We drove from Palo Alto to Carmel Valley, stayed in the Blue Sky motel
Tuesday night and drove south to Lucia on the coast early Wednesday
where we left the car. It rained all night and under fog that in many
areas was at ground level, the road was wet. Seven miles south on
HWY1 we began the the 7.5 mile climb up Nacimiento Rd. to the summit,
we broke through the fog and had periods of sunshine and a little
warmer air that was below 60F at lower elevations.
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The descent into Fort Hunter-Liggett was on a wet road in a forest as
we reached the Nacimiento river and headed to the center of the
installation at the Julia Morgan Hunting lodge, William Hearst's first
castle, where the restaurant was closed so we ate at the PX instead.
We headed north on the east side of the San Antonio Mission through
sparsely wooded meadows with a profusion of wildflowers (California
poppies and Lupine in white with various shades of blue, lavender and
yellow).
We crossed Arroyo Seco and headed up Indians Road that began climbing
steeply in about three miles after Escondido Camp Ground. This road
is impassable even by jeep because there is too much rockfall that
only gets worse after the camp ground, after which the road was
purposely blocked by cut branches from oaks that overhung the road.
Farther up the road was a bit soft from days of rain and made climbing
a bit more tiring than just the gradient. At higher elevations the
stark landscape and the view of the river, far below in the extremely
steep canyon gave proof that no road could have reasonably been built
along the river, the terrain being unstable with earth and rock slides
more that 1500ft from the road to the river.
New rockfall and land slides made passage difficult, there being
barely a steep foot wide path across the face of sloping debris that
fell off to the bottom of the canyon. Descending had to be done with
care to avoid damaging wheels and slashing tires on the angular rocks
that lay on what is left of the road.
Once down in the canyon, we crossed a substantial bridge over a
tributary to Arroyo Seco and climbed over another hill over narrows in
Arroyo Seco before descending the the end of pavement at Arroyo Seco
Park. About a half mile before the junction with Carmel Valley Road,
called Jamesburg - Arroyo Seco road, we stopped at a grocery store for
some food and drink that got us over the 2383 foot summit of Carmel
valley road.
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After that it was easier with only one more climb before rolling down
to our motel. We had a fine dinner under the stars with radiant heat
and rode the quarter mile back to our room where we got a good night's
sleep before heading out to the coast in the morning and south to
Lucia, a 63 mile roller coaster run down the coast, the climb from Big
Sur elev 200ft to Vantana 1000ft.
With a pleasant tailwind the ride down the coast was easier than it
looks from the car in spite of its long climbs. We saw whale spouts,
Canada Geese, a Condor and deer on the hills. California Poppies were
all along the route and the sea was deep blue with its may off shore
rocks with churning surf that turned the sea turquoise to white.
In Lucia, we had a great lunch on the terrace and with bicycle loaded
made a swift return to Palo Alto in spite of some zones of dense
traffic that we circumvented in the diamond lane.
The first day was 105miles and 10,000ft of climbing while the second
was 64miles and 1500ft of climbing.
--
Jobst Brandt