Backpacker – September 2019

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019
66 BACKPACKER.COM

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The next morning, take a few

minutes to stroll on the serpentine

Coast Ridge Road, once the area’s

main thoroughfare, before descend-

ing the way you came.

Trailhead Boronda (36.1984,

-121.7178) 108 miles south of San

Jose Season Ye a r - r o u n d ; f a l l

and winter have fewer fogg y days

Permit None Info ventanawild.org

DAYHIKE

AÑO NUEVO

POINT TRAIL

Año Nuevo State Park, CA

In late fall, 5,000-pound elephant

seal bulls come ashore here to

duke it out for dominance. But the

beaches here are the year-round

home to one of the world’s largest

mainland colonies of the sea mam-

mals. See how they live on a 4-mile

out-and-back over coastal scrub,

wetlands, and dunefields to an

overlook on the edge of the Pacific.

Trailhead Marine Education

Center (37.1191, -122.3073) 54 miles

west of San Jose. Season Ye a r -

round; beaches are closed December

1-14 for seal arrival Permit None

Info parks.ca.gov/anonuevo

Bay Area, CA

OVERNIGHT

TIMBER TOP CAMP

Los Padres National Forest, CA

Starting from Highway 1 south of

Big Sur, where emerald cliffs meet

blue waters, the 2.9-mile Boronda

Trail ascends through meadows

spotted in summer with the tanger-

ine petals of California poppies and

blossom-topped yuccas. By fall, the

grasses crisp to gold, temps mellow,

and more days are fog-free, offering

views of forest and wave.

Follow double-track that fades

into chaparral and pine forest as you

ascend 2,500 feet to the ridge. At

mile 2.9, throw down at Timber Top

Camp (dry), where f lat spots along a

g ra ssy rise offer sunset views.

For photographers, Burkard rec-

ommends packing a wide-angle

lens a nd pola rizer. “ The wide a ngle

allows you to capture the vast land-

scape, trails leading away, and a

subject,” he says. “The polarizer is

a ma ssive help a s it cuts away the

ref lection from the ocean’s surface

and allows for a clear view of the

deep blue Pacific.”

Chris Burkard

ADVENTURE

PHOTOGRAPHER

ONE OF INSTAGRAM’S most

popular outdoor photographers

takes his 3.4 million followers to

the lesser-tracked corners of the

globe.

Most recently, he was in

Iceland working on a project

to shield the nation’s highlands

from mining. What he hopes

his followers see, beyond the

beauty, is that one person can

make a difference.

Now he brings that ethic

closer to his home in Santa Cruz.

Last fall, he took his boys, 4

and 6, to a nearby stand of red-

woods. They marveled at the

massive trees and finger-size

banana slugs, but were bummed

by the trash. “We picked up a lot

of that,” he says. “It was a good

opportunity to learn that the only

people who are going to keep

these places beautiful is us.”

His work has evolved toward

advocacy. “It’s about what can I

offer, as opposed to what can I

take,” he says. “That’s made me

a better storyteller and helps

me understand how you can do

these places a greater service.”

Grasslands give

way to dunes

and elephant

seal habitat in

Año Nuevo State

Park.

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