The Forest Service website
http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/lospadres/news/ ... ions.shtml has the following posted:
Due to safety hazards resulting from the Basin, Indians and Chalk Fires, most of the Monterey Ranger District, including the entire Ventana Wilderness, will remain closed to public entry through the winter. Hazards include falling trees and limbs, rockslides, and the potential for mudslides and flash flooding.
The following areas of the Monterey Ranger District will remain open:
* Campgrounds, day use areas and forest lands west of Highway 1 along the Big Sur Coast
* Plaskett Creek campground
* Nacimiento-Fergusson Road and Ponderosa campground
* the Silver Peak Wilderness
* South Coast Ridge Road south of its junction with Prewitt Road (South Coast Ridge Road will remain closed from Prewitt Road north to Nacimiento-Fergusson Road.)
* the Arroyo Seco campground and day use area
For more information regarding the closure and conditions on the Monterey Ranger District, contact the King City office of the Forest Service at (831) 385-5434.