The basic route was Mountain View to Big Basin Redwoods State Park (in the mountains west of San Jose) to Sunset Beach State Park (Just south of Santa Cruz) to Big Sur and then back to Monterey where I rented a car and drove home.
| Bring Up The Slide Show |
There were a lot of trucks by Steven's Creek reservoir which I wasn't used to. I've only been there on the weekend, I guess. But, once past the quarry, traffic was light all the way to Big Basin. The climb up Route 9 was tough, but not as tough as I had feared. It was hot though; I went through 3 of my four water bottles on the way up. I spent an hour at the summit eating lunch and digesting. The shoosh down the other side was exhilarating, particularly since I knew I would not have to come back up it! I turned off onto Route 236 to get to Big Basin. I was expecting it to be downhill, but alas it was uphill for the first few miles. But, the final bit into the park was a fun downhill with spectacular views of the surrounding mountains.
I checked in at the ranger station without problems, but was glad I had a reservation for a campsite since the place is jammed. I have a nice, quiet, walk-in campsite without many people around.
The mosquitos are eating me alive! After setting up camp, I walked back to the main part of the park and had a double cheeseburger and 2 cinnamon rolls. Then I hiked around the redwoods a bit and stopped at the park store for some "Off" to ward off the mosquitos. The "Off" helps a little bit, but those mosquitos sure must be hungry! I took a quick shower (2 minutes for 25 cents, spend 50 cents). Nice to be relatively clean after the ride up 9.
Last night I went to the Big Basin campfire which was a slide show on owls (after the obligatory songs!). Interesting. I walked back to camp about 9 pm and read until 10:30 or so, all the while doing my best to keep the mosquitos at bay. Then off to bed after rescuing my food from a mouse. I slept well until the break of dawn when the blue jays woke me up. I managed to get back to sleep and woke up about 7:30. I boiled some water and had oatmeal and tea for breakfast. I broke camp and left about 9:10 am. It took a long time to get everything packed up. No doubt I'll get more efficient as the trip goes on.
The road out of Big Basin was another stretch of uphill (I guess that's why they call it a basin!). Once over the ridge it was downhill to Boulder Creek and back to Route 9. The ride down 9 was fast with only a few rolling hills. The traffic was moderate without a very good shoulder to ride on in many places so i was glad to be going down instead of up.
I rolled in to Santa Cruz about 10:30 or 11:00 am, I think, and puttered around trying to get through the city. Eventually I hooked up with the Pacific Coast Bicycle Route and was on my way South. I stopped at a little hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant and had a giant burrito with chicken, rice, beans, etc. Yum! I mostly stopped there since I could order and eat outside where I could keep an eye on my gear, but it turned out very well.
Once out of Santa Cruz, the route parallels Route 1, which is a freeway here. Mostly farmland along the coast and my campsite at Sunset Beach is right next to a farm of some sort, but I can't tell exactly what they are growing.
I pulled in to Sunset Beach State Park about 1:30 or so and paid my $3 to camp at the hiker-biker site. Still the best deal in town! I locked up the bike and then went down to the beach. It is a very nice wide and sandy beach and I walked along the shore for an hour and a half or so. Then I came back and showered (4 minutes for 50 cents).
Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Coming down Route 9, a van pulled up next to me and rolled down the window. I thought, "Here it comes, the 'get off the road lecture'". But, actually the lady yelled to me to be very careful crossing the railroad tracks ahead. I thanked her and sure enough I soon came upon tracks cutting across the road at a very shallow angle. Very dangerous! There was a sign warning cyclists to walk their bikes across the tracks, but it's downhill there and the tracks come up very fast after the sign. It was really nice of someone to warn me about that, I sure appreciated it! Kind of makes you think that most people are pretty decent folk.
I'm starving, must be time to make some dinner. Noodles with a can of chicken tonight. Not gourmet, but hopefully filling.
Wow, very tough day today. I woke up early this morning to the sound of "rain" which was really moisture dripping from the trees overhead as the fog had rolled in overnight. Not at all surprising, of course, but I didn't put the rain-fly on my tent or cover my bags on the bike so everything was a bit damp. Live and learn. I was up by 6:30 and made oatmeal and tea for breakfast and hit the road by 8:20 am.
Last night I went to the campfire show at Sunset Beach and heard a talk about the Monterey Marine Sanctuary and some of the sea life in it. It was almost as interesting as the show on owls at Big Basin.
I rode through farmland most of the morning (BTW it turns out I was camped next to strawberries last night). I stopped in Moss landing at the boat harbor which had a lot of commercial fishing vessels and some sailboats. I got a breakfast sandwich at a small deli with some orange juice and a couple of candy bars which I stowed for later (turned out to be a wise move). The morning was relatively flat with only a couple of small hills to get over.
As I entered the Monterey area, I rode for a while with a racer type who told me about his trip down the coast. I made it into Monterey about 11 or 11:30 but I didn't stop anywhere thinking I'll be back there tomorrow and can see the sights then.
The road out of Monterey goes over the peninsula rather that around it. That's shorter, but it is very steep in a couple of places. After the summit it's downhill past Carmel etc onto Highway 1.
There was a lot of traffic on 1, not surprising since it is Saturday. There are a number of spots on 1 where the road washed out last winter and it is down to one lane (I counted 5 places). You have to stop at a stoplight and wait to use the lane, the lights alternate between northbound and southbound traffic. This sounds good for cars, but I found it hard on a bike. After some trial and error, I found the best way to handle this was to wait until the last car went (they are in bunches from all the lights) and then follow the last car. That way I'm not blocking the lane for all the cars.
Nevertheless, it's tough because I had to hustle to make it before the northbound cars got the green light. That was hard since by this time I was getting very tired and the terrain was relatively steep rolling type hills which wore me down. The uphill one lane stretches were torture since I couldn't really go at my usual slow pace. After each uphill one lane section I had to stop and rest to recover. Fortunately, the scenery along 1 is so gorgeous that stopping and resting is very enjoyable.
When I reached a point that I figured was about 16 miles from Big Sur (turned out to be exactly right), I was about out of gas. Fortunately, I had saved those two Snickers bars I bought in Moss landing and I gobbled them both up. They powered me on slowly toward Big Sur.
I got in to Big Sur about 3:00, hungry and tired after 62 miles. That doesn't seem like so much, but loaded and with the hills on 1, I was really tired. Upon arrival, I immediately went over to the camp store and got a giant orange juice, two bananas, a piece of carrot cake and two bags of M&M's. They didn't last 10 minutes back at camp and now (5:30) I'm ready for dinner! Funny how touring always seems to revolve aroung eating.
After the snack, I took a shower and feel almost human again though still tired. The ride tomorrow back up to Monterey to get the rental car is going to be tough again. the same hills, but this time very much into the wind. Did I mention that the wind was just howling today along the coast after I passed Point Lobos. I'm really not looking forward to fighting my way into that wind. I better get a very early start in the hopes that the wind is a sea breeze and doesn't pick up until afternoon. I hope so! At least it's only 30 miles back up to Monterey.
There's a restaurant at the park here so I won't have to cook over my stove tonight. I don't mind the cooking, but the food's not that great. Give me some real food tonight! There I go talking about food again. I guess I'll eat breakfast there too to get me on the road earlier.
Last night I went to the disappointing campfire show on Turkey Buzzards. The least interesting of the three shows I saw on the trip. I had a 1/2 lb cheeseburger for dinner with lots of salty french fries. It was very expensive ($12), but worth it under the circumstances.
I got up early (6:30) and packed up all my stuff so that I could make the restaurant when it opened at 7:30. They were late of course and the service was slow which was a drag since I wanted to get on the road to beat the headwinds.
A pipe dream as it turned out, I should have enjoyed a more leisurely breakfast. I was on the road by 8:40 and feeling pretty strong after a good nights sleep. the first few miles were in the canyon where Big Sur is located and were quite pleasant. The Sun was out, but it was nice and cool. But once I got out of the canyon, the wind hit. It must have been blowing 40 or 50 mph right into my face. Obviously, it was very slow going. I can certainly understand why all the guide books suggest traveling the coast north to south.
There are a number of hills on the route and with the head wind it was very tough. At times the wind made the bike hard to control at such slow speeds and I had to stop whenever a group of cars would go by so that the wind would not blow me out into the road. Good thing for those one-lane traffic lights which keep the cars all bunched together. Also, northbound traffic is a lot lighter than southbound traffic for some reason.
At times while going downhill on the other side of the uphills, I had to pedal in my smallest chainring, the wind was so strong. And I thought that the downhill was supposed to be the reward for enduring the uphill! Hrrumph.
I stopped at Point Lobos before lunch to poke around a bit, figuring (correctly as it turned out) that once I got to Point Lobos, the wind would abate considerably. Point Lobos was as beautiful as ever and I enjoyed the victory of getting through the wind.
I stopped at Safeway in Carmel to get some lunch and then made it up and over the Monterey peninsula quickly (no headwind!). I found the airport easily (great bike access) and the car rental worked flawlessly. It took about 1/2 hour to get the gear stowed in the car and then I was off by about 2:30 or so and back home by 4:10. I'm all showered and ready to rejoin civilization.
This was a great trip! I sure hope I can do some more touring soon. It's a great way to see the sights.
The State Parks are great. I was very impressed. All the campgrounds were completely full; anyone who wanted to park their RV had to make reservations months in advance. But there was always room for one more at the hiker/biker spots (actually there weren't as many cyclists as I was expecting) and they only charge $3 for the night. And they have showers too (25 cents for 2 minutes).