Outdoors

Choose Your Adventure

Sykes Hot Springs: Hiker’s Paradise

WRITTEN BY PADEN FOLLOWWILL

Our community is a hardworking one, and we each hold dearly this “SLO Life” that allows us to enjoy the fact that we live where others vacation. However, when workloads mount and pressure rises, it behooves many to find a weekend escape within easy driving distance, but remote enough to fully unplug and rejuvenate both mind and soul.

Spring offers a great opportunity to explore popular destinations before the summer crowds have arrived and all the flora and fauna are in full swing.

Big Sur is a labyrinth of beautiful treks for all ranges of activity, but my favorite weekend getaway is the picturesque hike to Sykes Hot Springs. Just 10 miles each way from the Highway 1 trailhead, it makes the perfect weekend trip. After steady elevation gains and declines alternating in intensity through the 300-foot-tall redwood trees of the Pine Ridge corridor, hikers are rewarded each mile with a new vista overlooking the incredible Ventana Wilderness.

The trail begins within the Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park, tucked under coastal greenery and towering redwoods. The initial uphill section of the trail can be daunting, but each painful elevation gain rewards you with another incredible view.

Peaceful panoramic views of densely wooded hills, dotted in radiant greens and filled with cheerful melodies of little birds chirping, peak out from the trail. It is good to be reminded of the intoxicating energy in nature. Life seems so simple, so pleasant.

I love long treks, especially when there is an attraction at the end of the journey. At the end of this 10-mile expedition, just when you’re starting to want food and shelter, the road bends and twists and turns you down to the tranquil hidden gem you’ve been hiking for all day. alongside 100-degree pools. Sykes Hot Springs are boulder-lined and large enough to fit about six people. Depending on the water flow at that time of the year other smaller pools can sometimes be found between it and the river marked by cairns (stone markers) that previous visitors have left behind.

I have to warn the naturalists reading this, the origins of the geothermal waters are natural, but the pools you see are enhanced with manmade barriers holding the waters in perfect, rounded enclosures. It is still beautiful in its own right, but the pools themselves have been altered to capture the warm water and afford tired hikers with a rewarding soak at the end of a long day.

The Pine Ridge trailhead, where the hike to Sykes Camp and the springs begin, is behind the parking lot at the Big Sur Forest Service station, three miles south of the town of Big Sur. For those looking for a longer hike, no need to worry, the Pine Ridge corridor goes up ten miles to Sykes and then another fourteen miles beyond,linking with numerous other trails on the way.

In 2008 there was a large forest fire which closed the trail to Sykes for almost two years. The good news for locals is that it is open again and the area has recovered well.

It’s rumored that signs steering tourists to this tranquil destination occasionally get removed. So better to grab directions before you rely solely on signs to guide you.

You will need a permit to stay overnight so stop in at the ranger station at the parking lot by the trailhead and make sure you acquire one.

SLO LIFE