In the rugged stretch of California’s coastline known as Big Sur, the Boranda Trail is a highlight ascending the coastal cliffs. If you’re looking for a great hike and potential backpacking night out, this trail is a fantastic place to look! With wide open ocean views and camping potential, this is a hike you need to check out if you are out hiking Big Sur!
Miles/Elevation:
5.3 miles (full trail)
2,500 feet (full trail)
~3 miles (for me)
~1,500 feet (for me)
About Los Padres National Forest:
Los Padres National Forest covers large parts of the Central California coast. Ranging from north of Los Angeles nearly to Monterey, Los Padres covers a ton of ground! There is a ton to do, and the hiking opportunities are wide ranging and often remote.
Getting much fewer visitors than most national parks, national forests in general, and especially Los Padres, offer opportunities to really get into nature and away from it all. Especially considering the proximity to the metropolises of Los Angeles and the Bay Area, that can be a godsend for those who want to get away from it all!
When looking at the best hikes in Los Padres National Forest, be aware that the forest is extremely spread out. When I was initially doing my research, I was surprised to see that some of the hikes that were showing up were hours from where I wanted to go. Los Padres is a huge national forest, so double check that the hikes you look into are actually in the place that you want to go!
Getting There:
Looking for another great road trip? Big Sur is an awesome road trip destination!
The Boranda Trail lies in the heart of Big Sur, so you will need to drive yourself there! Big Sur is a very remote area, you’ll almost certainly lack cell coverage the entire time you’re there, and that remoteness is reflected in the public transit. There might as well not be any. To get places here, you realistically need to drive yourself.
Coming from the north, the Boranda Trail is about 32 miles south of Carmel and the Monterey Penninsula. Coming from the south, the Boranda Trail is about 85 miles north of Morro Bay, about a two hour drive.
If you need to fly into California to get to Big Sur, the closest airports are Monterey Airport to the north and San Luis Obispo’s airport to the south. Larger airports such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Jose may offer cheaper and more plentiful flights at the cost of a longer drive once you land!
The Boranda Trail to Timber Top:
Before I begin talking about the hike itself, I should mention that this was my first overnight backpacking trip! While I have hiked quite a bit, I had never actually carried all my stuff in my pack and camped out in the woods on trail.
Generally, I like to drive to a destination, a national park for instance, and set up my camp at an established campground and do a series of day hikes from there. I’m willing to admit that my greatest need is a shower at the end of each day, and I can get crabby when I don’t get one (whoops).
However, I like to expand my knowledge and repertoire, and some of my long term goals include multi-day expeditions where backpacking experience is a necessity, so it’s something that I need to get into at some point, so why not now! I’ll have a couple more backpacking trips coming up in the summer of 2021, so stay tuned for updates on how those go!
Ascending the Boranda Trail:
For more info on hiking in Big Sur, check out our list of the best Big Sur hikes!
Finding the trailhead is the first adventure of this hike, and the best advice I can give is to type “Boranda Trailhead” into Google Maps and follow the directions. The trailhead isn’t marked, but you’ll know it by a green gate on the uphill side of the road. There are wide shoulders on both sides of the road that you can park on, and leaving your car there overnight is fine!
Stop at Point Lobos on your trip through Big Sur as well!
Once you’re hiking, there’s really only one word that is needed to describe the trail: steep. From the second you leave your car, you’ll be hiking uphill.
Honestly, I could leave it at you’ll hike uphill until you get to the top and then you’ll turn around and hike downhill until you’re at the bottom, but I figure people would like a little more detail!
If you’re interested in this hike, you should check out Andrew Molera State Park as well!
The trail starts by hiking though some relatively thick foliage. It’s not bushwhaking by any means, but at the beginning of the trail, you should expect to have brush rubbing against your legs.
Be aware, this is tick country, so be sure to check yourself at regular intervals! The ticks here do carry Lymes Disease, so really make sure you’re careful!
Think road trips are expensive? We think you can save more money than you expect!
After about the first half mile plus, the hike breaks out of the thick brush and into more open grasslands. This is a nice change of pace and you won’t have so many sharp branches rubbing against your legs, and fewer opportunities to get ticks stuck on you!
The downside of breaking out of the bushy section is that the trail gets steeper, or at least it felt like it was steeper to me! Maybe my legs were just getting tired.
Always follow basic trail etiquette when on trail!
The trail most of the rest of the way travels through meadows and small stands of trees as you ascend towards Timber Top, the end destination of the Boranda Trail. However, I actually did not go all the way to Timber Top. About 2/3rds of the way up, I found a great spot to camp just off the trail that made for a great secluded campsite!
My First Night Camping in the Backcountry:
Being my first night backcountry camping, there was a lot of new stuff that I had to do that I hadn’t done before. Firstly, choosing where to place my tent.
The area I choose had clearly been used for camping before. The grass was matted down and there was an old tent stake lying in the grass, so I knew that people had camped there. However, unlike actual campgrounds, the ground wasnt magically flat! After fanagling for awhile, I managed to get my tent reasonably flat. There was still a weird hole right beneath where my chest would be, and my feet were lower than my head, but hey it worked!
Always be sure to follow the 7 Leave No Trace Principles when in the outdoors!
After I set my tent up, I decided to make dinner. I had brought with a couple of different freeze dried Mountain House meals. I ended up going with the fettuccine alfredo with chicken, and it was actually surprisingly good. The pasta was excellent, and the flavor was better than I could do cooking at home. However, the texture of the chicken was just a little off.
I should probably become a food critic too.
After dinner, I pretty much just chilled until the sun set. It was an easy place to enjoy nature, and the views were constantly beautiful as the sun set. Just before sun set, I grabbed my bag of M&Ms to enjoy with the sun set!
After sun set, I pretty much just went to bed. I had brought a book, but I didn’t really feel like reading. It was super windy on my exposed hillside and the tent was loud, but overall it was a pretty night of sleep. My sleeping pad turned out to be super slippery, and I kept sliding down it until I figured out how to best position myself!
Hiking Out:
I slept in a bit the next morning and didn’t really get moving until about 8 am. Really the only reason I got up then is because the sun was making my tent warm up very quickly!
I got up and made another freeze dried meal. This time, I went with the Mountain House Breakfast Skillet. Basically, it’s a mash up of potatoes, eggs, sausage, and some seasoning. While I genuinely enjoyed the pasta from the night before, this was not very good.
The texture was bleh, and the flavor even more so. It basically had no taste other than a little bit of pepper, not great. I actually ended up feeling pretty ill on my drive home, so I definitely do not recommend the breakfast skillet!
After taking my tent down and repacking my backpack, which went quicker this time, I started down the trail. It was already pretty warm out, and the sun was already super intense. Thankfully, I didn’t have any climbing to do and the hike was all downhill. I’ve already covered the hike up, and the hike down was the same thing but in reverse!
While my quads were very happy to be done with the trail when I made it back to my car, I was pretty happy with how the whole outing had gone. I took my first backpacking trip without and major missteps or disasters!
Topdown Lifestyle Rating: 8/10
I would for sure hike this trail again as a day hike and would recommend it to others as a day hike as well. As a backpacking trip, while the views are seriously incredible, there is no water on the trail, so you’ll be carrying liters of water straight up the cliffs. While I certainly don’t regret spending the night here, I think this trail is better suited as a day hike than an overnight trip!
Pros:
- Incredible views the entire hike
- Quiet compared to other Big Sur hikes
- Camping opportunities
- No fees
Cons:
- Seriously steep the whole way
- Ticks
- Trail is a little overgrown
Alternative Hikes:
Garrapata State Park: Soberanes Point and Whale Peak
Hiking the Creamery Meadows Trail at Andrew Molera State Park
Trip Report: Point Lobos State Natural Preserve
Creamery Meadow, Bluffs, Panorama, and Ridge Trail Loop
Buzzards Roost Trail – California
When to Visit:
Big Sur is definitely a 4 season destination. Spring is a fantastic time to visit, and the weather should be pleasant and mostly dry. Spring is also the best time to see wildflowers in all their glory!
Summer brings the warmest temperature of the year (still comfortable), and morning fog that usually burns off by afternoon. Fall is generally the clearest weather, and winter brings the most precipitation, though it’s still a nice place to visit!
Honestly, I’ve been to this area every time of year, and Big Sur is always awesome. If you have the chance to go, you definitely should no matter what time of year!
Links for Further Reading:
Timber Top and Boranda Trail – California
Boronda Trail to Timber Top Camp, Big Sur
Boronda Trail (aka Timber Top Trail)
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