Three years ago, I went on a day hike through Salmon Creek in the south of Big Sur, and was amazed by some of the hike-in campgrounds along the trail. They were in gorgeous locations, didn't require reservations and weren't heavily used. Last weekend I finally had a chance to spend a few days backpacking through a couple of them with my friend Richard. He's an ace photographer, and so here's a few of the images he captured (here's the full set). I felt so rejuvenated after my time out there, despite the punishing climb through the hills, I have to make it out there again soon.

Spruce Camp, a smaller plot about 2.5 miles from Salmon Creek trailhead. It was very damp on our first night there, so the wood fire was quite feeble, but as you can see from the top photo the creek running through the site more than made up for it.

The second night we did a shorter hike to Estrella, a much larger campground by another creek. My dog Thor loves the hiking, but once I set up the tent he's on the sleeping bag like a shot. The only way to lure him out is to slip him inside my jacket, he definitely misses central heating.

The trail was in good shape until Estrella. After that, some sections were very grown-in, and there were landslides that made my footing very treacherous, especially with a backpack on.