Detour

Highway 1 is one of the most scenic drives in the country. I’ve driven its entire length a few times. (It’s much more fun in a nimble car than in a wallowing van.) The trouble is bits of it tend to crumble away into the sea. So there’s always road repairs, closed lanes and delays.

Then, every once in a while a landslide buries part of the highway, or one of the many bridges becomes unsafe. When that happens, the only through-route between Cambria and Monterey is inland, on US101.

There have been a few severe winter storm seasons, so I suspected some section or another of rain soaked mountainside probably ended up on the highway, or a chunk of highway ended up in the Pacific. Or both. So before leaving Cayucos I checked Caltrans’ online road conditions report. Yup. The road was closed about halfway up. The best Caltrans could do was advise travelers to take an “alternate route.”

That’s why I’m at a small free BLM campground in the east side of the coastal mountains. The drive northward and back to the coast will be straighter, easier and faster but less heart stirring.