Church Creek & Pine Valley

I have always been intrigued by the Church Creek and its massive sandstone formations. This canyon is rich in history and significance dating back to the Essalen Native Americans. I finally got around to visiting this awesome corner of the Ventana Wilderness on a beautiful spring day with patches of thick lupine on the ridges, a diverse display of wildflowers in the drainage, verdant green meadows in the heritage oak woodlands, and pleasant temperatures. I also made it over the other side Church Divide to the beautiful Pine Valley with it’s stately stand of Ponderosa Pines. I continued down the Carmel River to the very pretty Pine Falls, situated in a narrow canyon filled with Santa Lucia Firs. This is a beautiful part of the Ventana and I look forward to further explorations here. Strava GPS route here. Full photo album here.

I was tempted to make my visit to Church Creek a loop by running down the road, but I’m not a fan of roads if there is sweet single track nearby so I took the Pine Ridge trail to Church Divide and did an out-and-back into the Church Creek drainage. It turns out this was the right call with ideal morning light over lupine patches on the ridge above the Church Creek sandstone formations and excellent views to Ventana Double Cone. From the Church Creek Divide descending into Church Creek the trail is a bit eroded in spots with some brush but overall passable. There are peaks of beautiful sandstone formations among Santa Lucia Firs and pines that are certainly worth exploring in the future. Lower down, the foliage transitions from chaparral to a beautiful grassland with oak trees. After a lovely stretch the Bruce Church Ranch is reached. The dirt access road to the ranch is taken for awhile through more oak woodland and grassland before the single track resumes. This section of single track proved the most difficult of the day with brush encroaching in many spots along with very faint tread after spring growth. The trail drops into a small side drainage before steeply climbing out of the drainage on the other side and emerging onto grassy fields. From the grassy fields, the trail descends once more before making a climbing up to some of the best sandstone formations in the drainage. Along this fairly brushy climb a reportedly perennial creeklet is passed. The trail emerges from the brush into a flatter section that appears to have been brushed not too many years ago and reaches the high point where there are some awesome sandstone formations. One can climb to point 3,038 and explore the many sandstone caves and formations in the vicinity, known as the Church Creek Wind Caves.  These formations were formed over eons of wind, rain and erosion process. Beyond this point the trail descends to Wildcat Camp before one final climb through sandstone before the trail desends to meet the Tassajara dirt Road.

Church Creek is amazing spot and I could spend multiple days exploring the sandstone formations in the area, but I also wanted to return to the pleasant Pine Valley to visit PIne Falls. The trail into Pine Valley drops on the north side of Church Divide. It’s an excellent stretch of trail into Pine Valley passing through heritage oaks, ponderosa pines and Santa Lucia firs. The trail gradually descends into Pine Valley with its lovely meadows and stands of Ponderosa Pines. It really feels like a mountain environment and whenever I run through Pine Valley I get the feeling like I’m in the Sierra Nevada. From Pine Valley a use path follows the Carmel River, still in its incipient stages, downstream 0.7 miles to Pine Falls. The Carmel River quickly enters a narrow, rocky canyon filled containing one of the best groves of Santa Lucia Fir I have seen. The canyon is predominantly filled with this species, the rarest fir in the world and endemic to the northern Santa Lucia Mountains. This seems to be a perfect growing environment for the tree as some of the old growth Santa Lucias are enormous! The Carmel River progressively becomes steeper withe some small cascades before it plunges an estimated 40 feet into a clear pool. Flow over the falls is rarely large since it’s near the Carmel River headwaters, but the falls is particularly photogenic in a lush setting with moss clinging to the rocks and a very pretty forest of old growth Santa Lucia firs surrounding the falls.  Less than a quarter of a mile downstream of Pine Falls is another waterfalls and it appears few people know about it. I call it Lower Pine Falls and it’s an impressive sight worthy of the extra rock hop downstream. Lower Pine Falls is very different in character from Pine Falls. There is no large pool at Lower Pine Falls or lush canopy overhead. Instead, the falls is a series of large cascades over smooth bedrock scrubbed clean of moss in the open. This smooth bedrock is rather hazardous for climbing, but a hand line has been placed in the most precarious spot to assist. It’s a rather chaotic scene as Lower Pine Falls tumbles down the numerous steps strewn with large boulders and sculptured bedrock. The highest segment of the falls is the most impressive and concentrated while lower down the water course splits. This would be an amazing falls to see in higher flow. Back in beautiful Pine Valley, there are also interesting sandstone formations to explore. In particular there is a nice sculpted alcove tucked away in the sandstone block behind Jack English’s cabin. Strava GPS route here. Full photo album here.