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Nacimiento - Indians - Arroyo Seco tour
Nacimiento Arroyo Seco Spring Ride 23 Mar 07
On Friday evening 22 March, Bob Walmsley, John Woodfill and I loaded our bicycles and touring bags into the car and headed south from Palo Alto on US101 to Salinas, from where we took Main Street that turns into Monterey Rd (SR 68) south of town. From here, on Laurels Grade (a steep road (10%)) we drove south to Carmel Valley and the Blue Sky Motel. Having already had dinner at home, we stopped to get some breakfast snacks at the AM-PM Keley's market. From previous times we followed a routine that worked well for this loop ride that is a bit long to enjoy on one day. http://tinyurl.com/29nqsc http://tinyurl.com/2n44x Sunday morning we ate our power breakfast, left street clothes behind in the motel room to which we would return to in the evening and drove to the coast, heading south on (SR 1) along the beautiful almost uninhabited and steep coast past Big Sur and on to Lucia, where we parked the car to begin our ride. We took the Nacimiento-Ferguson Road about a mile south of Lucia into the mountains toward Hunter-Liggett military reservation. http://tinyurl.com/anvyv http://www.pashnit.com/roads/cal/NacimientoRd.htm http://www.cyclingforums.com/t18451.html http://tinyurl.com/pvdsn We chose the time because spring came early this year and without much rain to keep the hills green, we were concerned about the wildflowers that were plentiful last year. Just the same, we had clear skies, no significant wind and cool temperatures. The climb up Nacimiento Road starts out steeply but soon becomes a pleasant climb, especially in cool air. The steep meadows were rich green with many wildflowers along the road. Columbine, shooting stars, wild iris, blue and yellow ground and bush lupine, California poppies, paint brush, indian warrior and many more, with the backdrop of the deep blue Pacific where frothing surf and azure blue aerated water surrounded huge rocks lying offshore as though some giant had thrown them there eons ago. http://www.beachcalifornia.com/bixby.html http://www.beachcalifornia.com/bigcreek.html We entered the edges of a redwood forest about a mile inland, passing waterfalls in dark canyons under the trees where pale blue forget-me-nots lined the road. Although we didn't see many birds, we heard wren tits, and tit mice while overhead red tailed hawks soared in slow motion circles. http://elib.cs.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_...3202+4143+0078 http://www.ct-botanical-society.org/...sotisscor.html On the climb we saw century plants, that seemed to be agave sisalana, but I can't be sure, there being so many agave varieties. Some of them had bloomed others were beginning to send up the flowering stalk. Only a few were in bloom with yellow and white blossoms. From the broad flat summit about eight miles up at Redwood Spring (2664ft), roads headed north and south as we crossed to the east side of the divide into a canyon with a completely different ecology along the rushing Nacimiento River surrounded by steep hills of scrub brush above and the shade of enormous sycamores along the water. The descent that began steeply, gradually leveled off as the canyon opened toward the broad valley of the Hunter-Liggett military reserve. Here a guard station with concrete road barriers and a mechanically erectable metal wall marked the boundary. We were were required to show identification (driver's license) seemingly a formality that I could imagine might become strict if need be. After identifying ourselves, we were allowed to pass. We saw only two or three cars on this impeccably paved road on the way to post HQ. This wilderness area seems to be mostly unused by the US Army, there being no sign of vehicles, tank or tire tracks, on the dirt roads that crossed our path. Although other years had offered a flood of wildflowers, this time we met only a few areas with a yellow carpet of buttercups and lavender and blue lupine. The descent from the coast range follows the San Antonio river that was flowing richly with crystal clear water. http://plantsdatabase.com/showpicture/35631/ As we rolled across large open fields, sparsely populated with white oaks and a sycamore here and there, we spotted a coyote at a distance and and passed an unused training area with two M60 tanks parked in the field as props. After crossing a small ridge we saw the officers club on a knoll across the San Antonio valley, and chose to use the bridge (that is off limits to tanks) and cross the richly flowing San Antonio River. Most of the roads have broad level concrete fords so that tanks can cross, because building tank bridges is prohibitively expensive. Riding through 3-4 inches of water works nicely if done slowly. The web site above shows a M/C crossing one of these fords. http://tinyurl.com/2oewy http://tinyurl.com/32dym We rode up the hill to the officer's club aka Hearst Hunting Lodge designed by Julia Morgan (1100ft) for a good lunch, but it was still closed this early in the spring, so we stopped at the PX for a microwaved burrito and some bananas and drinks, there being nothing for a few hours ahead. http://www.pelicannetwork.net/hacienda.html http://www.pelicannetwork.net/mission.san.antonio.htm The San Antonio Mission, a remnant of the effort of the Spanish to convert native Americans to domestic slaves... oh, I meant Christians, was looking as lost as ever in the midst of this wilderness, the nearest town being Jolon in the Salinas Valley. Taking the road along Mission Creek we were amazed how smooth this unpaved road was maintained. This road joins paved Del Venturi Road to The Indians (1773ft) toward the upper end of the San Antonio River. At Indian Ranger Station (2086ft), we crossed an inconspicuous divide into the Arroyo Seco river, crossing the stream on a well maintained ford as we left paved roads behind. Unfortunately, a road grader, had just "shaped" the road so that it was loose in places but that only lasted for about three miles up to Escondido Camp Ground, where the grader had turned around leaving us with Indians road in its closed state. http://tinyurl.com/25w38z http://tinyurl.com/25p45 http://tinyurl.com/2npda Indians Road climbs out of the canyon, the narrows of Arroyo Seco being impenetrable for a road without great expense and regular maintenance. The climb went well with mostly good traction although there was more rock debris than on earlier trips on this fairly clean one lane road. It is in as good a shape as it is because motor vehicles are blocked and cannot get past a large rock slide beyond the summit as well as smaller slides on the north slope. http://www.ventanawild.org/projects/ias/ias.html http://tinyurl.com/2ysres As we reached the high plateau (2800ft) we noticed some MTB tracks that had been made when the road was muddy a few weeks ago. At the north end of this long flat section the road climbs again as it approaches the large rock slide with large angular boulders. The crossing is steep enough to carry the bicycle over the well worn path. The slide lies at the angle of repose that doesn't stop until Arroyo Seco about 800ft down. We got on our bicycles again after this 100ft portage, some of it steep, that ends under a cliff with a spring that might come in handy in hot weather. The slide is at the red cursor on the map at: http://tinyurl.com/26toc http://tinyurl.com/yocv4s At various spots there was enough loose rock on the road that we decided to walk, in spite of which I got a slash in my front tire that required a boot. Just in case, we had spare tires in the touring bag, having had experience with slashed tires on other such rides. The view from this road are spectacular and the remoteness amazing, so close to civilization in the flatlands not many miles away. On the way through Hunter-Liggett we saw coyotes in the fields, bluebirds, magpies, woodpeckers and golden eagles above but no condors. The descent to Lucia Creek (1000ft) Arroyo Seco camp ground steadily improved until we reached the Park, crossing a bridge and climbed over a small rise along Arroyo Seco, a richly flowing river at this point, whereas farther down it was just a rocky dry wash. http://tinyurl.com/2wh2k http://tinyurl.com/yqa6u Here at The Lakes Campground (945ft) we were again on pavement. We stopped at a small grocery store and took on some food and drink. From here is was a pleasant cruise to the junction (704ft) with Carmel Valley Road, also known as Jamesburg Arroyo Seco Road at this end. The road climbs gradually in woodsy sheltered curves along Paloma Creek. Just the same, the afternoon wind got stronger and cooler as we progressed. http://tinyurl.com/36bot http://tinyurl.com/pwhth Carmel Valley road rolls along Paloma Creek, gradually climbing until about five miles up the valley where begins its climb to its summit (2389ft) over which it crosses from Paloma Creek to Finch Creek watershed. On the way up, we saw many wild turkeys out in the lush green meadows. Although the land was green and lovely the wind was not kind as it blew in our face descending Conejo Grade and on Ardilla Grade along Tularcitos Creek. Bob towed us along about as fast as I could hold his wheel to get back to our motel (400ft) (101 miles) in good time, got a hot shower and a delicious dinner before getting a good night's sleep. In the morning we got another quickie breakfast from small market before retracing the route we drove by car the day before. Traffic was light on Carmel Valley road as well as on HWY 1 heading south along the coast. That changes as tourist traffic got rolling. That the route is far more interesting seen from the bicycle than from the car was striking. We enjoyed the scenery immensely and were glad to find that the weather was warmer than yesterday with fog close to the ground. Today we had large areas of sunshine and a good view out to sea. From some of the higher parts of the road before Whale lookout, we saw the spouts of many whales and had a beautiful panorama from the heights down toward Bixby Creek with its beautiful concrete arch bridge from 1932. We even had a good tailwind down to Big Sur and cool sunny weather. At the Bakery on the climb out of Big Sur we we met a group of bicyclists from Santa Cruz who were on their way to Los Angeles for spring break. Other than that we saw no other bicyclists. http://www.bigsurcalifornia.org/pointsur.html As we approached Lucia, large steep meadows below the road were solid orange with California poppies and demanded a photo stop. In Lucia, we got a satisfying gourmet burger with fries before packing our bicycles into the car and headed back to the motel to pick up our bags and head home, once again noticing how much nicer this route looks from the bicycle. The first day was 101 miles and 8590ft of climbing and the second 61 miles and 3800ft climbing ------------------- Jobst Brandt |
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