My 4th trip to Big Sur was not clearly defined. At best, we hoped to complete the full 32-mile loop. We were concerned, however, that winter storm damage had closed some of our trails. The forest service had one of our trails as impassable. Therefore, we were going to go as far as we could, and then return.
After a tough climb we made it to the Vincente Flats campsite. There are 2 trails leaving there. We were going to leave on the West one, and come back on the East one. The trail coming into Vincente Flats was supposed to be good, and the trails out were supposed to be passable. Well, the good trail we came in on was not very good. In places it was really not good at all. We had our doubts about the “passable” trails.
We had planned to take the West trail over 1 more ridge to get to the middle fork camp for the night. We have taken that trail before, and knew the bad spot would be just before we got to the camp. While I rested at Vincente (and I needed a rest), Dave checked out the East trail where we knew the bad spot would be much closer.
It was a wise decision because Dave found the trail impassable. Therefore, we decided to spend the night at Vicente Flats, and leave our camping gear there, while we did a day hike to the middle fork camp the next day. Another wise decision. The day hike was great because I was not carrying a 45 lb. backpack. In the area where we feared the trail might have been damaged by winter storms, the trail was gone. Absolutely no way to proceed. Instead of spending hours making a new trail, only to find a new bad spot around every turn, we decided to return to Vincente Flats, pack up, and head home.
It is true the storm damage stopped us, but I am very sure I could not have made the full loop with my 45 lb. backpack in our 3-day timeframe. My last backpacking trip was 3 years ago to Langley Peak. I think my backpack was only 35 lb. That extra 10 lb. (and 3 years) was a killer. That extra weight was items I thought would get us passed the bad spots. It was a waste of time, because nothing was going to get us past those spots.
….and age is becoming a factor. The backpack fit fine. No problems with pain in arms legs, back, knees, or anywhere else. The climb to Vincente Flats had only 10–15-degree grades, but I could feel the energy slowly slipping away. We all take rest breaks, but the time between rest breaks is now much shorter. We all fight Father Time. No one has won yet!
I have described the hike in the comments pictures located here.