm on Friday 8/31/13 and then we spent a couple hours at adventure 16 before we finally hit the Pacific Coast Highway. The 1 highway up by Big Sur was covered in deer around 1am when we got up there and we had to preceded around the turns at 10 mph just to avoid crashing into one. It was late and we wanted to sleep so we pulled into a lookout of the ocean and slept in the van.
We woke up early Saturday morning and drove to the trail head for Sykes. We parked and hit the trail. The first mile was killer! Nothing but steep uphill. The hike was moderate but seemed harder. The 10 miles to the hot springs was exhausting. The website for Sykes warned us that there would be tons of people and nowhere to pitch our tent...when we arrived at the hot springs there was maybe 20 people and enough room for us. The people we talked to said that the website for Sykes tries to dissuade people from going by warning about huge crowds. After setting camp we gladly threw our trunks on and hit the hot springs. We sat there until night fall letting our tired feet soak. Sunday morning we hit the hot springs one last time then hiked the 10 miles back to the van. We drove home Sunday.
My Gear List:
4 person Tent (We split the pieces to carry)
45 Degree Sleeping Bag
Air Mat
Stove, Kettle, Cup, Spoon
Trekking Poles
Headlamp, GoPro, Tent Lantern
Swim Trunks, Vibram 5 finger water shoes, Hiking pants, Wool Socks (2 pair), Sport Underwear (2 pair) Hiking Shirt, T-Shirt, Hiking Boots, Hat, Sun Glasses, Pack Towel
Sawyer 4L gravity fed water filtration system
Food, First Aid, Etc.
Regrets or wish list:
There were hundreds of flies around us at all times. Not once did you get a break from the flies. It must be a late August thing. A head net or bug hat would have been very welcome.
A fire is always nice...
