# San Raf — Nira to Mission Pine Spring

2026-05-24 · San Rafael Wilderness, Santa Barbara County, CA

[Read the journal with daily maps](https://garrettgcraig.com/trail-san-raf-nira-to-mission-pine-spring)

A long weekend out of Nira, up the Manzana to the Narrows, then a big climb into
the high country and the pine forest around Mission Pine Spring before dropping
back down to the trailhead. Three days, a lot of solitude, and more wildflowers
and pollinators than I could keep up with.

## Day 1: Nira to Manzana Narrows

An afternoon start from Nira, working up-canyon to the Narrows. I was genuinely
surprised by how empty it was — by nightfall it was just me and one other solo
backpacker the whole place to ourselves. I scavenged a little driftwood from the
creek, built a small fire in the existing ring, and settled in with the first
pages of [*Why Fish Don't Exist*](https://bookshop.org/a/17254/9781501160349) as
the canyon went dark.

## Day 2: Up to Mission Pine Spring

The big day. At the first creek crossing I met a guy who generously talked me
through the Big Cone Spruce trail: bushwhacky through the first stretch, then
steep above Big Cone Spruce Camp, with reliable water at McKinley Spring and
again up at Mission Pine Spring. Good intel to have before committing to the
climb. (My recording split partway through the day — both halves are stitched
together here as a single track.)

Up at McKinley Saddle, the trail register showed Joko Widodo had signed in ahead
of me, so I spent a good chunk of the climb half-expecting to round a switchback
and meet the legend himself. The miles were full of small things: gathering
acorns along the fire road, stopping to watch pollinators of every kind work the
brush, pausing just to stand in the smell of the ceanothus in bloom, and
crouching over a set of faint bear tracks in the dust. I walked past oaks
quietly regenerating almost twenty years on from the Zaca Fire.

Above 6,000 feet the pine forest was the payoff — open, cool, and quiet. I made
camp on a south-facing overlook and got a moonlit night with faint views of
Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa Islands floating out past the Santa Ynez Range.

## Day 3: Return to Nira

Almost all downhill — the one exception being the early-morning climb back up
from Mission Pine Spring to San Rafael Peak to start the day. From there it was
a long descent, dropping down through a thick deck of clouds parked between
about 5,000 and 4,000 feet, then out the canyon and back to Nira.