Espinosa Campground via Vicente Flats Trail [CLOSED] is a 6.5 mile heavily trafficked out and back trail located near Lucia, California that features beautiful wild flowers and is rated as moderate. The trail is primarily used for hiking, camping, and backpacking.
As of September 2020, trails in this area are closed due to wildfire. See park page for more information: https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/lpnf/recarea/?recid=10974
August 15, 2020As others have stated, there is very little shade, poison oak on the trail, the trail does have stretches were it is rocky, and we were warned of rattle snakes on the trail (we only saw a garter snake). Some areas of the trail have eroded slightly which causes the footing on nearest the cliff to give way. Other than that not so bad, wear a hat. Espinosa is a small campsite with two flat areas to set up tents. The closest water source is a small stream that intersects with the trail about .25mi (.4km) past the campsite towards Vincente Flat Campground. Going to Vincente Flat Camp is advised, more areas to setup camp and a larger source of fresh water.
July 11, 2020Trailhead entrance across the Kirk creek Campground, the Trail was overgrown, lots of poison oak! The view is amazing.
March 17, 2020Awesome trail, went this weekend with lots of rain in forecast but had plenty of other backpackers on the trail and a few trail runners. We ended up hiking the extra ~1.5miles to Vicente flat campground. I would highly recommend doing that as the campground there is absolutely beautiful and a small creek right next to them. Overall an awesome trail but lots of poison oak, so wear pants and be careful
March 1, 2020Great trail with nice views! No joke about the poison oak though, definitely wear pants. I saw more backpacker traffic than dayhikers.
January 19, 2020Hiked a portion only. Well maintained.
June 22, 2019Amazing hike! Lots of wildflowers, views the whole time. Nice steady incline, not too steep, lots of switchbacks This hike makes me love Big Sur and California.
May 28, 2019One of my favorite hikes ever!!! Beautiful views the entire time. Not difficult and extremely enjoyable. Most people were hiking out so we had the trail to ourselves on the way up!! The trail doesn’t have a stopping point so hikers need to watch the map to see when the trail ends, as it goes for miles ! Saw many lizards but also saw a large snake in the middle of the trail. Bring water. About 3.5 miles in there is a spot off the trail with spots for camping - two spots have little fire pits. Would’ve been a great spot to sleep!
April 10, 2019What a fantastic hike. Incredible views almost the entire time. A good workout but not too challenging. Lots of switchbacks. Took us 1.5 hours to get to the turnaround and about 50 minutes to get back. Make sure to bring adequate water. Great bird watching along the way.
March 31, 2019Great view the whole way up and down. Great little workout.
December 29, 2018Gorgeous views
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