Monday, November 5, 2007

Purisima Creek Redwoods

Open Space Preserve
Harkins Ridge loop
October 28, 2007

7.5 miles

1,200 elevation gain

Rating: Moderate

Hiking Time: 3 1/2 hours


A cool hike along a creek with redwoods leading to views sounded like a nice October hike. I had only been to Purisima once before.


It seemed like it was going to be a large group, but on the day of the hike there were only six of us.
We split into two cars. We left Western drive around 10:30 a.m. Teresa drove her car to Davenport, where we left it so that after our Bloody Marys at the Road House, I could take Bonny Doon road to Felton.

Tim and Teresa rode with me - the "lead" car. Both Tim and Teresa have connections to Half Moon Bay. Teresa grew up there as a child and Tim's plumbing business is located there now. Tim knew of many of Terri's relatives because they are prominent members of the Portuguese community. They talked about how much Half Moon Bay has changed.

Neither Teresa or Tim had been to the Preserve even though they are so familiar with area. So often we don't visit the places in our own back yards! We took Higgins Purisima road off Highway One. This was a pretty, narrow winding road with farms and houses tucked along it. At the top there were several bike riders pulled to the side. After we passed it - Tim wondered if that was the park. We wound down the road and came to the small parking lot. It's a popular place - we parked along the road next to the trailhead.

We were on the trailhead by 11:45. The beginning of the hike follows Purisima Creek. The trail is level and shaded. There were beautiful redwoods and ferns along the creek. There were other trees that were turning yellow and the path was carpeted in leaves. It felt like fall.

We soon came to the junction with Soda Gulch trail. This is one of the few trails in the park that is hiking only. The other trails are popular with cyclists and horses are allowed. The trail stayed close to the creek and narrowed. It was a very
gradual pleasant climb. The ridge gave us nice views towards the ocean - but it was obscured by fog.

It was getting past lunch time and we kept looking for a spot - preferably one with shade and a view. Finally, we settled on shade and enough room for all of us to
sit down. We could just keep our feet out of the path. I was hungry and looking forward to the sandwich Bill had made me. When I pulled out my lunch I discovered
that rather than grabbing the sandwich I had grabbed the bag of pretzels which were stuck inside a baggie and the size of the sandwich. I was so disappointed.
No sandwich! Fortunately, Graciela came well prepared with two sandwiches. Mary gave me some of her avocado and I was quite satiated.

After lunch a bit up the trail was huge oak tree. I took this picture of Graciela and Tim in front of the trunk which is massive.




We came to the junction with Harkins Ridge Road and turned to the left. The ridge started heading down - but still gave us excellent views of the Santa Cruz mountains. There were lots of branches, so almost everyone had found a temporary hiking stick. As always they helped on the downhill.

As the forest closed in there were trees changing color and it was beautiful with the light filtering through the trees. As we entered thicker forest Mary spotted a group of mushrooms. They were very interesting. The tops almost looked like custard and as if they were dripping with icing. Quite unusual.

All too soon we had completed the loop. I wanted more! Because we had time restraints we called it a day. Mary and Jan drove back together because they
needed to get back early. The rest of us took Purisima Creek road back out to Highway One (the road is a loop with Purisima Higgins road).

We stopped at the Road House in Davenport for Bloody Marys. Scott was there, but I was disappointed that he didn't have any of his homemade dilly beans for the drinks. I forgave him when I heard he was going in for a hip replacement the next day. Yikes! I was thankful we were all healthy enough to enjoy our wonderful hike. Another beautiful day in the woods.


Lessons Learned: You will never starve on a hiking group hike. There are always unexplored pockets even in places we know well. Be thankful for healthy hips!

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Mt. Diablo Loop

Mt. Diablo State Park
10 mile loop
Elevation gain – 2,050 at least!
Hiking Time: 6 hours
Jo, Graciela and Julie

I wanted to find a new challenging hike that I haven’t done before. I started reading about Mt. Diablo and was hooked when I read that the view from the top encompasses more square miles than any other point in the United States and is second only to Mt. Kilimanjaro. Since Jo and I are climbing Kilimanjaro in 2009, I knew we should give Diablo a try.

On a clear day you are supposed to be able to see the Sacramento Valley, Sutter Buttes and Mt. Lassen to the north; the Sierras including Half Dome in Yosemite to the east; Mt. Hamilton to the South; as well as San Francisco Bay and Mt. Tamalpais to the west. Rereading the description I notice it says on an exceptionally clear day. I’m not sure we have those kind of days anymore.

Still, I was intrigued. I’ve heard of Mt. Diablo but have never been able to pick it out although I drive past it when I come back from Redding. Growing up with views of Mt. Shasta and Lassen – the bay area mountains always seem more like hills. At 3,849 feet Mt. Diablo has the widest view? We decided to investigate.

I checked the weather several times during the week. It said clear on Saturday. Friday it was cloudy and overcast all day and it even rained in Santa Cruz. I checked the forecast again before leaving work: Clear. All righty then.

The number of hikers fluctuated from 4-6 but on the actual morning three of us met in Scotts Valley at the transit center: Jo, Graciela and I. The hiking book had described this hike as “moderate”. Graciela was recovering from a sprained ankle. She was able to dance on Thursday and thought she would be up for the hike.

We actually left Scotts Valley about 9:30. Mapquest had said it would take 1 hour 45 minutes to get there, but I figured they were counting Bay Area traffic. Ha! As we were driving north on 680 I tried to envision where Mt. Diablo was. I knew it was the Danville exit and off to the right. We finally saw a peak with satellite equipment on top and said that must be it! It didn’t look like much.

We took the Diablo Road exit in Danville and drove by many expensive looking homes. We were getting low on gas, but didn’t see a gas station so we decided to just go for it.

You can drive all the way to the summit of Mt. Diablo which seems like cheating. Talking about the hike I would say “we are climbing Mt. Diablo – of course we’re driving to the top”. The drive itself is an adventure. Eleven miles of steep, narrow, curvy road with no guardrails, sharp drop-offs and lots of bicyclists. Fun! I didn’t see any of the spectacular views because I was keeping my eyes on the road.

At the top we stopped at the Visitor Center to soak up the great views. It really is quite impressive. I thought the views from Montara Mountain were something. This is even better!

There is a visitor center and Limestone tower. The tower was built in 1928 by Standard Oil with an aviation beacon on top. The beacon was first turned on by Charles Lindberg. Planes used the beacon for navigation until the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Then it was feared that it would help the Japanese so it was turned off. By the time World War II ended the beacon was obsolete. The beacon is turned on once a year on December 7th to commemorate the survivors of Pearl Harbor.





It is a beautiful building. When you go inside the tower you feel like you are in a lighthouse with windows all the way around and views in every direction.





There is an observation platform with telescopes pointing in different directions which you can use for a quarter. Unfortunately we didn’t have any quarters, but luckily Jo had brought her binoculars. It was cold and breezy and Graciela and Jo were bundled up with jackets on. It was a clear day with just a little smog in the distance. You could see for miles. With Jo’s binoculars you could see San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge. We weren’t quite sure whether we were seeing clouds or the Sierra to the east. It would have been good to use the telescopes. But even with the naked eye it was spectacular.


We walked around looking in all directions and then decided we better get hiking. It was already noon. We drove to the lower parking lot trying to find our trail. This hike was basically a loop around the whole mountain. We started on end of the parking lot and returned on a trail at the other end of the parking lot. There was satellite equipment by the beacon – but also by our return trail.

We switched into our boots and were off. We descended down the summit trail and then headed toward the North Peak. The trail was narrow and two mountain bikers came by. The first one flew by, but his friend was much more cautious and reasonable it seemed to us. He walked his bike over the steep narrow trail and then eventually rode off. The trail wound around the side of the mountain heading toward the North Peek – that also had satellite equipment on it.

One nice thing about this hike was that we could usually see the tower up on top of the mountain, so we knew where we were. Our trail intersected with Prospector Gap Trail which was actually a dirt road. The road started going down very steeply. It was a rocky road and slippery. Even with my hiking boots and stick, I would occasionally slip and slide. Graciela was wearing tennis shoes which weren’t appropriate for this trail. She kept slipping and eventually her feet went from under her and she went all the way down. Fortunately, she wasn’t hurt.


I decided she should hike with my stick – which gave her more support. This was a tricky road to hike down. We made very slow progress. Jo’s feet and ankles were screaming, she said and we placed each step carefully. We could see our road in the distance – the far, far distance. It was hard to believe that we were going to hike that far and this was just the beginning!

Jo noticed how all the pine trees were growing with branches on only half the tree. We decided is must be because the back side doesn’t get sun. Jo observed they would make good Christmas trees to stick in a corner. She contemplated having a Christmas tree farm that raised only “half” trees.


Another interesting tree had cotton like balls on it. The tree looked dead, but was covered with the balls.












We finally got to the bottom of the road and now we started climbing up. I could see what looked like a big rock and tree at the top of the hill and so I said – let’s have lunch at the tree up there. It turned out to be a great spot.



It was a bit of a climb to get up on the rock – but the view was great in both directions. We enjoyed our lunch and the view. We were looking at some town but had no idea what it was. Later we determined it was probably either Concord or Pittsburgh. The great thing about this spot was later we were able to see it in the distance and judge how much ground we had covered.

Refreshed after lunch we climbed off the rock.
Because of her shoes, Graciela ended up sitting down and sliding down the steep part of the trail. First we headed down, but the road wasn’t rocky or slippery. It was still misleading because Jo’s feet slipped from under her and down she went – very gracefully. She also wasn’t hurt. Soon we started heading up and up and up. It was a very steep grade that took us to Juniper Campground. Graciela was struggling at this point but still being a good sport about it.



From Juniper Campground we were just a mile away from the parking lot. The directions said you went through the campground past the bathrooms on the left. Jo said the map said the same thing, however I saw a trail going off to the right. It was signed as “Juniper Trail to Summit Trail – a Walk through Time”. All of these trails were a “Walk through Time” – we never found out why. I said let’s follow the signs and so we did. We had seen the satellite which we at first thought the car was parked near, but we were so turned around we weren’t even sure if there was a satellite by the parking lot.
The Juniper Trail was pretty with nice views. It was good to be on a trail again and off the road. It seemed we were moving away from the satellite and suddenly we were going down again. We knew what that meant. Jo was certain the parking lot was just ahead, but we came out on the road and our satellite landmark and building were far away. We pulled out the map and discovered that there are two Juniper Trails. The one we had taken took us far off course.

We crossed the road and there was a sign 2 miles to the summit. I asked Graciela if she wanted to wait here and we would pick her up in the car, but she wouldn’t hear of it. We started up the road. Suddenly Josephine said “Look at that!” It was a tarantula crossing the road. If you click on the picture it will be enlarged. It was quite impressive. For the next hour we would say, well, if we hadn’t taken the wrong turn, then we wouldn’t have seen the tarantula! Trying to make the best of it.



We followed the Summit Trail until it finally came back up to the road. We debated following the road – we knew that would eventually get us to the parking lot! But we saw a sign on the trail up ahead so we went that way. More uphill. The building getting closer and then more distant. Josephine and Graciela hurting even more. I kept running up ahead to see what I could see.

I thought it would be the parking lot – but we were back on the road. It said ½ mile to the summit – but we decided to follow the road instead because the grade was less steep. Again, I asked Graciela if she wanted to wait. Amazingly her ankle wasn’t bothering her, but her legs were really tired. We followed the road for a mile and eventually saw a trail crossing the road. The Juniper Trail!!!!! This was where we were supposed to be. It was another .20 to the parking lot – still uphill.

My mistake had added an extra three miles and an hour and a half to our hike! We didn’t get back to the car until 6:00 p.m. I thought we would be back in Santa Cruz by 6:00 p.m. But we had done it. This was definitely a challenge – not a moderate hike. We just hoped we wouldn’t run out of gas on the way down the hill.

The drive down was easier – mainly because there were only a few bikers. Driving down we appreciated just how large the park is – there are many campgrounds and picnic areas... The sun was going down as we came around the curves, sometimes a bit blindingly. When we got to Danville there was a gas station right before we got on the freeway.

We were all tired and hungry after the long day. We still had hiking food, but we all wanted something with more protein. We decided to wait until we made it back to Santa Cruz. I didn’t mention to Jo or Graciela just how bad my night vision is. We started hitting traffic outside of San Jose, but coming over Highway 17 wasn’t too bad.

We decided to go straight to Malones in Scotts Valley for a drink and some appetizers. Poor Josephine and Graciela could barely walk after sitting in the car for an hour and a half! The food at Malones was actually quite good. We all got different appetizers: chicken wings, portabella quesadilla and friend calamari with pesto and tomato parmesan sauce. Yum! We enjoyed them all. Turns out it was Karaoke night and the locals were singing away. We were happy to sit and listen and reflect on the hike. There is always a feeling of accomplishment when a challenge is well met. We can laugh about it now – right girls? :-)

Mt. Diablo was impressive. It was nice to be surrounded by those expansive views. I would definitely go back – but I’d follow the hiking directions very closely. It’s not a good place to get lost. On the one hand we always had landmarks to know where we wanted to get to, but this was often even more frustrating knowing how far we had yet to go.

We got back to the park and ride at 9:00 p.m. Twelve hours later than our rendezvous in the morning. Another adventuresome hike! We knew we would sleep well that night.

Many Lessons Learned: Fill up on gas before the trailhead. Some hikes do need hiking boots. Bring a stick when hiking steep trails. Moderate can be a relative term. Follow directions and maps rather than signs. You’re not lost if you can see your destination, you just have to figure out how to get there. Unanticipated challenges show how strong you truly are.

Monday, September 24, 2007

Andrew Molera - Big Sur Coast


Beach – Bluffs – Spring Trails
6 miles
Hiking time: 3 hours
Bill and Julie








Bill and I were planning on backpacking at the Jenny Lakes Wilderness area in the Sierras – but when we heard storms were coming in with rain and possibly snow we decided to cancel the trip. Instead we went for a day hike to our favorite beach at Andrew Molera in Big Sur. Bill and I have been on this hike several times and we usually have the beach to ourselves. This was my third weekend in Big Sur in a row.

We left Lompico at a leisurely 10:00 a.m. and after picking up sandwiches in Carmel Valley, we were at Andrew Molera by noon. I parked on the road and we walked down the hill saving $8.00. I kept my Teva’s on until we had crossed the river. The last time Tara, Paula and I hiked here the bridge was down and you had to ford the river. The bridge was still up – so I suspect they keep it up through September.

I sat down to put on my hiking boots. When I pulled out my rolled up hiking socks I discovered that one was a shrunken wool sock that I could barely get on my foot. I finally squeezed into it and we were off.

All the photos for this hike were taken on our cell phones. Bill was having some technical difficulties with his in the beginning – so there aren’t too many pictures of me – or not ones that can be posted on the blog.

We started on the Beach Trail – which is always crowded and very popular. It’s a mile to the main beach through golden grassy fields. We saw a small skunk off the side of the trail which is quite unusual to see during the daytime. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a skunk on a hike before. We skirted around him carefully – I tried to get a picture of him, but the resolution wasn't good enough and not worth getting sprayed over.

I always think of the hike to “our beach” as just being a quick two miles – but it is actually two miles from the beach. I always forget about that first mile. We passed a family and several other hikers and were glad to get on the Bluffs trail. We saw a young Australian couple and I took their picture for them, but otherwise we didn’t see any hikers on the Bluffs Trail.

The Bluffs Trail has a great view of the beach, but also of the Santa Lucia foothills. I think of this as an ocean hike – but the golden mountains are spectacular as well. The trail is fairly level though once again it was further than I remembered. You had a clear view of Pico Blanco and finally for the first time I clearly recognize it. In the past I was never sure which peak it was.




We enjoyed the hike, but my ankles were tweaking a bit and I was anxious to get to the beach and my sandwich. We hit the intersection with the spring trail. From here it is only a quick .1 down a steep grade to the beach. There were beautiful yellow wildflowers that I hadn’t seen before on other hikes.



At the entrance to the beach there is always a jumble of driftwood you have to climb over to reach the beach. People build driftwood structures and rock sculptures on this beach.




There was no one else on the beach, I stripped and jumped in the water. The surf was breaking close to the beach – so I couldn’t get too far into the water. The sand flies on the beach were a bit annoying. I decided to get dressed but not before Bill snapped a naked-Julie-eating-a-sandwich shot. (Not to be posted on the blog or anywhere else for that matter). I got dressed about the time the Australians arrived. It’s a large beach so we had our privacy – with other hikers staying at the far end of the beach.

After lunch I walked north up the beach. The cliffs were interesting and you could see different rock layers. Around a point is another beach. This one has a sand dune at the end. The last time Bill and I were here we had run down that sand dune. There were still faint tracks on the dune and I liked to think that they were still from Bill and I, but a rather doubt it.




I came back to our spot on the beach and decided to christen the new journal I had bought the week before at Nepenthe. I went to a driftwood structure built up against a rock. It was quite comfortable and provided protection from the sun and flies as well as lots of privacy. I sunbathed and wrote in my journal.



The sand in this area was purple. My feet were covered by what looked like purple glitter. I discovered a purple rock nearby which must be the source of the sand.

The Australian couple left and a new couple arrived. The guy started building a driftwood sculpture and the woman started stacking stones. Bill and I were content to be much less ambitious and just soak up the sun and the beautiful views. There was an unusual amount and variety of algae offshore. When I got back in the water it would wrap around my ankles as the tide pulled out. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky.

We watched some sort of slow moving military plane fly by. Kinda creepy. We spent two and a half lovely hours at the beach and then started cleaning off the sand. I squeezed my foot back into that silly shrunken sock.

Another beautiful day in Big Sur.


The hike back was warm and went fairly quickly. We cut through Creamery Meadows and had great views of the foothills. I saw the Molera hike I want to do next – on the far side of Highway One – the East Molera Trail. We came back on the Beach Trail and once again there were lots of beach goers. We saw two deer grazing by the river. We were back to the car in no time.




The drive back down Big Sur was beautiful. We stopped to get gas in Carmel Valley and several people asked us how to get to the Monterey Jazz Festival. We must have looked like locals.

The traffic was bad at Moss Landing so we decided to push onto Watsonville for our post celebratory dinner and drink. After enjoying a nice dinner we walked out to rain and saw thunder and lightening in the distance. I was glad we were heading to our cozy home rather than a wet tent! It had been a long wonderful day.

Lessons Learned: As Kurt Vonnegut says “unexpected travel plans are dancing lesson from God.” Don’t wash wool socks in hot water. It may be hard to get Bill off the mountain – but he always has a great time at the beach.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Pacific Valley – Sand Dollar Beach


Big Sur Coast
3-4 miles
Hiking time: hard to say – spent awhile at the beach
Jo, Teresa, Julie





On our girls camping trip to Big Sur we decided to do a hike on Saturday. I looked through the books trying to find a hike that wasn’t too far from Kirk Creek campground and that we hadn’t done before. We finally decided on Pacific Valley. It’s a stretch of Big Sur that always moves me when I come around that bend of Highway 1, but one I’ve never seen up close.

We knew it wouldn’t be a long hike – the “Day Hikes in Big Sur” book said two miles – the more reliable “”Hiking and Backpacking Big Sur” said .7 miles. The “Day Hikes” book made is sound like we could combine it with a hike to Sand Dollar Beach, so we decided to try that and spend the day at the beach.

Teresa had bought new hiking boots and this was their maiden voyage. We packed our lunches, donned hiking clothes and headed south. The turn off came quickly and Teresa braked quickly screeching to a halt. Jo and I were both clutching the sides of the car, but recovered quickly. We parked in front of the ranger station.

The folks next to us were loading up there hang gliding equipment. We crossed the highway, climbed a step ladder staircase and crossed an open meadow. There were lots of cow patties – but no cows in the pasture. They must have been moved to a different grazing area. There was a beautiful view of the coast and in the distance it looked like Point Sur sticking out, but it was probably closer to the area around Nepenthe. We walked to various points and tried to find the loop trail. We followed it up the hill, but it petered out into scrub and poison oak. We turned around and decided to have lunch back on the cliffs.

It turned out Teresa had left her lunch in the car – but there was enough food to share. We talked about going back to the car and driving to Sand Dollar beach. I looked at a steep path snaking up a hillside behind the Pacific Valley Ranger Station. This was the Prewitt trail – which I had considered for the day’s hike until I found out it was 12 miles and strenuous.

Sitting there looking at the switchbacks – I tried to talk Jo and Teresa into climbing to the top of the hill – or just hiking up for an hour. Teresa was concerned about her new boots and would rather wait in the car or go to the beach. Jo could go either way she said. It seemed to me that we needed to get more of a hike in. We decided to go back to the car and decide from there.

As we headed back we saw a trail going off to our right.



Perhaps this is our missing loop we thought and decided to follow it. It did indeed loop towards Sand Dollar Beach. We could see the beach in the distance. We followed the cliff around and walked by more rock outcroppings.

The path eventually led us to a locked gate and then back to Highway One about a 1/2 mile away from the car. We decided to just walk down Highway One to Sand Dollar Beach rather than backtracking to the car. We were going to get our hike in anyway and Jo and Teresa were off the hook for hiking the Prewitt Trail.


This section of Highway One has no bike lane and lots of burr bushes on the side. Cars came whizzing by in groups. We tried to move to the right as much as possible. It wasn’t far and we made it to the parking lot. We took the trail and wooden steps down to the beach. The beach was fairly crowded but we walked past a large family volleyball game in progress and found a nice spot.

I couldn’t wait to get in the water. I was discreet and just stripped down to sports bra and sarong; Jo put on her sarong and Teresa rolled up her red hiking pants. The water was wonderful. Cool and refreshing. The waves weren’t large and there didn’t seem to be much of an undertow. Because I didn’t mind getting my sarong wet I went waist deep, while Teresa and Jo stayed closer to shore. It was great to play in the water.

The only time I usually get into the water is the plunge, so it was fun to be out during the daylight hours. Sand Dollar is a beautiful Big Sur Beach. White sand, giant rocks and the Big-Sur-turquoise-blue water. I adorned myself with seaweed and just played and played. When I came up to the beach in wet sarong, I wanted to find a nice rock to sit on.

Someone had made rock sculptures by stacking rocks into columns. I grabbed one of the unused rocks. It was quite heavy but I lugged it over to where we were sitting. Before I sat on it – I noticed just what a beautiful rock it was. It was green with sparkling streaks of what I assume is Serpentine. I decided that it was just too beautiful and decided to take it home. No matter that the sucker weighed 35 pounds (I weighed it when I got home) and that we had to climb five flights of stairs and sneak past the ranger.

I wondered if it would break the straps of my daypack and decided if I carried it in front like a baby I could give it more support. We named it Serpie – short for Serpentine. We spent awhile longer at the beach. I rarely go during the day and there was plenty to see. Several surfers and a wide variety of dogs. We could see a hang glider in the distance – probably the ones we parked next to. You also had a lovely view of Cone Peak (one of the May hikes) in the distance.


We finally had enough sun and sand. I loaded up Serpie and we headed toward the stairs. I thought – this is how much weight I used to carry around with me all the time! What a realization. I had to stop and give Serpie and my back a restaurant a couple of time going up the stairs. We climbed a little dirt path to the Highway and I stashed Serpie in the first turn out. I didn’t want to carry her all the way to the car.

I found a large plastic bag, so Jo and I picked up garbage on the way back. Teresa was more concerned about getting hit by a car and told us to watch our back packs sticking into the road when we bent over to retrieve the variety of trash we picked up. After filling the first bag, Jo produced another one. She carried the full one and I picked up another bag. There were lots of weeds along the road and we both got covered with burrs. It was a good feeling nonetheless to leave it cleaner than we found it.


We were definitely ready to wash our hands and throw away the trash when we got back to the car. We walked up to the Ranger Station where heavy metal music was blaring. We found a garbage can, next to a very nice weight workout machine. A cute young ranger drove up in a little walkman. We saw the trailhead to the Prewitt trail, but he told us there was a yellow jacket nest right in the middle of the trail. It was good that we hadn’t tried it. Been there – done that. Right, Jan?

We asked if we could wash our hands and he said the hose could be used for both washing and drinking. We washed up and Teresa pulled the car around. Since we had run low on water at the campground and Kirk Creek water is non-potable we had already paid $3.25 a liter at the Lucia Store which was an incredible rip-off. We filled up all our water bottles and Teresa’s thermos as well.

We drove south to pick up Serpie then headed back to camp for our post hike celebratory drinks. We donned our sarongs and took our drinks to the point overlooking Kirk Creek Beach.

We were sun drenched and splashed clean. It had been an amazing day of heat, beauty, playfulness and fun. Both Pacific Valley and Sand Dollar Beach are amazing spots. Well worth investigating up close and personal.

Lessons Learned: Don’t forget your lunch. Just because you can’t find the path doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist - keep searching. You’re never too old to play in the water. Pack your trash and a few other people’s as well.

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Old Coast Road – Big Sur

Andrew Molera to Bixby Bridge
10.2 miles
Hiking Time: 5 hours
1650 elevation gain
Jan, Paula, Mary, Pam, Julie, Paul




After the last two short hikes, I wanted to do a nice long one. In my “Day Hikes around Big Sur” book there was a hike along the Old Coast Road which involved a two car shuttle – leaving one car at Bixby Bridge and the second at Andrew Molera. You could do either hike as an out and back hike – with more elevation if you started at the Bixby Bridge. I wasn’t sure how it would be hiking on a road the whole time – I usually prefer trails. Also some of the hikes in this book have not been quite successful – the search for the suspension bridge that inadvertently turned into a stumble on a pot plantation and the Kirk Creek Beach trail with this-trail-isn’t –REALLY-closed-is-it? fiasco. I decided to go for it anyway.

It’s a time of injury and recuperation for many members of our hiking group. Teresa and Jane were having back problems. Graciela has sprained her ankle two weeks before, Jo’s foot was bothering her and Tara’s knees got really bad on the Saturday before the hike. Pam’s hips were bothering her and Paula’s neck hurt the night before. My ankles have been tweaking me. I think we have almost every body covered amongst the group. J This dwindled our number down to five. Jan called and had a meeting that she had to be at in Santa Cruz at 5:00 p.m. So I had almost given up on the idea of a car shuttle.

This was a tricky hike logistically. We met at the Soquel Park and Ride: Jan, Pam, Paula, Mary and I. We agreed Jan would just do the first half of the hike and return to Andrew Molera. Pam’s hips were bothering her and she hadn’t been exercising so she opted for the shorter hike. Paula’s neck was bothering her – so she was going to opt for the shorter hike – but when she got there she wanted to drive and decided to commit to the whole 10 mile hike (since she would be our driver, she had to make it). Pam had the larger car, so she drove with Jan. Mary and I drove with Paula.

We rendezvoused at the Safeway in Carmel Valley and then headed south on Highway 1. As we were driving along – suddenly out of nowhere – a sheriff with lights flashing was right behind us. Paula pulled over and he zoomed by – fortunately in pursuit of someone else. It about gave us a heart attack, though.

When we got to the Bixby Bridge we parked Paula’s car and started moving packs and boots into Pam’s car. Pam was blocking another car while we were loading. The driver came over and said “Don’t worry. You have all the time in the world.” Which we though was very nice until a few minutes later he started backing up. Pam got out of his way. Now we weren’t sure if he was being sarcastic of if we just had different interpretations of what “all the time in the world” meant.


We finally loaded into Pam’ car and the five of us headed to Andrew Molera. It seemed quite a long drive considering we were going to hike back. Highway One hugs the coast – while we would be going considerably inland. Still Jan and Pam were pleased with their half-the-hike decision at this point. I hoped that the road did indeed go through.

We arrived at Andrew Molera and paid our $8 park fee. I asked the guy at the front gate whether the Coast Road was really only 10 miles, but he didn’t seem to have a clue.

As I was changing from my Tevas to my hiking boots, it occurred to me I would have to carry my Teva’s since I couldn’t leave them in Pam’s car. Not a big problem – just something a little more planning at the car shuttle shift could have avoided.

Since Pam and Jan were leaving early – there was no point in coming back to Andrew Molera. We had to make it through to Paula’s car which seemed a long, long way away. We were on the trail at 11:30.


We walked back up to the highway and crossed over. The Old Coast Road was the primary coastal access route before Bixby Bridge was built in 1932. I had assumed it would be gated with car access only to folks with property on the road. I assumed wrong.

A sign said that it was private property on both sides of the road and that no loitering or trespassing was allowed. We started climbing. We hadn’t hiked far before the first car came along. At least it was driving slow. The higher we hiked the better the ocean views became. We could see the Santa Lucia Mountains in the other direction. The road was uphill, hot and exposed. I wondered if the whole hike would be this way.

We passed a cattle ranch on our right. Pam noticed one of the cows was laying down, so Mary whipped out her binoculars to investigate. I had already worked up quite a sweat and we hadn’t even reached the first high point yet. We could see our road winding up a hillside far away in the distance. We finally reached the high point and then started downhill and were in the shade of the redwoods. The road was actually quite pretty and there was very little car traffic on it.

We kept going down, down, down. Jan was planning on turning around at 1:30 and she was concerned about going any further down because – she and Pam were gong to have to turn around and climb right back up the hill. We decided to stop and have lunch at a lovely shaded spot – complete with log to sit on and beautiful redwood grove. Pam was feeling much better and would have probably completed the hike if she hadn’t driven.

We were enjoying our lunch when a Volkswagen van pulled up. Our friend, Paul from dance class jumped out. Paul lives in Speckles and I had told him about this hike since it was in Big Sur. He had offered to be part of the car shuttle and hang out at the River Inn in the meantime, but we had never been able to connect to give him directions or our plan. He said, “You said you were hiking the Old Coast Road, so I figured I’d run into you on it.” It was great to see him.


There was a gate with a trail across the road from us. The sign said “High Fire danger” but not private property. We walked down the trail a bit. I found out later that this is the trailhead to Pico Blanco Camp – a backpack I want to try.

Since Jan and Pam were running out of time – they agreed to have Paul drive them back to Andrew Molera. He thought he might run out of gas – but otherwise it would be faster. This way they go to see the rest of the hike from the comfort of Paul’s van. They saw what was in store for the remaining three of us.

We packed up and headed down the path past a lovely little house. A little further down we finally reached the two bridges that were supposed to be our turn around point for either of the out and back versions of the hike. Now we left the pleasant shade and headed into the heat and elevation again. The road turned into steep switchbacks climbing up. Each bend seemed like it would bring you to a point that would put it in perspective, but the road just relentlessly climbed. We could see that there was construction working on a slide, though there wasn’t a crew working since it was Sunday.





We drank lots of water, sweated and plodded along. Paula was running a little low on water. I had 3 bottles and was already almost through my 2nd one. After what seemed like endless curves – we finally reached the summit.




Two of the trucks that had passed us were parked here. They were also Santa Cruzans who had just finished camping at Kirk Creek. One of the guys took the shot of the three of us at the summit.

Now we got to head downhill again. What a relief. We descended past cool houses and gardens. All downhill from here we thought. Just in time. It was shaded and cool. There was a high point next to the road – so I climbed up to see if I could scout our route. Just lots more road, no bridge, no coast, more uphill. It was a bit discouraging. Paula was pretty beat, but was being a trooper. Suddenly we saw Paul pull up in the van. He offered us a ride part of the way – he said there was about two more miles to go including quite a bit of uphill.

Paula decided to ride for a bit. Mary and I wanted to hike the whole thing. So we waved as they zipped by and then there was just the two of us. Mary wasn’t phased in the least, but I was definitely feeling the hike by this point. We kept going down and then started climbing up, up, up. We came around the corner and there was an incredible view of Bixby Bridge. It was from a perspective you don’t usually see. We could see Paula in the distance already hiking down.


It only took 30 minutes to complete that last section so it couldn’t have been that far, but it sure seemed like it. We saw someone walking toward us and there was Paul again. Joining us for the last ¼ mile of the hike. He took this great picture of Mary and me with an interesting perspective of the bridge.





When we got back to the car there was a guy blaring Fleetwood Mac. Paula had been back for quite some time and wanted to go down to the beach. I took one look at the trail and said –“No thank you.” It would have been quite a scramble down. Paula thought she would go down on her own We said Paul could take us to the River Inn and she considered staying at the beach, but decided to bow to the group and come with us.

At that moment she said. “I hope I didn’t leave my lights on.”


She checked her car and her battery was indeed dead. We were so glad we hadn’t left her there since there is no cell phone reception, Paul saved the day again. He pulled up his van and while Paula looked for jumper cables, he got access to his battery which is behind the passenger’s seat. Paula couldn’t find her cables, but Paul found some in his van. While Paula’s car was charging, Paul cleaned her windows and washed the roof of her car. He was a blessing to have around all the way around.

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Paula and I followed Paul and Mary to the River Inn. When we got to Andrew Molera I saw that there was lots of parking along the road which would have saved us a bit of a walk and the eight bucks.
At the River Inn we got drinks at the bar and then headed down to the creek. They have the chairs right in the creek and no one was in the creek, so we had our choice of seats. The water felt great on our poor tired dogs. It’s a great place to stop after hiking.

Paula drove us back down the coast right before sunset. The light was wonderful.

The whole day was quite an adventure. A challenge and yet so rewarding. It reminded me how much I love the Big Sur area. It was absolutely gorgeous. This area truly moves my soul. As always I so enjoyed the company of my hiking partners. It was a wonderful day that far passed my expectations. I would definitely recommend the hike along the road. It wouldn’t be to bad to drive it – but hiking you see so much more. Another glorious hike in Big Sur!

Lessons Learned: If doing this hike from Andrew Molera, park on the road. Think about what you are taking and what you can leave in a car shuttle switch. Have faith and challenge yourself. Know that there are angels in the world – or at least in Speckles.