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Nacimiento - Arroyo Seco ride
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. http://tinyurl.com/6chk54 http://tinyurl.com/6722b4 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. http://tinyurl.com/6r7nyx 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. http://tinyurl.com/57n3ec 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. http://tinyurl.com/5c32oz 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. http://tinyurl.com/5j954m 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. http://tinyurl.com/5eo5b5 http://tinyurl.com/5s3ftg 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. http://tinyurl.com/6nwaur 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 Jobst Brandt |
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