We live by the part that opens up going north out of Los Angeles.
Because of this article my wife and I decided to visit some of
our first date haunts.
After a long hike along the bluffs in Carpenteria, a snack at the
Spot, or beverage at the Palms, then hike back to our car.
Thanks for making my day!
5
So glad you stayed at Deetjen's! It has always been "our place" in Big Sur.
There's nothing quite so special as one of those rustic rooms on a cold, rainy day, lounging in bed reading decades-old journal entries.
2
San Francisco and Los Angeles Use to be Gorgeous like that ..now they are full of Homeless and Filthy....there are 40 million residents in California but in 2014 the state had a record 251 million people...all most as much as the Entire Nation....this state is being mismanaged by the Democratic Party to the point of insolvency!
1
Thank you for the wonderful memories that found their way back to my aging mind. My 2 trips north on #1 (1976 and 1981) were simply spectacular. The Madonna Inn, San Simeon, Big Sur, Nepenthe, Pfeiffer State Park, The Ventana Inn (opened 1976 when I first visited), Carmel/Monterey, Pebble Beach and the 17 (?) Mile Drive, etc. Breathtaking! As was your article!
3
I lived in Cambria for many years, and I thank the author for not including this charming and beautiful little town in his travel piece. Cambria residents who did not own tourist-oriented businesses liked nothing better than those times when a rock-slide made Hwy 1 impassable. Such slides were common in those days and for whatever time it took to repair the road, life in our pleasant little town became much more tranquil. For one thing, we didn’t have to risk life and limb trying to cross Hwy 1 on foot or bicycle through the unbroken line of automobiles carrying summer travelers.
1
When I was a young housewife and mother in the 60s, trapped in Half Moon Bay while my then husband worked in San Mateo, there were only local general stores in which to shop. I had to drive to either Redwood City or South San Francisco to buy reasonably priced groceries to feed a family of five. The only route up the coast at the time was Highway 1, so I would drive the family’s Volkswagon bus up that winding and terrifying road and back at least once a month. On one such return trip, the wind buffeted out top-heavy van so much that it was difficult to control. I decided that the longer trip on another winding road over the Skyline was preferable to risking our lives on Hwy 1. But I missed the beauty of the coastal route.
2
Wonderful story. Thank you for so beautifully highlighting our part of the world. Next time you could also include the New Camaldoli Hermitage...or even stay overnight. The ocean view at the end of a windy 2 mile road is beyond spectacular. And the quiet beauty is immensely peaceful.
1
There is just nothing like it. Thanks so much for the trip down memory lane. I must get back out there and drive it again.
2
I've always been struck by the dark beauty of this band of road as it spins and whirls along the Pacific Coast. Label it what you will, for me it remains one of the most energetically rich and diverse sections of highway that I've travelled. If I'm honest, it even scares me a bit.
Kudos to the author for writing a piece which, at least for me, captures some of the nuances of this wondrous stretch.
4
“...you don’t have to be born someplace for it to be home.” This is exactly how I’ve felt about California for nearly 50 years. Born and raised in NYC, I went to UC Berkeley, then UC Santa Barbara, living, studying, and working in places between the Bay Area and Los Angeles for 25 years, before returning back east to care for my frail, elderly parents in NJ for what remained of their long lives. After 16 years there, my husband and I retired to Mexico, as we realized that California would no longer be affordable. When people ask where I’m from, I’m never sure how to answer. But I think that the author’s closing statement has cleared that up for me.
4
Aw, poor Nico.
Sorry to see the marriage end, but glad that Mac has a new start.
I have driven Highway 1 many times -- From San Francisco to Humboldt and from Los Angeles to San Francisco and back, and many shorter distances in-between. It is not always a tranquil ride - riding through Big Sur you need to really pay attention to the curves and twists. Regardless of the destination, and the many times I have driven it, Highway 1 is always different in its moods and beauty--- a very major California experience.
5
I was first drawn to visit Big Sur in 1975 because of my love for Henry Miller, who lived and wrote there in the 40s and 50s, perched in a shack above the sea. Later, in the mid-90s I attended workshops at Esalen--and also indulged in the 1am hot spring baths (where Miller had done his laundry in the 40s!)
Big Sur is place to reassess one's life journey. Thanks for bringing me back.
4
Must the Times now push sexual orientation/ identity stories by masquerading as travelogs ?
8
Wonderfully written story. Thanks so much. Personally, having lived and worked in Silicon Valley for the last 30+ years, we haven't taken the time off to take our time and do this trip, just little pieces in a day or day and a half. I think with retirement just around the corner, this full trip with the various stops is high on my list and I've tagged a bunch of the tips you've given.
1
I spent 2 years in Monterey as a kid and can always remember the family trips down the PCH to Big Sur and beyond. Memories I'll take to the grave. This was the early 70s and the southbound trips were terrifying as there didn't seem to be many guard rails and people would honk horns on blind corners. I remember some sections had me clinging for dear life to the side of the car furthest from the edge. I can't wait to go back and do it again.
2
I am sure others have commented on this already, but NO ONE who lives here in CA (except in Los Angeles, where all the freeways in that area are referred to as 'the 405,' or 'the 61.' or 'the 210') refers to Highway 1 as 'the 1.'
As a lifelong resident (including plenty of years in So. Cal), I cringed every time Highway 1 was referred to as the 1 in your piece. But it was sure a good and fun article!
12
@Heidi Skolnik
It's also not called PCH anywhere north of Ventura.
2
A quibble for the now East Bay author (& the NYT style guide): Northern Californians don't use "the" when referring to a highway--nothing marks you faster as a Southern Californian than referring to "the 1." Also, try coming north on 1 someday. It's every bit as stunning as anything on the southern section.
12
@Patrick Ellis. Exactly. Thanks for commenting and saving me the effort ;-)
2
Want to really experience route 1, do it on a motorcycle. A motorcycle not a Harley.
3
@Paulie I hope your distinction is the same as mine. A motorcycle is a small 2 wheeled vehicle that carries 1 or 2 people in an open environment. A Harley is a noise machine that disturbs and disrupts every living person and animal within miles.
6
@Paulie Or on a bicycle! I just recently completed a charity bike ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles, with much of Highway 1 included. Riding from Monterey to Cambria on a bike is simply incredible.
@Paulie
First time was in a VW bug, then on a BMW R69S (on my way to grad school, in Pasadena), then with a Porsche 356, and next time will be with an Airstream in back of a Ram/Cummins (and not during the summer).
However the mode, each was & will be pure bliss (although you really ought to try some of the coast highways in OR, WA, & BC, too).
2
Back in 1978, when I was young, and single, and unencumbered, I had a chance to move to California. I took the easy way out and stayed East.
My life has turned out ok..great husband and marriage, great kids. Contentment.
But, every time I travel to the Golden State, something catches inside me, and I realize this is where I should have spent my life.
Not to late, only 66, but still....
Good story, great photos. Thank you for the reminder.
4
In 1969, a friend and I rode our Triumph motorcycles from Wisconsin to California. At that time it was very rare for riders to travel long distances on bikes. We carried our gear and slept on the ground all the way out.
There were more "experiences" than I could relate here, but riding the length of Highway 1 and sleeping on the beach at night was an experience I shall never forget. The beauty and thrill of it have remained vivid in my memory to this day, some 40 years later. Each time I view a photo of this beautiful road I am transported back and drift off into the nostalgia of more insouciant times.
12
Coming south on the 101, make a right turn on a bicycle at Leggett, grab some Gatorade in town and start biking up the 1700 feet or so uphill to the top of Leggett Hill, a climb every bicyclists needs to make.
It's downhill to sea level only to ride back up another 700 feet above sea level to reach the highway going south on one of the most adventurous ride you can go on.
Camp a Big Sur or any of the other state parks that have the required "Biker/Camper" sites that can't turn you away.
Where Rt. 1 starts, from the view of a bicycle:
https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/page/?o=1mr&page_id=25210&v=13
This ode to Highway 1 and California was so beautiful and poignant for me to read. I lived in CA for several years, and have since been living and working overseas, in Asia. Living this international life, I've been questioning where is home and where would I go back to when I eventually return to the U.S.? Reading this, it made me realize that even though I feel rootless right now, eventually I'll wind my way back home to California...thank you.
9
Such a beautiful drive, I’ve done many times. One that sticks in my memory: during the L.A. Riots, a friend and I got sick of watching the city burn and escaped north to Big Sur, as the National Guard convoys headed the opposite way. To go from madness and destruction to those foggy cliffs...
4
Well written. I lived in geodesic dome surrounded by ten acres of old-growth redwoods in Palo Colorado Canyon in the 1980s; married to a civil rights attorney twice my young age. My stellar but short-lived chef career began at Ventana , peaked at Deetjens with a wedding dinner for Timothy Hutton and Debra Winger and landed softly at what was then known as Cafe Amphora at Nepenthe. During the time I was chef at Deetjen's, we were written up in the NYT travel section, "An enclave in Big Sur". Life then was simple and sweet, with many pauses between the notes of the concerto that is Big Sur. My career ended in blaze after two near-fatal accidents on the treacherous Highway One. From the wreckage, it eventually morphed into becoming psychiatric nurse practitioner and s such I have served the poorest of the poor in East Hawaii now for a good twenty years. We have very similar serpentine roads here, along the Hamakua Coast. Thank you for taking me down Memory Lane on Highway One.
14
I agree that it was a nice, well written article, but I have one quibble. Deetjen's is much nicer than it seems in the description. True, it's not for those who prefer the new and shiny. I found it far more comfortable than any modern hotel, and I stay in a bunch (for business). When I'm there, I feel my bones relax. The restaurant is terrific, too.
6
This piece of great writing brought back fond memories of my two trips on Highway 1 from S.F. to L.A. Staying a night in Big Sur was fantastic. I still treasure the photos I took on these trips.
Then there's the other amazing Highway 1, on completely the opposite end of the country. I have also driven US 1 from Miami to Key West. Big Sur and Key West have quite a bit in common, both culturally and physically. Big Sur has fires and Key West has hurricanes. Both are totally dependent on narrow roads called Highway 1 for everything, and both can easily become isolated if those precarious roads are disrupted. People get nervous driving both roads. But you must drive both of these remarkably scenic and historic roads called Highway 1.
4
The only thing better than Hwy 1 would be Footpath 1.
1
@Paul Adams
It's called the Coastal Trail.
3
This article brought back many memories of my summer of '79. I had just learned to drive and took off in my new Mustang from Montreal to California. I will never forget the beauty of driving the coastal road through the three states from Los Angeles to Vancouver. It makes me want to do it again, at the tender age of 70.
5
You have evoked both wonderful memories and stoked pervasive sadness. Thirty-eight years ago, my husband spent our glorious honeymoon in California, beginning in San Francisco and the small and charming Stanford Court Hotel. I still have the porcelain ashtry on our kitchen sink, a constant reminder of the start of our magnificent marriage I so cherished. We were 22 and 24 and so while we intended to sight see in Beverly Hills, we chose to spend the day at the ocean in Malibu Beach, while we intended to visit Hearst Castle, we stayed in a little bungalow far below the hill, made a bonfire and enjoyed a romantic evening, just the 2 of us, we stopped at the Madonna Inn to see the men’s room (our parents said ‘a must see’), we drove the PCH, stopping often to take pictures at the many posted ‘vista views’, we drove through Carmel By The Sea eyes open wide at the luxury and charm, we marvelled at the slews of stunning animals caged only by man-made natural looking boundaries at the San Diego Zoo. My husband and I travelled a bit since, but it was that California trip that marked the beginning of 38 years of commitment and happiness which now has sadly been stolen away. My husband passed away unexpectedly this past April. As I read this morning, the memories of our California trip seared in my heart and the memories of a love so dear. Thank you for the lovely reminders.
37
In June of 1968, my friend Stacy and I drove her ’67 green Pontiac Trans Am loaded with the contents our college life at the University of New Mexico home to Palo Alto. Lindy, our roommate and artist friend had given Stacy a 4X4 painting of Jimmy Hendricks; a full on front shot with electric purple hair, arm outstretched with his guitar vibrating in orange and gold oil paint. We stopped along the coast just south of Big Sur and photographed the painting in the tall grass with the blue grey Pacific in the background. I never saw the photograph or the painting again, but it is etched in my memory along with the midnight phone call that woke us the night before while crashing on the floor of friends apartment in Long Beach. Robert Kennedy had been assassinated.
7
We got engaged on the beach @ Andrew Molara Star Park in Big Sur.
25 yrs later...
2
This beautiful piece moved me to tears at its end. I last drove Highway One in 2012 while much work was being done on the road and its bridges, but was thrilled that a beautiful shade of purple, my favorite color, was being used for the metal in the new constructions. My only regret is that I did not capture it on camera.
1
I used to travel in 1990s. Reading these beautiful articles gives me hope from my deep depression of 15 years. I just wan to jump into an electric car and drive around. Thanks Mac, besides the roads, the Nature and the Beauty. you also showed the many aspects of seasonal life itself, which by itself is beautiful. I practically come from 2 different worlds and combined/combining/combine both of them to live. The article is so beautiful and enliven.
3
Highway One, the first time I saw it was in the early 1990s, with my brother and my Mother driving to LA early morning. I noticed the colors of the Pacific Ocean along the way. Later I came to know it is because of the algae in the Ocean and I slowly and surely became a geek of immense knowledge :), and next time when I went to Monterey, the landscape of the Ocean was totally different. Each time I would visit Monterey, the Ocean was totally different. Wonders of Nature. And the Beauty of the Earth. Thanks Mac, your article strongly urges me to go back on those wonderful trips, :)
3
Mutatis mutandi there is a mini Hwy 1 on the North Shore of Long Island, about 10 times shorter and lower, but nevertheless dramatic and much less heralded. It runs roughly from Herod Point to Mattituck Inlet, via North Wading River Rd and Sound Ave, and is bracketed by 2 soundfront State Parks (Wildwood and Hallock). Unfortunately the jewel of this coast, the Grandifolia Sandhills, perhaps Long Island's Yosemite, about midway, was approved for construction of an exclusive private golf resort by Riverhead Town. Ironically the golf course is named for the most prominent feature of this section of coast, Friars Head, now destroyed, and the club, initially hoped to be an economic engine, successfully sued the Town to drastically lower its taxes. The last straw is that the miles of undeveloped beach, described the Albrights as "the bluffs on the sound are extremely high, the beach at the tide line quite pebbly with some impressive glacial erratics, and, just west a half mile, strewn with towering ship hulks.... Turn left and walk a couple of hundred yards and you will be alone" is now strewn with garbage, and the 4-wheel traffic (again approved by Riverhead) means you are no longer alone. There are however sections where the views rival Big Sur.
1
I loved this article and Moro Bay is a good pit stop ever for people from big cities. As a foreigner entrepreneur living between SF and the Sunnyvale where we have office at Plug and Play Accelerator, no matter how much miles costs me per week, I energize my day at the moorings and noons driving by PCH 1. It’s very easy to forget how close I’m from Highway 1 and how beautiful it’s.
I love people so feel free to stop by my house and see the sunset at Davis’s Battery deck in Daly City. It’s gorgeous!
I’ve only driven a short section of the PCH, from Cambria to where the most recent land slide occurred south of Big Sur. Truly beautiful setting. Looking forward to driving more of the highway in the future.
I've driven to Big Sur many times, stayed at Deetjen's, eaten at Nepenthe and relaxed at Esalen. This is my most favorite area of California.
4
Speak, memory: I first rolled along Rt. 1 and through Big Sur in 1961 on a school break, and then you could park just about anywhere and work your way down to the beaches, This preceded Kerouac's account, and one could see the donkey in Baxter? Canyon and even have a cuppa from people living there. We slept on the beaches. Deetjen's was still growing, and we also slept in a treeroom a-building there, whilst he keep his seigniorial eyes on everything including an appreciation of his guests, so to speak. One could "drive" up to Stone House back of Nepenthe, with its view of everything and evocation of a style of life lost after WWII; we found a newspaper from 1928. The landscape fixes the history and memory, and we are fortunate that its ruggedness, implicit in the name itself, and the state of California protect it from the rapaciousness of our species.
Noting also the serendipity of following another Kerry (that's Big Sur magic for you),
Dr. Kerry Pataki
Portland, Oregon
4
Very weak article. More about the author than the beauty of the coastal drive. Lacked the warmth of the small business owners of shops and restaurants that populate the small towns.
No stars
7
I agree. But most of my memories of the highway center on my 2 bicycle rides along it. Beautiful, etc and loaded with angry road hogging trucks on the narrow road. Still, I did it twice, survived and thoroughly enjoyed the trip.
2
@Doug Himebaugh
Did you read the title of the article? "....With Memory Riding Shotgun"? And the essay is part of the Times series "Personal Journeys." Of course it was going to be more about the author! And there were many descriptions of the beauty of the drive.
9
I have lived in California coming on 50 years now. I cannot count how many people from all walks of life, from all corners of the world whom I have encountered in this place. All of them going through what I have come to call their 'California period'. Is there any place akin to this on our little planet? Do people in New Jersey pine and long to one day, God willing, live in Arkansas? I have never met them. But I have met both New Jerseyans and Arkansans, as wells as throngs of others searching for something of mythic wonder, awaiting discovery, in California.
16
Lovely article. Drove in pieces from Elk in the north to Santa Barbara. Camped on the beach in Manchester. I have not to this day ever seen so many stars. Many trips to Sea Ranch, in all its misty grey glory. Hair raising turns down to Bodega Bay. Naked lady lilies. The lovely little houses on Ocean Beach. Devil's Bridge. I got in a car accident once just past Duarte's, in Pescadero's jungle-like greenness. Watched dolphins gracefully leaping out of the water in Aptos. Emptied ashes of a loved one off Lover's point in Monterey. Vacationed in quaint Cambria. When God retires, he will go to Montecito. Thanks Mac for bringing it all back.
13
I've driven from san Francisco to, almost, los angeles a few times.
lovely drive.
almost as nice as the cabot trail on cape Breton island.
5
Depending on the season, you can stop at a U-pick Kiwi ranch for a few minutes so you can savor the best kiwi fruit ever all the way down the coast. To stand under a kiwi arbor breathing the cool sea breeze in one of the most beautiful places on earth is one of life’s greatest unforgettable moments. It’s not the destination...
4
Wonderful article describing an extraordinary trip. I’ve driven it from San Francisco north to Mendocino, and from San Francisco south to Laguna Beach. Driving south is far more spectacular. Big tip of the hat to Caltrans for the miraculous work they do to keep this marvel of engineering open. Same to Calfire for saving Big Sur from fires. Sadly, not all visitors are as gracious as the commenters here. Many tourists behave horrifically between Carmel and Bixby Bridge, ignoring traffic and parking rules and creating safety hazards. Google Maps will tell you it’s about 30 minutes from Carmel to Bixby; these days, it can be twice that, or even longer on weekends. It’s all worth it, however—especially if you cross Bixby and keep going. The farther south you go, the more amazing it gets.
5
I read this with joy and--a more than a jolt of recognition. Car sickness. A sense of self expansion. A reminder of how Californians are creative and appreciate wild beauty and originality. How fortunate we are that spaces such as this exist and belong to us! And, fyi, Mac McClelland, my dear great-uncle was Miles T. McClellan--no d on the end--and he was one of the most ferociously original people I ever knew. When he flew his small, two-engine plane, he owned the world and taught us to open our eyes wide and to really see. You would have liked him.
5
Now that I'm a widow in Florida with few driving destinations, this article jogged my memory of driving Highway 1 by myself from Santa Cruz, where my son was living, to visit San Simeon -with stops at Big Sur and other photo opportunities, and then driving back the same day. Of all my travels -except for the Grand Canyon- Big Sur was the most awesome. Remembering that drive and how I did it so fearlessly 40 years ago is yet another reminder that aging does have its effects. I can't imagine doing it solo now.
24
Living in California, I think it's impossible not to have deep connections to the PCH and I'm no exception. This is a marvelous, if a bit rushed, account. I don't believe however to have ever heard the Madonna Inn and the word classy used in the same sentence before.
7
Us three Canadians planned a road trip down this Highway 1. Then the 2016 summer wildfires broke out, and we canceled our plans. Then in 2017, the landslide near Big Sur happened. Thank you for this story as it serves as a nudge that us three still HAVE to do this road trip. The pictures alone soothe my soul; I can't imagine what these vistas would look, and feel like, in person. I can't wait til I'm there...
4
I would love to meet you Mac McClelland, when I return to the bay area, because you just wrote the road trip that I have travelled often in my years since I moved to CA.
The first time I drove Highway One from LA to Washington I was 24 - almost 40 years ago. I stayed at Deetjen's Inn; it has been a love affair ever since. One of my favorite memories is sitting in the dining room at the big long table, dinner time, fireplace roaring, classical music and the manager, the spitting image of Abe Lincoln, came in and sat at the head of the table! We shared dinner and great conversation that evening. Most told their tales of Deetjen's and Big Sur adventures and one handsome young man took me on a hike the next morning up above the fog to see the sun.
It took me a long time to able to shed my clothes to go to Esalen and I was sorry I waited so long. I was introduced to Duarte's by birding friends - the artichoke soup (like you, I prefer the swirl) and Olallieberry pie, a staple for birders after a long foggy cold day on the coast.
I have traveled quite a few roads -- some as pretty or prettier --but Highway One, Big Sur, Deetjen's, Ragged Point Trail, Pt Lobos, Esalen ... this road, it's the soul, the spirit of my California.
You capture it beautifully in the last paragraph: "I was new but rooted in a place that is capable of holding so much complexity. .. harsh and precarious and utterly nourishing... that you don’t have to be born someplace for it to be home."
10
among my most cherished memories from four and a half years living in Big Sur was the exhiliration of driving the broad S curves southbound above Pietro Blanco-San Simeon at midnight with the moon hanging over the Pacific and the waves crashing the beach- what a rush! lots of others....visited Jerusalem while living in Sur, and told arab guide that Sur is "where G-D goes on vacation."
10
This is a lovely article and I have only one complaint about it. The road should never be called "the" 1. It is highway 1 or just 1 as in we drove 1 to LA. Only people from Southern California call it the 1 and it grates on the ears of those of us from Northern California. Highway One is the most beautiful road if have ever driven.
25
I came here to say the same. It may seem trivial - but I could imagine an east coaster being jarred by discussion of “The 95” rather than canonical I-95. I’m ok with people from LA referring to “The 5”, but Highway 1 is sacrosanct.
10
@JL Moore fifteen years in northern california- four and a half in back country of Sur, we always just called it "the highway"- weren't no other...
2
@ChrisO Born and raised in LA, I can tell you no one actually from Southern CA calls it "the 1" (just as no one from California calls it "Cali," or San Francisco "Frisco." We do call it PCH . . .
5
Born and raised in SF '42 I managed to traverse the whole of CSR 1. It took a long time but it happened on its own. Just trying to get from San Francisco to Los Angeles. Later from Bodega Bay to Crescent City and on into Oregon.
Not monumental but beautiful.
In the summer of 1972, a fire in Big Sur burned off the undercover brush; when the winter rains came in Nov-Dec, the road washed out and closed....just as the article described. It reopened in about March 1973, and I happened to ride my bike from Mill Valley to Santa Barbara then.
Over those 110 miles through Big Sur, I was maybe passed by 10-15 cars...(Today, it would be 10-15 every 2-3 minutes.)...then, few had discovered that the road had reopened. All day it was up and down, up and down,..both the road, and my windbreaker zipper, . I drank a $12 cappuccino at Nepenthe. I slept on the beach in San Simeon in my old sleeping bag, until the rising tide woke me up, and I had to move higher up on the bluff.
All in all, a memorable "end-of-youth" adventure.
5
Highway 1 or PCH, it doesn't matter. From Carmel to San Simeon and all the stops along the way make up a classic trip. It has a special place in my heart that will never be replaced.
11
Absolutely love Hwy 1 and the beautiful coastline, this article captured the beauty of our gourgeos California so eloquently! Truly, Big Sur has to be the most peaceful and beautiful place on earth! One can feel this is what Nirvana must be when in Big Sur with it's majestic beauty. For that matter, I can say a drive down from SF to Monterey and further down south on Hwy 1 one can understnad why California has to be the most beautiful place on earth despite all our growing pains, we embrace nature and people of all cultures in this state. God I love California! I am a transpant from NYC to Texas and now a life long Californian I will be.
7
Did that in 2005 and we were pleasantly surprised with the then moderate amount of traffic in places on this magnificent roadway. Drove up to about to Carmel. Which would would have continued on North , but didn’t.
My 1st time down that magical highway was when I was approx 16 1/2. Quite a few interesting adventures along the way. It was during Ancient Hippie times & my buddy and I must have been crazy, as we hitch hiked down Hwy 1 from central Oregon where we were supposed to be on a Mt. backpacking trip. It was a trip alright. We arrived in LA a day or so after the Tate murders. A drummer from a former band was playing at a party in Beverley Hills & the place was abuzz with excitement & paranoia.
Several trips down that highway in the intervening years were always wonderful.
Living in AZ about 10 years ago, we were to come back to the NW for Xmas. I kept making excuses as to why there was too much snow in the Siskyous. Luckily my wife demanded I go and we arrived north of Seattle on Dec 23rd. My mother died on Xmas Eve & I am eternally grateful to my wife for prompting me to make the journey. She also suggested we go back south on Hwy 1. once in California. It certainly got me out of my sadness, but when we came down and hit Refugio State park in the dead of winter & it was Sunny & 72, it was like a miracle to sit on that beach and watch the birds and waves.
And to miss my just passed mother. Its always been a very good trip down that Highway for me.
Thanks for the great article. You hit on a few places I have never been.
PS - sorry for being long winded, but had to tell of my 1st trip and so far the last ( but not for long)
6
Although I haven't yet, I've wanted to drive this road since as long as I can remember...long before I first heard Kim Gordon's moans on PCH. Her words, like the road itself (in my mind, anyway): mysterious, beautiful, dangerous:
Come on get in the car
Let's go for a ride somewhere
I won't hurt you
As much as you've hurt me
You make me feel so good
You make me feel so crazy
1
Raised a Navy brat, I chose to return to California where my father had done three tours of duty, including his final one, and where I had finished high school and a great university, after graduating from law school on the East Coast. As a reward to myself after taking the California bar exam, my best friend from college and I took my brand new lemon of a Mazda RX-2 and undertook the author’s journey, albeit more epically: we did all of US 1 starting from Laguna Beach, continued north along the coast until cutting east along the Columbia River Gorge, then went up into Canada, traversing Canada, then heavily under construction, until I dropped him off in Calgary, to begin the 2500-mile drive home to, at the time, Marina del Rey, alone.
We visited many of the places the author mentioned, but our mode of travel was distinctly different: we camped. I could fill a book with highlights and adventures, but won’t. Our focus was on the natural beauty of the trip, and seeing the small, surprising things in the natural world people so often miss in the mad rush of their lives.
Frankly, it was an intensely personal and bonding experience for both of us, and uniquely ours forty-five years later. We remain linked by it, though I remained in Los Angeles practicing law for decades, he became an endowed law professor on the East Coast, and our communications now are infrequent and virtual. Suffice it to say it is still magical, and if you can do it, you will not be disappointed.
9
In 1958 my future wife and I were traveling to San Francisco from LA on Highway 1 when we spotted an A frame structure way off along the coast. As we got nearer it appeared really outstanding and similar to one we were planning. We saw where the road to it was and pulled off onto the area leading down to it. We were gazing wistfully at it when a man and woman pulled in behind us and asked if they could help. We explained I was beginning my studies in architecture and that we were intrigued. The man asked if we would care to take a tour. We of course enthusiastically said yes. And it was a completely wonderful home. As we were leaving we exchanged introductions. The owners were non-other than Nathaniel Owens and his wife Margaret. I was and am still dumbfounded to remember that day. By the way, my design had nothing, absolutely nothing in common with that wonderful home.
7
Couple of weeks ago a friend of mine was driving south, near San Luis Obispo and lo and behold had a deer-vehicle collision, vehicle [MINI Cooper] was declared a total loss ... it's illegal to collect road kill in California.
I am the only family member who escaped Connecticut. My brother has their favorite spot way up the Cape. I have Big Sur. Six miles below Carmel sets Soberanes Canyon trail. After 1.5 miles through redwoods, the trail steps giant steps out of the canyon and up sharply 1,800' to a vista that can wake your forgotten soul, and often does. Coming down the front, ocean vistas and cloud banks swathed in sunlight within touching distance, you come back down to reality quickly, sternly. All told a 5-mile loop. One many of us do every day.
Google rates this trail #1 in cleanliness of all park trails everywhere. Even though this park has no budget, no general plan, basically nothing. Except world-class volunteers. Friends of Garappata (FOG).
Don't miss this trail or the seat at the top which confronts you with both your smallness and your greatness.
My brother has yet to hike this trail with me. Perhaps now he will.
16
Best way to avoid the feeling of falling of the road is to drive up from LA to the Bay area. Did the drive once with my parents as passengers a few years before my dad passed away. He really enjoyed riding in the back, taking in all the scenery.
5
Traveled here a few years ago when my son was in grad school in Berkeley. It was just an incredible trip. Deetjen's was magical--I stayed up late into the night reading the diaries in the room. No one has mentioned the food at Deetjen's. Best dinners I've had in years.
Thanks so much for this. Son now lives in California. Can't wait til we can go back to visit Big Sur.
3
Do not be scared by the "steep and mildly dangerous footpath down to an abandoned beach at Ragged Point Inn and Resort" -- it's not dangerous if you're careful, and I found it to be one of the hidden highlights of Big Sur ... perhaps of California.
1
Almost half a century ago a young man from the midwest came across a copy of "Not Man Apart", and decided to go. I've since trekked and paddled and driven the west coast from Baja to Butte Inlet, and Big Sur is still the heart of it all for me.
7
My compliments on Drew Kelly's photographs!
11
As someone who relocated recently to Ventura, I wish the author had had more time to delve into it. To skip from San Luis Obispo to Malibu is to not include an entire region.
The message: Pismo, Lompoc, Santa Barbara, Ventura--skip it. You would have to look harder for the gems here (true they are more hidden) than the deep secrets of Big Sur. Esalen? Come on. My husband did that visit in the late 70's with his Dad.
I love the California coast but we can look further than the Camelot of Big Sur.
PS. I am glad the author got over nausea. I can feel the illness and fear of that drop off even now.
5
It's highway one. Nearly everyone drives through and I would advise,very carefully. I lived through one major fire and a road collapse in the mid 1970's. To know and enjoy a few of the beaches and local folks and some nightlife has always been maybe the major nicest experience in my life and I'm near 70 now. I had no money then ,none ,but those times were ,simply the best.
24
I flew from OC to San Francisco with a friend several years ago to pick up a convertible I bought on the internet. Even though it was August we often had the heater on in order to keep the top down the entire trip . We had lunch at Big Sur River Inn on a weekend when they have live music and then spent a few hours sitting in the woven-reed chairs in the Big Sur River drinking cocktails with our feet in the water.
The smells along the highway were memorable - strawberries from strawberry patches, onions from farms next to the highway, seaweed and fish smells from the ocean, pine trees and salty water. Everyone should take this trip at least once without a deadline so you can stop and appreciate the variety of the landscape and towns along the way.
25
@Linda W
Hint: Never take it in a hurry. Hinted by a California Native who has driven the entire length both directions many times.
3
I really enjoyed this article and am glad for the author to have shared his wonderful trip. I hope the author will try more adventure by heading north and driving Hwy 101 along the Oregon Coast. It too is magical!
11
Let’s not forget the magnificent parallel road on the east side of the state. Modern Highway 395 traces the Sierra escarpment from Mt Whitney to Lake Tahoe. The Sierra mountain range rises gently along its west side but it presents a monstrous vertical rock wall miles high for hundreds of miles along its east side. Sprinkled with small pleasant towns it’s used mainly for access for the ski and hiker community. It’s snow capped even in summer and the fall colors are beautiful. The legendary white granite mountain range - once feared and frightening to western pioneers - is another gift from this great state.
33
I have lived in Monterey California for most of my life and there is a mystic about the region I can't explain. It's a call or beconing which will always be with me. When I'm down I drive down to Big Sur and my troubles dwindle. To say it's a magical place is to understate it's value.
6
Here's the thing; if you visit California for more than a night or two, you just might not want to go home.
Well written article, by the way.
16
My first experience with Big Sur and Highway 1 occurred in 1968 when a college roommate and I, just graduated from the University of Michigan, hitchhiked around California, starting on Highway 1 south from San Francisco. This was peak counter-culture period, and we got rides from a wide variety of people including businessmen, surfers, hippies, and others. Going south is the cliff-edge side of the highway, and my recollection is that there were no guardrails. Some of the hippie rides were in vans and buses informally decked out with easy chairs and couches definitely not likely to pass muster under today's safety regulations. We visited a friend staying at the Esalen Institute, sat in the baths, and tried to pretend, as moderately sheltered midwesterners, not to be shocked by the sans-clothing aspect of the experience, which was combined with the idyllic setting overlooking the ocean below. No matter when or how you travel on Highway 1 from San Francisco to south of Big Sur, it is an experience that cannot be forgotten.
7
Beautifully written, wondrously lived. Bravo!
4
We just finished this same stunning trIp on another return visit to California. Esalen is always a highlight of our journeying....this year we opted for a 5 day “Walk on the Wild Side” hiking retreat w the amazing Steve Harper, hiking stunning pristine land....
We love Big Sur!
including Port Angeles.
1965, 1984, 1989, 2002, 2013: Years during which I spent time on this road.
Zero: Other roads where I could pinpoint the year I drove them.
After (by rough calculation) some 750,000 miles of road trip, I find this stretch of highway uniquely magical. Thanks for this piece.
8
In or around SF you get into a cool American car like a Mustang or Camaro, you wheel out to the PCH, lower the windows, crank up the Beach Boys, put your elbow on the window sill and drive. Go to LA. Stop here and there along the way.
That's what good old fashioned driving is all about. I can hardly wait to do it again. Start early. You don't want to be on that road when it gets dark.
16
This article caused me once again to reconsider why I ever left the West Coast. Reading through it caused me to get literal pain (in the best possible way) in my stomach out of longing to go back. Thank you, Mr. McClelland.
15
To us on the Pacific Coast, Highway 1 is the PCH (Pacific Coast Highway). Only bicycles should be allowed on these fantastic 655 miles.
In the 1950's, I pedalled to Big Sur, Big Basin State Park, among other places, and wild camped where I pleased. My parents back then weren't worried about the safety of their 15 year old offspring who just had to see the world.
6
So many people have written about the California coast, I was skeptical... Why was I even reading another one? But this was new and exciting. Thanks Mac McClelland for a very pleasant journey.
2
Some of the best, and two of the saddest, road trips of my life were on CA 1. '64 VW bus, '67 Royal Enfield 750cc motorcycle and a '70 Porsche 911 (which I still drive) were the icing on the proverbial cake. The bus went so slowly that I had the time needed to really appreciate the ride. The bike (complete exposure) and the 911 were something else again...
I used to think that nothing in the US could match the ride from San Simeon to Monterey in beauty till I moved to my home in Oregon. 101 from the CA/OR state line to Port Angeles, WA is 1's peer. Just don't do it during tourist season...
5
The article is beautiful, for sure, and I am equally moved by the comments. Could this be the best batch of comments in the history of the internet? Thanks and blessings to all.
28
@Robert My thoughts, too. It does seem like that rarity on the internet, a mutual-admiration society lovefest.
12
I drove Highway 1 many times in my youth, and once the entire route from Ft. Bragg to San Diego. I despaired that this would be another superficial look at this iconic highway, but Mac McClelland gets everything right. I can personally attest that the staff at Esalen were just as arrogant in the late 70's as they seem to be now. but the beauty of those mineral baths remain one of my core memories.
4
I lived in Oakland and then Davis. took many trips on my motorcycle on Hwy 1, but the best was as follows: wife and daughter and next-door neighbors took a trip to Pescadero. On the way back, in a Toyota van, I'm sitting in the front passenger seat, talking to the wives and kids in the rear seats. I notice a speck in the sky out the back window which appears to be getting larger by the second. It's a single engine plane, flying up the coast. about 500 feet off the shoreline, at an altitude of 300 feet. It catches up to us, at our height--a P51 Mustang, WW II Cadillac of the sky, and the pilot waves as he goes by, making so much noise I think the Toyota vibrated. A memory of a lifetime!!
9
I’m looking forward to driving to Esalen and the Big Sur on Oct 9 for a few days. The timing of your article is perfect. Thank you.
1
Driven down this magnificent road twice, once all of the way, with two friends, where we clung as close to the coastline as possible all the way starting with a ferry from Victoria on Vancouver Island to 101 on the way to Hwy 1. A second time was like this, starting in the Bay area. I don't remember fear, just exhilaration and wonderment.
No great stories of personal change, are connected with it, as it was with Mac McClelland. But the very first came to represent - in retrospect - a change from the freedoms of early adulthood, to a more rooted life.
1
What a wonderful trip down memory after reading and soaking in the photos, much thanks.
Coming from an North Atlantic Island Country with it's own ruggedness of beauty but unfortunately lacking CA's climate I was as proud as a proud human could be to have driven Rte 1 several times, Sur reel. Been, stayed,passed and saw all of mentioned below memories and then some. Ripplewood cabins by the river demanded us to usurp the tranquility.
I've got goosebumps just typing this comment and all thanks to the unbridled nature of Rte 1. From my wife n I, a big Sur and more thanks to CA,
11
Great piece, welcome home.
10
We just returned from the 61st edition of the Monterey Jazz Festival. Beyond its atmosphere, positive vibes and spectacular music, we had the pleasure of “commuting” to it daily from Asilomar, in Pacific Grove, along Highway 1, to Monterey. By the way, if anyone wants a real white-knuckle experience, try negotiating this route, especially around Big Sur, in the fog.
7
Great read with my Monday morning coffee here in gloomy Seattle.
Thank you, Failing New York Times! (kidding).
14
Thank you...many memories there.
2
Driven the 1?
That author does not live in Northern California.
8
Nicely written. But please, please. It’s “1”, or “One”, or “Highway 1”. Not “the 1”. Never.
15
@Dimitry Struve and Charlie,
As a reader who lives in Southern California, I refer to Highway 1 as "the 1" out of love and affectionate reminiscence because to me, "the 1" is The One. Nothing like it anywhere, and so I venerate. Please give those gorgeous bluffs and grazing cows and turgid waters my regards the next time you're motoring along that glorious black ribbon of highway.
6
I graduated from college in 1971, worked the summer saving funds and then took a new Kelty backpack and gear and stepped out to hitchhike from Denver to Los Angeles, then up Highway 1 into the Redwoods above San Francisco. I had never hitchhiked before in my life.
This is a nice article, but my perspective from the road was a lot more intense, close up and personal. I remember Morro Bay all right. Tough night, damp sand sleeping on the beach all night with a heavy flashlight tucked in the crook of my arm. I had loaned a pair of tennis shoes to a guy in Santa Barbara so we could get into a cafe for breakfast. He was tagging along with me now, still in the shoes, and his mental illness had slipped out along the way. I was worried about him as I saw the monolith in the bay, back-lit by oil rigs and shadowed by slow-moving oil tankers coming and going. I didn't sleep well.
I made it north to Ft. Bragg, having a lot of intense, colorful adventures along the way, and bonding with this magical highway. A few years later, I moved to California and lived in Lagunitas, a redwood-spiked paradise in West Marin, minutes from Highway 1.
But the author captures the "harsh, precarious and utterly nourishing" qualities of that 'ribbon of highway.' He has a nice restaurant in Pescadero. I had crab fishing with a high school friend in Bodega Bay and taking his black lab north with me into Mendocino Headlands Park. The dog nearly got me killed. Precarious is a good word.
6
"In the most evocative parts of the drive, the drop, separated from you car by just a guardrail --or not-- is hundreds of feet." Well, I didn't know what an anxiety attack was until I drove PCH. Thank goodness for those pullovers. I will never, ever start my drive with a double-espresso again. Until my ride the length of PCH the only road I'd ever driven that gave me religion was the Amalfi Drive in Southern Italy. All that aside, beautiful and breathtaking.
10
@Jay Amberg The Amalfi coast is the best parallel in my experience as well, though road along the Costa Amalfitano is plagued by tour buses, and even narrower.
2
The more active readers of this article might be interested in a completely different experience of Route-1. By bicycle from Eureka to Los Angeles.
You can do it on the cheap, no expensive and fancy-dancey accommodations and restaurants, no transport costs (your legs are the motive power) and all the CAL state parks offer Hike & Bike camping sites at $5 a night.
5
I also had a wonderful solo ride from Seattle down to San Diego in the early '80s; the California parks along Highway 1 were a beautiful place to stop each night. Going north to south also meant you were always on the ocean side of the road and shoulder. I would love to do that ride again sometime.
A couple of years ago, my wife and I stayed at Deetjen's Big Sur Inn, in the very charming, very tiny "Van Gogh" room. Rustic, to say the least, with a shared bathroom for all down the hall. As the author mentions, there was a journal in the small bureau that had entries from everyone who had stayed in that same room since 1958. It was a great read, all the hopes and dreams and musings of folks that had visited that magical place. The most fun entry though was the one that mentioned that a certain visitor, decades ago, had hidden a 100 dollar bill somewhere in the room, and invited everyone that stayed in the room to search for it and, if found, treat themselves to a great dinner. We searched. And searched, to no avail. Continuing to read the journal we saw an entry from someone who had found the hidden treasure decades later, and in fact, had treated himself and his spouse to a great dinner. But, he proclaimed, there was still a nice chunk left over, which he had put back in the hiding place.......more searching, again to no avail. So, if you find yourself in Big Sur someday, check in to the Van Gogh room at Deetjen's, and try your luck!
12
The real Big Sur adventure is when you leave the road. In fact, the road is a nightmare, especially because you have inexperienced drivers in massive mobile homes. I've walked much of this road, and I am always looking to egress into the wilderness. Surprisingly you can find mile high peaks right along the coast---thank god you don't have to deal with traffic while hiking/climbing. Try the East Molera Trail to Post Summit, and then on Mount Manuel; it's solitary.
5
Wonderful piece and so accurate and about the amazing places on PCH and nearby. I was a transplanted Queens girl off to grad school at Stanford, and I continually bore my children about the best job I ever had. For the marketing team at Round Table Pizza I would drive my Pinto over the "hill" into Half Moon Bay to the local RTP there. Interview customers, eat my own pizza and head to the beach till later afternoon -then interview customers, eat another pizza and head back to Palo Alto !
I've been privileged to drive and visit so many of the places mentioned in article and then some in my almost 40 years as a Californian.
2
@SD I lived in San Francisco for a year right after I graduated from college in 1981. I worked that year as a secretary at the headquarters of Round Table Pizza, in the Embarcadero. I was dating the guy who made the signs for all the RTP restaurants. He lived in San Jose and we would drive to work from his house in his Econoline van, along Highway 1. I googled him a couple of years ago and read that he had passed away. I have such great memories of that year.
I’ve been on Highway 1 many times, starting as a teen in the back seat of my parents’ car and as an adult. No fears, just awestruck by the beauty and my love of the ocean. If you plan a trip stop frequently and get out of the car. Absorb the feeling and take it home.
6
Thank you for the lovely reminder. In the summer of 1969, after my high school graduation in Fresno, my two best friends and I took a short road trip to the coast. We told our parents we were going to see a friend in Cayucos...and we did, but that was really just the cover story. We wanted to drive on Highway 1. We hit the road in my graduation present...a 1968 VW bug.
Freedom, exhilaration and wild, incomparable beauty all wrapped up in a whirlwind adventure for three sheltered teenage girls. Big Sur and Highway 1 cracked open my world.
9
My husband and I traveled to San Francisco 45 years ago on our honeymoon. He had been to California once; I had never been. One of my fondest memories of that trip was the day we went to wine country. We made our way through Napa and Sonoma and somehow ended up in Geyserville for a late lunch. As we were looking at a map, we saw a road from Geyserville to Route One and decided that it would be fun to go back to San Francisco that way. After 2 hours on a curvy deserted road we made it to Route One. My husband asked if I could drive for a bit as he was tired. Sure I said I can do that! After about two miles and I don't know how many deep diving switchbacks, I realized that there was no way I could do any more. He begrudgingly took the wheel and another two hours plus later, we pulled into the parking lot of Scoma's restaurant in Sausalito; my husband jumped out of the car, ran into the restaurant and ordered a martini straight up! That we ended up moving to California ten years later and are still here must have been determined by that day's adventures. And we still love it - warts and all.
17
@Pragmatic
Your comment reminds me that before I moved to Big Sur in about 1977, I had been living on Highway One in Mendocino County for several years. Everyone warned me to be careful when I drove down to Big Sur, but after living on the more northern (and difficult) stretch of the highway, the road south of Carmel was surprisingly easy. I recommend taking Highway One from Stinson Beach, north to the town of Mendocino for another wonderful ( and perhaps terrifying)road trip.
4
This essay brings back many fond memories of my young adulthood. In 1972, I left Ithaca, NY, on a motorcycle and headed to Berkeley for grad school. I was traveling with a friend whose uncle lived in Pacifica, and that was our first stop along the Pacific Coast Highway. Since then, I've traveled up and down that serpentine byway several times, stopping at many of the venues mentioned in this article. I've given up the exhilaration of two wheels for an RV - probably a good idea for someone about to turn 70 - but the wonder of the vistas still give me a frisson of slightly melancholy recollection. It's been a good life!
5
Our son, a native Bostonian, recently graduated from a college in the greater Bay/Silicon Valley area. During his college years, we tried to make vacations out of visits to him, and have been utterly amazed by the beauty of the area, as well as the friendliness of the residents. In August 2017, my husband and I whisked our son away from his summer college job, and meandered from San Jose up the coast to Mendocino for a few days, stopping overnight in Bodega Bay. Truly, truly lovely region. (And the Russian River Brewing Company rocks) This past winter, we explored delightful Morro Bay during a drive up the coast. Looking forward to our next flight out from Beantown.
4
Awesome article. The driving trip along the pacific coast is always exciting and mystical. I had my fair share of North Pacific West road trip, from SF to Seattle, about 2 years ago as I was contemplating about law school. I still remember the sheer, vigorous ebb of waves out in the nature and the good people that I met.
1
UCSC, working with the USFS above King City, riding the century from Carmel to San Simeon, surfing Jalama, seeing the brown summer turn into the verdant green winter.
Lyrical country.
2
Lovely article! Yes, the coast highway is pretty good, probably worth a gender shift if that were a prerequisite.
3
Back in 1975 I thought it would be a good idea to take a train to San Francisco and ride my bike back along hwy 1. Keep in mind our country in NO way was set up for any kind of bicycling. Also I was no bicyclist nor were my friends but we made it but what a hard ride it took us days.
3
@joe Hall. The train ride, the Coast Starlight, is spectacular and well worth the trip in and of itself.
7
My college friend liked the Coast Daylight so much he named his boat - in Rhode Island - after that west coast train.
I rode it twice as a kid, with a trailer in the back, in turns so tight it seemed as tho the trailer was going one way and we (especially us kids in the back) were going another. 2nd trip, my parents were going thru an enormous transition of place and relationship; now as an adult (and doing what they did), I understand the importance of the highway 1 itself in their journey. Drove it twice with my husband (both directions) and stayed at Madonna. Omigosh. A 3rd time on the way to meet an unknown-as-yet book collaboration partner in San Luis Obispo. It is magical, scary, and transformative, much as your own journey has been. Congratulations and joy to you, Mac, on every conceivable level.
6
Having driven this road many times, here's a suggestion:
If possible, drive south, rather than north, between Carmel and San Luis Obispo. The reason has to do with the fact that the coastline follows a rough diagonal to the southeast. Thus, driving south means you are primarily looking out over the ocean and its stunning vistas, whereas driving north you are primarily looking into mountain sides.
Also, don't miss Julia Pfieffer Burns State Park (below Big Sur). It has a hiking trail starting in a redwood grove, and then heads toward the ocean.
Enjoy the ride!
23
@Dochoch Excellent tip!
For five years my commute three times a week was from San Francisco to Santa Cruz via Highway 1. I had two small kids and was caring for my ailing mother. It was my meditation, my joy and my exhilaration. There was no traffic, except for the odd tourist driving in terror, but one could always pass them. Before podcast and audio books, I would blast my favorite tapes depending on mood. Compared to crowded freeways, this was nirvana.
17
I have taken this drive many times. Thank you for bringing back my memories of the special place and time!
5
I love my state. Most especially from the 1, most especially northbound; as I'm coming into San Simeon, staying shoulder to shoulder with the coast accompanying me to points beyond, that's when I begin to feel my state most strongly.
1
I guess us EastCoasters referred to the highway as the Pac One. I wonder if this is as much of a faux pas as referring to San Francisco as "Frisco?"
In 1991, my friends and I drove on Highway 1 from LA to San Francisco ending at the Golden Gate Bridge. It was one of the most memorable road trips of my life. We stopped for a picnic on Big Sur. We saw the sunset at Half Moon Bay. We went by Candlestick Park and knew that the dramatic view if San Francisco Bay was fast approaching.
My advice for first-timers is that if one were to be queasy about driving on Highway 1, the trip from LA to SF is likely to be a bit more palatable than traveling in the other direction. That is because there is a bit of highway for oncoming traffic between you and the guardrail. Either way, an exhilarating ride.
6
@Arif Indeed. That faux pas is right up there with “San Fran” and “Cali”.
8
@Steve Griffith
Since when was San Fran a faux pas??
@VR Since Jack London and Robinson Jeffers were writing.
1
This past summer, after 5 straight years of grueling work, the end of a relationship, and a near mental breakdown, I quit my job to take a month long sabbatical. Part of this trip would include a long overdue visit to friends in LA and SF. I traveled the PCH as a child on two occasions, stopping at the Hearst Castle and staying overnight in Carmel and Monterrey. With the magic of the drive and those places still lingering after nearly 20 years, I wanted to drive it myself as an adult.
When I arrived in LA I was dismayed to learn that part of the highway was closed. As I headed inland from Cayucos after lunch, I was not looking forward to the 2 hour detour onto Nacimiento-Fergusson Road. But when I neared the ocean and glimpsed of the ocean from 2000+ feet above, it became worth it. At one vista, I pulled over the car and the sheer grandeur and beauty of the place coerced me into weeping, expelling months, if not years, of pent up emotions. This was the breaking point that allowed my heart to become open and pliable again, and for the rest of my trip to change my perspective on life.
The beauty of Big Sur is unsurpassed, unbelievable, indescribable to the uninitiated. It is a place full of mystery. It forces you to understand through sheer force of nature that you are just blip, a lucky observer of beauty formed over an incomprehensible scale of time.
I have been thinking about this place ever since I left and I cannot wait to return, hopefully for a much longer stay.
44
Drove it in a 35 ft motor home, with a tow car. One never forgets the logging trucks at the northern end, nor the point where the yellow line and part of the road had slipped down, offering a path better not traveled. My wife was "shotgun," and was so white knuckled that at one point, fearing she would collapse, I had to ask for a piece of candy to get her eyes off the drop.
But it is beautifly and worth it!
6
I commuted from Monterey to Big Sur every day for more than 20 years and put over a million miles on my work trucks during that time. When slides closed the roads north or south I drove down 101 to King City and cut through Hunter Leggit to reach the coast, or rode in a helicopter to assist stranded communities when roads were impassable.
I chuckle when I read accounts of white knuckles, but worry that fear may rob visitors of once in a lifetime sights, like a lone condor soaring overhead, a pod of orcas cruising seal covered rocks, or hawks hunting their next meal on the thermals.
I've been on every goat path, every hill and valley, and have met every resident who braves the challenges of harsh winters and isolation. Those pioneers, who cut a path through the wilderness to build a life there have earned our respect and admiration. Road names like "Bear Killed Two Calves Creek" in Pear Valley in the heart of Big Sur remind us that grizzlies once roamed these hills.
In a way, it's a land yet to be discovered, with vast stretches beyond towering peaks, unexplored and pristine. My parents gave us the gift of weeks long hikes on winding trails along precipitous cliffs and hidden canyons, where a misstep could spell disaster.
The known and unknown beauty of the Big Sur coast, viewed with respectful silence, leads to an unavoidable humility, and the absolute duty to save it from ourselves.
98
Thank-you. Yes, by all means visit Robinson Jeffers' reclusive home the next time. He is a poet of dark vision, but stunning individuality.
He is the soul of that part of the highway.
He and Jack London are the ghosts of Northern California. Big Sur is the best highway in CA, if not the States. But it should remain largely a road not taken, because it needs not to be loved to death.
28
@HLR Beautifully expressed. Robinson Jeffers was one of my father’s favorite poets, and a visit to Tor House is indeed a must. Living in North Oakland, I also often think of Jack London’s “ghostly presence” as I walk in his footsteps from Heinhold’s to “the Piedmont Heights to Blair Park”.
3
Beautifully done. Thanks for this, Mr. McClelland. The places to stop along the way on Highway 1 are truly limitless. One of my favorite bicycle rides is out of Half Moon Bay, up Higgins Canyon Road, down Purisima Creek Road, across on Verde Road (right along Highway 1), up Lobitos Creek Road to Tunitas Creek Road and up into the redwoods to Skyline. Spectacular views of the ocean and Highway 1 along the way. And riding a bike up steep grades through the redwoods? The only thing you hear is your own labored breath and the pounding of your heart.
10
Mac, I invite you to complete your journey; you only took half of the trip. You went south on 1; come north and see the other half. Yet more little towns, steep cliffs and memories await you, but no cities will interrupt your peace. Our little town of 7000, Fort Bragg, is the big city on 1 to the north. After us you’ll drive oh, so carefully north through Westport and finally go inland as the coastal land becomes too rugged for even a 2-lane road.
21
@gillgage We recently drove highway 1 to Fort Bragg. It is a wonderful town on the ocean and our motel room setup is super for dogs--open the sliding door, walk across native grasses to the ocean trails.Since the lumber company left, I understand there will be even more wonderful beaches to walk. Good food, and the outstanding Mendocino Botanical Garden on the coast filled with the most beautiful rhododendrons you could imagine!
2
My first exposure to Highway 1 was in 1987 as a 20 something. I flew out to LA from Maryland and visited a motorhead buddy in Santa Barbara. We drove up the coast to the Historic Races at Laguna Seca in his MGTD. I couldn't believe something so beautiful existed! There was something around every turn that just made my jaw drop. Between the hum and gurgle of the MG's motor and the rush of the open car mix of ocean air and over rich fuel mixture, that trip left an indelible mark on me.
I met my future husband not long after I returned from that trip. We bonded, in part, over our shared loved of cars and our fascination with the Golden State. Fast forward 21 years, my Santa Barbara motorhead buddy was the best man at our wedding in the clock tower of the Santa Barbara County Courthouse in that short window when Marriage Equality was the rule in California. My husband and I started our married journey together heading up that same stretch of Route 1.
Thanks for sharing a beautiful story and bringing all of those technicolor memories rushing back. My husband and I just celebrated the 30th anniversary of our first date and our 10th wedding anniversary. We are both hearing the siren call of the Coast Highway.
13
I believe it was the poet Robinson Jeffers who called the area depicted in these photos, particularly those around Monterey, Pacific Grove, Carmel and Big Sur, the most beautiful meeting of land and sea in the world.
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Doing this road by bicycle (I’ve done it 6 times) is even more bracing; the rider is embedded in the landscape, perception unlimited by steel & glass. Being 1000 feet above the water, on a narrow stretch where cars can’t stop, and looking down on otters playing in the surf. . . Wow.
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@Mark Gunther Yes, I've seen you brazen fools riding The One. Good gravy, how have you not been run over and flung down cliffs those six times?
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@Mark Gunther
How long did it take you to cover such a good deal of ground ?
I traveled it a few times, drove and hitch-hiked. Took a pic of my Shelty on a point of land with waves breaking on the rocks 100 feet below. Hiked up a small canyon and surprised two women sunbathing naked. Panned for gold near Kitchen Creek. I stopped at a store in Gorda, then a very small town. When leaving Palo Alto going south I got a ride with a Aussie man going to Scripps Institute in La Jolla who gave me a ride all the way to my house inland from San Diego. There's more... but thanks for the memories.
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Funny, my memories of my 1972 road trip are different and the same and so long ago. I have thoughts of them but the photo you show of the bridge took me back.
I was traveling in an old and now rare beautiful Karmin Gia, top down, with a friend from college. We were headed to no particular place but out of Southern New Mexico. She had never seen California. We were high on our freedom and weed, laughing and eating sunflower seeds. She never mentioned that she had a phobia of water and bridges....
We came upon a sign telling us the bridge was ahead and that was the beginning of the end of our trip and an abrupt change of route to inland #5. Nothing I could say would change her suddenly frenzied and persuasive words. This Iowan was certain about her fear of bridges and water and it was her car.
Sadly, our friendship was never quite the same afterwards and I don’t remember the rest of the trip except we turned around on 5 and headed back to New Mexico State.
I’ve been back several times to Route 1. It’s magnificent and will always be. I hope my old friend from Iowa has seen it.
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There’s something mythical about Highway 1.
Partly it’s the scenery, but there’s more to it.
If Americans have a drive to “Go West” for freedom and renewal, the PCH is both the end of the journey, and its fulfillment.
Like the mysterious sea that borders this epic drive, your future waits, unknown.
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My car still has scrapes on right front bumper. Choice: hit the crazy dude on a bicycle or the side of the mountain on the right south of the town of Big Sur. I chose the mountain and hope the guy made it the rest of the way OK. Camped for several days, saw sea otters in the kelp, migrating whales, and eagles overhead. Got invited to join people in next camp who played guitars and sang songs in Spanish under the stars. Ran into people at the stores in Big Sur from all around the world. Left one morning for my destination. I was leaving California and moving to Cape Cod, MA. I miss you California, so much.
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A friend and I drove to California from Wisconsin. We drove this Hwy back in the 1970's. I was gobsmacked by the beauty I saw. I still have vivid memories of it.
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The first time I drove HWY 1 was in 1968. Just out of the Service. Driven it may times since, in clunkers and roadsters and everything in between. It's still my favorite drive in the world. Like to have my ashes scattered at Point Lobos.
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Thanks for the story and photos. Cycled on my steel-framed, shifters on the down tube Puch Pacifica from Carmel to Big Sur and back when the road was closed south of Big Sur following the 1983 El Nino-induced landslides . Almost had the road all to myself that day.
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Lovely article. If you are not already a motorcyclist, I urge you to learn how to pilot one. Become proficient and then experience this marvel of engineering as an extended dance of kinesthetic revelation.
I too drove the PCH. In a cool car that was well-suited for this drive, a Mustang.
We drove from north to south so that the separation between us and the Pacific was almost nil. Since I was doing the driving I had to keep my eyes on the road but my passenger, my wife, got to see some great stuff. This is really driving, not like that stop 'n go nonsense that we experience in my everyday NYC life.
I'd love to do it again. I think I'd still go from north to south. That way I'd be right on top of the Pacific and not sheer stone walls. Gotta pay attention.
Let's give some credit to the people who built this great road, fragile as it may be.
Thanks for mentioning that, despite pre-conceived notions, even in summertime it's chilly.
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My wife's great grandfather, Harvey Toy, was CA Highway Commissioner under Governor Richardson and supervised the construction of much of Hwy 1. We spent many hours traveling that Road, having lived in Pt. Reyes for some years, with frequent trips to Big Sur, stays at Post Ranch (when it was just remotely affordable), more recently at Deetjens (and our favorite room “Chateau Fiasco”). We love the Maine downeast coast where we live now, but Big Sur calls to us more than any other CA memory.
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My wife and I made the PCH a part of our honeymoon. Flew to LA, went to a friend's wedding, then rented a Buick Century (my dream Mustang convertible highly unobtainable on our modest incomes), and drove up to San Francisco, stopping at points along the way - San Luis Obispo, Ventura, Big Sur, and more. What a trip. Great memories. Hard to believe that was almost 30 years ago. A return journey seems certain.
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@Jon Saalberg
We did exactly the same thing on our honeymoon, 38 years ago. It was the most magical time of my life.
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A lovely piece for one of the most wonderful places on Earth. As a San Franciscan I can remember how heartbroken I was when the landslides had cut Highway One in too segments. Even though I hadn't been able to afford a road trip for several years it felt like a personal loss, just knowing I couldn't take the drive.
Minor quibble. As a radio traffic reporter, I have to remind everyone that we northern Californians say Highway One or one One... NEVER "The" One. You say on 101 or 280.. never with "the" in front. That is a southern California abomination of which we shall not speak.
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@Mel Baker
Yes, I was tempted to point that out as well. Thanks. :)
I grew up in Southern California, and we never put a "the" in front of a highway. I assume that is language from other parts of the country. ... Wonderful article.
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@Mel Baker
.sigh. Well, at least I don't utter "Cali" or "Frisco," or pronounce L.A. as "AL-lay." But, having lived from Los Angeles environs to Santa Barbara environs all my life and as a native southern Californian, bless me, Father, for I have sinned (apparently, twice): I have always used "the" in front of highway numbers as do the majority of people I work with or otherwise encounter here in the belly of the beast. Regardless of vernacular, to experience the coast, its formations and vast gradations of blues and greens, is extraordinary good fortune.
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I have lived in California twice, once in Pismo Beach, just a few miles from the famous Madonna Inn where I recovered after a tough time in NYC. After more years back in NYC and Europe, I returned to CA, this time to Santa Monica where I live a quiet, car less life a few blocks from the ocean.
It was not until I read this piece that it came to me that finally, after always feeling like a tourist in this beautiful state, I had fallen in love with it. That's just fine with me.
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When my husband and I were newly-lovers we traveled Hwy. 1 several times. Spent a memorable night at Ventana during a very fierce storm. Now we've been married for 42 years. Sigh.
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My favorite story about Rt 1 is the one my mom told about dad and her driving the road in the 30s. Dad had played a little golf and had his clubs in the trunk. On one of the outlooks he teed up a golf ball and drove it into the surf.
Can't do that with my wife. She got two miles south on the road and said "Turn back. I can't take these heights anymore.
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@jim in virginia
I did the exact same thing as your Dad in 1980 on a post college road trip!
Thank you for a wonderfully descriptive article. My father took us to SF from LA when I was 11. I recently saw a picture of our family on the bridge that foggy morning.
I've traveled Rt. 1 a number of times as a youngster before embarking on a jockey career that took me from California to Florida.
Now in the healthcare corporate world, I find myself moving to Dallas with excitement of being closer to California and the good it has to offer. I think I'm going to suggest a drive up Rt. 1 to my adventurous wife.
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Really beautifully written personal travelogue. I was born and raised in California, and still live there. I have a good friend from the east coast and one of our favorite past times is to argue which coast is better--I think this essay elegantly sums up a lot of the things that are best about California. I'm currently out of the country for 6 months for work, and this made me homesick in all the best ways.
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This makes me miss CA. Pacific Coast Highway (or Highway 1) is a ride one will never forget.
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Beautiful article.Makes me want to find all the stops, if I were not so terrified of heights. Photos were wonderul
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@SMB A tip. If the heights really bother you, drive from south to north! You'll be in the inner lane and still see the great vistas, without feeling like you'll drop into the ocean!
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@Mel Baker I always recommend that!
When I was 15, in 1966, I scraped together enough money to buy my first car, a Triumph TR4. The very first thing I did was drive up Rt. 1 from LA to Santa Barbara. The next week I went further to Morrow Bay and a few months later I made it to Santa Cruz. After that I couldn't afford the insurance on that car and had to sell it and get a VW bug which never had the speed or range for a day trip. It wasn't until I switched to VW buses that I was able to do Rt. 1 again, this time for a Winterland concert on New Year's eve with various San Francisco groups like Janis Joplin and the Dead.
I went to college in Eugene, Oregon and drove my bus down the coast highway to San Francisco from time to time until I started climbing in Yosemite, then it was I-5 for the rest of my time on the west coast.
I have fond memories of Rt. 1 mixed up with that first car and my first explorations as a California teenager.
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Thanks for painting such a vibrant picture of our treasured Hwy. 1, Mac. Exceptional writing, photos and memories.
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Thanks for this trip down Memory Lane. I lived in CA most of my life and have been to all these places. Great photos too.
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Drove Highway 1 for the first time this summer. Didn’t see much since my eyes were glued on the road! But when I mustered the courage to glance for a brief second, it was indeed magnificent.
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Is the 1 now entirely open for traveling?
For the rest, the pictures and the sites are wonderful.
Many thanks!
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@renarapa Yes, re-opened recently and it looks GREAT.
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@renarapa
Yes, it’s been reopened in its entirety for a few months now. Just don’t refer to it as “the one” and you’ll be fine. Have lunch outside at Nepenthe and be sure to walk to McWay Falls in J B Burns State Park. Those are my favorite places on earth. The only close seconds are the Amalfi and Portofino coasts.
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A timely article. It happens that I am flying to Monterey today and driving the 1 this very afternoon!
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Keep your eyes on the road!
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Nice piece about Highway 1 south of The City. But don’t go north about 4 hours, please. Nothing to see there. Take my word for it. No majestic redwoods, no great wines, no buena vistas. Don’t waste your time. Really. I’m begging you. Thank you.
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such a fine piece of writing-- and evocative for me of Hwy 1trips past. Now I don't want to read the rest of the paper this morning.
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Having never been on Highway 1, but having heard and read about it and the various town along the way you did a great job of bringing them to life, thank you.
By the way when ever I hear of Big Sur, I always think of the the book: The Confederate General from Big Sur!
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Thanks for your comment. It’s always a good day when I think of Richard Brautigan.
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Wonderful article, but I have one quibble: I lived in California for 28 years and can’t recall ever hearing the highway referred to as “Highway 1.” It was almost always called “PCH” for Pacific Coast Highway. At least that’s how we spoke in Orange County.
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Northern Californians mostly call it Highway 1.
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@Marc
Ah ha!. That's the difference between the official State Route number and the local street name. In Orange, LA and Ventura County, the local street name for Route 1 is Pacific Coast Highway, but you will see the green California Route 1 signs sprinkled along the road as well. So both names are correct, but people in the LA area generally use the PCH name. But it is still State Route 1. Further north, the stretch between US 101 in San Luis Obispo and San Francisco generally called Highway 1 or (State) Route 1. Within San Francisco, the local street names, 19th Avenue and Presidio Boulevard are used instead of Route 1. But Route 1 it is.
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SoCal calls it PCH; north from Buellton it’s called Highway 1. And Mac’s otherwise fine piece omitted one of the surpassing wonders of that drive: a few miles north of Pescadero, as you drive south, you traverse a bluff from which you can see an endless procession of waves as they roll in to meet the shore. It is among the most elemental of all elemental moments; once you’ve seen it, you’ll have an unshakable hankering to see it again...and again...
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Wonderful story, thank you. I first moved to northern CA in 1971, not long after my return from VN. Drove the 1 to SOCAL and stopped at the Madonna Inn. My first son was born in San Jose, my second in Santa Cruz. We left in 1982 and after living in AZ, IA, and after a divorce, I finally returned in 1992. This time for another 15 tears. Now I live in NYC and sometimes ache for the CA described in Mac's essay. Now retired I've made a decision to spend four months every year in the Bay Area, and in January when I'm there I'm going to once again drive the 1. I'll be thinking of Mac when I do.
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