Topo and GPS route for today. The official trail ends at Jackson Camp, but the entire day was on trails of some sort. Roughly 8 miles one way from Bottchers Gap to Happy Camp and 5000ft elevation gain over the course of the day.

Got to Fox Camp a little before sunrise. Fox camp was very large and in good shape. I stopped here for a bit, ate some breakfast, and waited for the sun to come up.

Ventana Creek emptying into the Little Sur River and the last river/creek crossing that required wading. The use trail up Ventana Creek is on the upstream left side of the creek.

Another look at the fire ring at Fox camp. It was just beginning to get light as I started up Ventana Creek.

The first 100 yards of Ventana Creek were quite senic, with a series of smaller cascades leading up to this pool and waterfall. I stopped here to change back into my trail shoes and put long pants on. The use trail climbed steeply up the left side of the canyon.

The use trail, for the most part, hugged the side of the creek. In general the trail was in good shape, but there were sections where the tread had disappeared or nearly disappeared into the sidehill.

Lots of signs of heavy trail maintenance along old use trail. Unlike most of the "official" Ventana trails, the route made good use of traversing fallen logs, such as this section that followed a series of 2-3 downed trees.

After about a half mile, the route began to be tagged with yellow flags. I searched around for a bit to try to determine if this first flag was indicating a turn, but the trail continued upstream.

The trail leapfrogged Ventana Creek as it headed upstream, with most of the crossings (such as this one) now flagged. The river trails usually only switch banks when one side becomes impassable, but this trail swapped back and forth- often with use trails on both sides for a bit.