Salmon Creek w/ Cam, September 11, 2022

I went into this adventure with the homie Cam telling me this was a tough profile, and knowing that anywhere in lower Big Sur is going to be nothing but beautiful and boast plenty of ups and downs on the trails, I didn’t doubt him.

I’ve only been to the area once before as a camper, never as a runner, and I was excited to dive into the deep end with a friend, especially one who knows the area well and underlined that this was going to be a worthy challenge.

He was right and then some.

Any vert game I thought I had was humbled down quickly, especially after a lengthier adventure I’d had two days before in Auburn. If you ever hear that I’m not up for a challenge, though, that’s not me, and I was grateful for the chance to take on a wonderful workload in a beautiful place.

We saw everything from crumbly dirt sections to jagged exposed rock to beds of fallen leaves, creeks, and no shortage of up and downhill grades. I slammed pretty hard at one point, which is what we sign up for, of course, I’m glad it wasn’t worse and that I was good to keep going.

We enjoyed the wellspring of spectacular views this spot brings to anyone who’s down for a pretty merciless elevation profile, and I’m already hyped on returning to this incredible place soon to take on a slightly different goal, which I’ll let Cam share about soon.

If you can get over here and are up for a tough and astounding day, do it!