White Ledge Loop

Nira -> Manzana Trail -> White Ledge -> Hurricane Deck East -> Lost Valley Trail -> Nira (25 miles) and therefore very very strenuous!

The name White Ledge Loop is from D.Gagnon book Exploring the Santa Barbara Backcountry, 1981

If you love real backcountry hiking and want to see some very beautiful country, this is a great hike. As a day hike it is very long--25 miles in overgrown, mountainous terraine for a total of at least 12+ hours of hiking for someone in great condition. Best as a 2 night backpack.

You WILL most-likely get lost. You WILL need to bring LOTS and LOTS of water. A gallon would be good, or three liters with a filter pump and stop at all the places with water available. And avoid in the hottest part of summer. To make a dayhike start early at 5 or 5.30 am. If you camp on Hurricane Deck, you will need to haul water and do NOT build a fire.

You will need an Adventure Pass to park at the trailhead.

White Ledge Loop Updates

Update trail conditions

Posted: September 29, 2009, 4:39 pm
by: boots

posted this earlier for manzana narrows, but it also applies here...

hiked round trip, nira to white ledge canyon, 9/25-9/27. water was flowing nicely in the creek at manzana narrows camp and manzana camp, and to about a mile downstream from manzana camp. between there and nira, however, water is only to be found in small shaded and shallow pools, mostly stagnant. a few of these small pools are not far from nira. at manzana narrows camp the waterfall is flowing nicely and that lovely dipping pool is full. there's no water once you get away from manzana creek and hike up toward white ledge, so take a filter and pump what you need before you leave the creek. saw a black bear at manzana narrows camp. trail is in generally good shape and is pretty well marked with ducks and, up toward white ledge, some old marking tape. good job, trail guys!

Posted: December 22, 2008, 6:57 pm
by: carp_nb

I posted about bits and pieces of the trails that make up the loop elsewhere but here's a synopsis of the trail conditions as of 12.20 for the entire loop.

From Nira to Manzanna Narrows was great. The trail is in great condition the whole way. Plenty of water in the creek below and above Fish Camp (for some reason it dries out around Fish Camp). The trail above the switchbacks (past the Narrows) to Happy Hunting Ground looks better with every trip since the Fire. More cairns, ribbon and foot traffic seems to help make the trail more defined. All of the little creeklets had running water. We encountered a little bit of snow (4" or so) along this section; it's probably mostly gone by now.

Happy Hunting Ground (HHG) had plenty of water. Snow on the north facing slopes behind the camp. HHG is looking pretty worked over still from the fire. The trail to White Ledge is in pretty good shape overall and not too hard to follow except as you leave HHG. Plenty of water at White Ledge Camp but not too many of the tributaries draining from the Deck had any running water of significance.

The trail from White Ledge along the Deck is in so-so shape (surprise!). There's a few ribbons here and there to help guide you through the burned areas but these were hard to find. The pink ribbons have since faded to white and hang from white-burned sticks for th most part. We got pretty lost at one point about a mile in from White Ledge before realizing the trail wraps around to the north-facing side of the prominent peak to our right.

The north facing slopes had snow and mud aplenty. Lots of overgrown brush too. We spent a lot of time and effort trying to prune it a bit but we left plenty for the next parties. Otherwise, the Deck trail wasn't too bad. The Lost Valley Junction sign is still broken and sitting on the ground but placed so you can't miss it (hopefully). Lost Valley Trail down to the campsite/spring (about halfway down from the Deck) is a wreck. Super overgrown and quite a few exposed washouts. Its' passable on foot but challenging at times. The lower half is in great shape though. Seems like the CCC or Forest Service has been busy along here. We didn't encounter much water in Lost Valley, just a faint trickle here and there.

All in all we had great weather. Cold and clear. We didn't see anyone else except for a day hiker around Fish Camp and a couple of hunters around Manzana Camp. I'll post pics shortly. I wish I had taken a picture of us as we finished. We must've been quite a sight: Muddy boots and gaiters, scratched up and bleeding arms and legs, sooty clothes, packs and faces, and twigs and leaves sticking out of our hair. It was great!

Posted: February 28, 2006, 8:35 pm
by: Anonymous

I have a trail report of a loop hike I did similar to this one at http://taonk.blogspot.com/2005/12/backpacking-oh-humanzity.html. I'll be heading up there to do a loop through Sisquoc soon and will report back.

Posted: January 17, 2006, 12:49 pm
by: Anonymous

Did the Nira-Manzana-Whiteledge-Lost Valley loop. Beautiful trail. All the creeks were pretty low (if not dry). The brush on Hurrican Deck was almost impassable at times. Lost valley was beautiful with spectacular views for the first few miles. A few sections were washed out, and we picked up lots of ticks on the switchbacks of the old road. We saw 3 campsites on the way down, one near the top, one about halfway, and one a mile past that. The second was definitely the largest.
I would definitely recommend this hike as a 3-day backpack. Although, it would probably be better to do it in the fall when the days are a bit longer. We were only getting a little over 8 hours of good hiking time before we had to start finding a campsite.
Mileage signs on the loop don't quite seem accurate. It said 11 to WL via MZ, except that it also said 7 to MZ Narrows and (a very long) 4 from the BCS trail to HHG, which would make 12 from Nira to WL. Although, I'd easily believe 13 or 14 as in the description. From WL to LV trail, it said 5 (but seemed like 6 or 7). Then, the sign at HD/LV trails said 12 to Nira. When we got to the bottom of LV trail, it said 13 to WL.
So, apparently if you hike out Manzana it's a 28 mile loop, but if you hike backwards (up Lost Valley), it's only 25. I'd bet it's actually a 30-mile loop. Anyone know what the actual mileages are?

Posted: November 7, 2005, 9:37 am
by: Anonymous

Nov 6, 2005 Hiked out with Terry and Survival School Mike from Utah as a day hike. Curious to see how far we could get. We chose to follow the Manzana Creek out past the narrows as none of us had hiked this way before. The trail is in great shape the whole way; no mountain bikes on this trail. We saw one other group, boy scouts returning from a weekend trip. One of them offered us an unenthusiastic good luck as we passed them just on the Nira side of Fish Camp. From about there on there were many small flies, I think I ended up swallowing about 6 of them on this trip.

As we rounded the bend at Manzana Narrows we were all pleasantly surprised by the wooded creek side glen. I saw Trout swimming in the creek from high above. This looks like it must be paradise in the summer when it gets warm. There is a small climb from there up to what I think is the Hurricane Deck. Despite this time of year the weather was balmy, so we sat in the shade and ate. Looking at the white cliffs, I noticed several side trails here, the rock formations are reminiscent of Castle Rock, and the Condor Caves. A quarter mile further on we entered a different microclimate. Junipers, and pines, with this beautiful golden grass. The heady smell of hot pine pitch always sends a shiver down my spine. There is still plenty of water flowing down the rocks here, though if you had to drink it it might be a little bitter from the pines. We continued on another mile or 2. It was now a little after 1:00 PM so we were looking for a turnaround point. Terry wanted to get to the next rise, we did not know how much further this was going to be. "Okay she said 2 more minutes, and that was exactly the time it took us to get to the top. We looked down at what must have been "The Happy Hunting Grounds" Really beautiful country. Took a small break and then hiked back. Totally uneventful. Had a beer break that I stashed in the creek a mile or 2 from Nira, making the last bit of a longish hike just that much more enjoyable. We arrived at Nira just before dusk so our timing was impeccable. Definitely want to do this one again. I agree this would make excellent backpacking trip. I think doing the whole loop would have added just a couple miles each way, I'd have been comfortable with that. Even if it meant wearing my headlamp for the last hour or so. Mike did a bike race the day before so I think he was just within his comfort zone doing the distance we hiked which must have been about 18-20 miles. I think we hiked for about 7 hours so by dead reckoning I’d give it almost exactly that distance too.

I brought half a gallon of water, 1 Hanson energy drink and 1 Monster energy drink and a half liter of Oatmeal Stout. This was enough but another liter of water would not have gone to waste. Note the weather was very temperate, in warmer weather you would need much more water or a filter...

Picked off a single tick at dinner so not too bad.

Happy Trails

Bernard

Posted: May 31, 2005, 6:20 pm
by: BSA Troop 42

28 – 30 May 05 – Trails excellent to good. Manzana Creek was rock hop-able. White Ledge Creek started surface flow about one football field above Happy Hunting Ground Camp. The spring 2.9 miles down Lost Valley Trail was flowing; the Twin Oak Camp had water. Few ticks. One rattle snake encountered; on Hurricane Deck Trail. Hikers and packs turned yellow from blooming Greasewood pollen on the Deck Trail. Our deepest thanks to those with the energy and initiative required to maintain the trails. It was fun to recognize the spots that Diane mentioned in her Trail Guide.

Posted: March 31, 2005, 5:46 pm
by: Anonymous

I came off the 'Deck Trail to White Ledge Camp in late March 2005. Unfortunately, a group of horse packers had just done an incredible amount of damage to the trail from White Ledge to South Fork Station. Besides churning long sections of the trail into mud, water bars were destroyed, shoulders knocked down, and the ascents/descents across small creeks turned into mud slides. Four peopled with 8 animals did more damage that 1000 hikers could have done with shovels and picks in the same amount of time.
Otherwise, water levels were very high in White Ledge and the South Fork. Abundant water in the San Rafael: what an unusual concept!

Posted: March 23, 2005, 7:38 pm
by: Diane

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