The house was going to be inhospitable for 3 days, I picked a Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday time frame. So on Monday I got my 88, Ignotus, mostly packed up and finished on Tuesday morning. Heading South(Sur) on Hwy 1 towards Monterey, I passed thru Moss Landing.
And Monterey, the first state Capital and onetime Spanish colony.
Driving through Monterey and Carmel where I stopped to fuel up myself and the 88. When I stopped in the grocery parking lot I was approached by a fellow from Fuji who want to know if my 88 was for sale as he grew up with them on the island. I picked up a sandwich and filled the tank plus a 20 liter jerry can with diesel. Then took off south again aiming to eat at Bixby Bridge.
There wasn't much traffic on 1 so the going was easy. I didn't have to pack much for a couple of days camping so the 88 was reasonably light. I kept up reasonable speeds as evidenced by the gps on my dash.
Here is how I packed;
And at the Bixby Bridge built in 1932 had lunch. The Bixby Bridge was part of the effort to open Big Sur to the rest of California. Residents of Big Sur were "rained in" during the winters due to the dirt road single lane access. You can read about the bridge here; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bixby_Creek_Bridge
It was that single lane dirt road I was after and is pictured above at the start. After lunch I headed off up the road. It is really scenic.
It goes into some deep canyons where the lower extent of the redwood forest grows. Here there are old growth groves with 1000 year old trees.
Eventually you come along a ridge next to Pico Blanco on the left
and the Pacific on the right.
Eventually one comes into sight of Point Sur it's self. The lightstation is located on a large volcanic rock some 300' above the ocean. See; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_Sur_State_Historic_Park
Built in 1889 because the point was a large hazard to navigation. As a side note IIRC there are 7 or 9 of these large volcanic rocks along the coast, one of the other ones is Morro Rock.
As one come to the end of the Old Coast Road you get a view of Big Sur Canyon before dropping back onto Hwy 1 above Andrew Molera State Park.
Now there is a big long hill going up out of Big Sur Canyon headed south. It is 2 miles long and maybe climbs 700'. I had to go to third gear to get up it doing 35mph. Eventually after driving some 55 miles south of Monterey past the town of Lucia I turned onto Niacimento-Fergusson Road. Here I could see North to Lopez Point and South to Plaskett Rock.
While Hwy 1 wound its way below me.
Ignouts chugged it's way up N-F Rd from sea level to 3500' mostly in second and third gear over the 6 mile climb. At the top it was back to dirt on the Old Coast Trail.
There was a handfull of vehicles parked at some of the campsites within the first half mile, but I was headed deeper. Six miles deeper as a matter of fact!
Prewitt Camp some 2500' above the blue Pacific. The pic above shows Sand Dollar Beach and Plaskett Rock. The unimproved camp was empty which I expected since it was a weekday and the weather had been cold. The are no toilets, no water, and due to the drought no campfires. My camp was a little from the edge and blocked the wind some.
I got a great sunset that night and then the wind picked up. It seemed to blow for around 3 hours. I think the air mass was trying to balance out air pressure between the Central Valley and the Pacific Coast.
It was cold so I went in the tent around 5:30. Alas, I slept fitfully because my sleeping bag was too warm having brought my 10F bag. Waking to more wind for another 3 hours around 6am I got up and fixed a breakfast of oatmeal and coffee/hot cocoa. Man my Kelly Kettle worked great in that wind! I have learned that I can make a fire starter out of an egg carton. Take an old sock and cut up strips and roll them to fit the bottom of the egg cartons hollow. Pour in melted wax and let harden. I store mine in a ziplock bag and just tear off a chamber when I want to start a fire. I put one in the fire chamber of the Kelly Kettle put the kettle on top and light it then drop a few sticks on top and it rips! Boiling water in a minute or so.
In the morning I walked around the empty campgrounds, looking at different views and wether or not I would want to camp at them. Which one was better for astronomy, better wind blocking, better isolation, etc... Here are some sights from the area;
I noticed several of the oak trees had randomly grown ^^^ around some of the limestone they touched.
Plaskett Ridge and Lopez Point
An oak tree lost this huge branch about 2.5' across and 10' long
Another oak
A look at the back of my camp
I was able to take in the view and do some reading the rest of the day. The second sunset brought no winds so I was able to stay out until around 7pm when I went into the tent and read until around 10. Stranger in a Strange Land by Heinlein. Great book if you have never read it.
Then the battery in my camera died.......
I woke up the next day and took my time getting packed and cooking another oatmeal and coffee breakfast with the Kettle. I left around 0900 and worked my way back along Old Coast Trail and N-F Rd. All but 1 of the campers were gone near the paved road. Ignotus went down the road in third gear using the footbrake spareingly. I knew I wouldn't have cell service until Carmel so I didn't even bother to check.
It is 55 miles to Monterey and the entire way back I never had a car come up from behind to try to pass. Remarkable. I did take the Old Coast Road back as I hadn't traveled that direction before. I think I actually prefer it. As I approached Carmel I saw the rainclouds coming in and when I parked at Safeway for lunch it started to rain.
A quick sandwich and a call to my daughter to let her know I was OK then it was dive into the traffic and head home an hour or so away in the rain. There was an inch of rain in my gauge and it had been raining there all day.
Some quick gps facts; 246.82 total miles, 8h 2min moving time, moving average 30.6mph (all the dirt roads were 15mph of under) overall avg speed 20.4mph, max elevation 3446' total elevation 20,231'
If you go there, Please, please, please either take a portable toilet(I used a bucket lined with plastic bags) or dig a latrine. Too many city folk seem to just be doing their business in the bushes and leaving the TP EVERYWHERE! Gross..............
