One of the earliest Forest Service topographers, in an endeavor to convey a written description of this mountain country, said: "The relief of the Reserve (Los Padres National Forest) is very high, rugged and precipitous, and the study of such a broken surface, even with the aid of a contour map, will not be easy for the laymen”.
William S. (Billy) Brown 1945
Pouring over old maps and any historical Los Padres National Forest articles I can get my hands on has become somewhat of a favorite pastime of mine. Reviewing material of the Hurricane Deck and Southern trails in the San Rafael Wilderness brought to my attention the reroute of Potrero Canyon 29W12. The current trail takes off a touch over a mile downstream from the Manzana Trail-head and climbs fairly steeply high above the creek, through Negus Meadow along the Southern face of the Deck before terminating on to 30W14 (The Hurricane Deck Trail).
Manzana Trail-Head
High above Manzana Creek the Deck looming in the distance.
Potrero Canyon Camp
Much earlier maps show a different route that followed along Potrero Creek gently meandering up canyon approximately 1.4 miles before abruptly climbing out the next one and a half miles to the top of the Hurricane Deck (see example below).
1967 LPNF Recreation Map. Notice 29W12 following the original route. Note Coldwater Camp was destroyed in the 69 flood, eventually being rebuilt & relocated further downstream.
Bryan Conant's 2015 San Rafael Wilderness map (highly recommended) showing the trail as it is today.
Potrero Creek
I surmise this original trail was cut in the early 30's by the CCC workers stationed at The Sunset Valley CCC Camp for reasons other than just recreation. As seen in a small portion of a copy on the map below the now Nira location was labeled a Forestry Campground. There was no Davy Brown Camp yet. Nira was further south along the road closer to the current Davy Brown. My how things have changed over time (click any image to enlarge).
Archaeological map showing the location of the Sunset Valley CCC Camp.
So why the reroute up and away from the creek? I think multiple factors were at play however one assumption might be the trail would be far easier to keep maintained higher on the ridge up and out of the creek channel. Whatever the reason we found it would be worth an exploration.
That nice open space would quickly come to an end as seen below
As Nate would state there's Tom completely in his element.
As difficult as it can be following older non existent trails in the Los Padres I find myself rather drawn to them. The most interesting encounters can be had off trail in the Wilderness. With the agenda all set my pals and I went about seeing what we could document of that old route. Unlike many previous posts this one will not have as much detail. I will let the pictures with some short captions tell the story. What I will say though is the temperatures were very warm and the day was mostly an exercise in bushwhacking and swiping massive amounts of ticks off ourselves. Never have I seen so many at one time. I must have brushed off at least a 100 or more.
Little bit of dead-fall throughout this Canyon
Nate surveying the best route
Keep on climbing
Ursus Americanus Californiensis
After several miles of battling our way up the creek we decided to try climbing up and out onto the lower base of the Hurricane deck. Reports abound of numerous rock formations out that way and well the three of us are kinda suckers for rock formations.
You in there Nate ? Oh yeah I see you now.
Chaparral jungle
Tired of pushing through brush Tom and I decided to take the stairs. Wait a minute who would possibly cut stairs into this rock? Maybe the the Chumash? I don't know.
Nice rounded footholds spaced evenly all the way up
Nothing about traveling this base section of the deck is easy. No trails and head high brush make for a very tiring and slow pace. Add in all the up and down climbs through the ravines and your legs are screaming come the end of the day.
After daylight beginning to become a factor we decided to head on back. We had made a good push and debated if we should continue east a bit more and drop down Falls Canyon for a loop or just return the same way we came. In the end we decided on the same return route. From the start there was plenty of evidence of the older Potrero cut however we still found it easier to just stay in the middle of the creek bed. I probably should not even use the term easier as the going is everything but easy. A better title for this write up might have been "Adventures in bushwhacking" As usual another great day with Hnatiw & Wickstrum Lost In The Los Padres.
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