Once up on the ridge, it was a gradual climb up to South Ventana Cone. The highpoint is on the left side of the ridge. The vegetation here was exceptionally adept at snagging and untying my shoelaces.

Ammo Box summit registry. I was the 5th entry this year and first since late September.

Oldest entry in the registry, dating back to 1998. Some very verbose entries in the registry.

360 Panorama from the South Ventana Cone Summit. From the left Pacific Ocean, Ventana Cone, Ventana Double Cone, Mt. Carmel/Devils Peak, Monterey Bay.

Stumbled across this (abandoned?) one man tent in the middle of nowhere between the SVC summit and the pine ridge trail. Didn't seem to be presently occupied.

Pine Ridge Trail Junction.

View of VC and VDC from the Pine Ridge Highpoint.

Pine Ridge Highpoint (left) and South Ventana Cone (right). All of the ferns (brown stuff on bottom) were dried out.

In what seemed like a good idea at the time, I decided to head cross country over to Bear Basin. After spending an hour hacking through the most godawful brush, I abandoned this idea and made my way back up to Pine Ridge.