We have traveled through the Central Coast of California quite regularly over.the past 18 years. For some reason, we enjoy driving up and down this 840 mile state coastline more than we like driving lots of other places. People drive down the East coast of America too, but that seem to be focused on getting to Florida and perhaps mostly to get to Disneyworld, and just pass through the places in between, Not unlike the much repeated claim that the bi-coastal crowd goes coast to coast and simply flies over large swaths of the country’s heartland. Contrary to that, we could care less about the three metro areas of San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco, and much prefer the areas in between. The part to the south of L.A. and north of San Francisco are respectively too crowded and too chilly, but the Central Coast from L.A. to San Francisco is spectacular on so many ways.
If you do not know the Central Coast, you would be surprised how rugged and uninhabited this 400 mile stretch of coast remains even today. There are several reasons for this, but biggest seems to be one of geography. From the Santa Ynez Mountains in the south that hug Santa Barbara tight to the ocean, to the Santa Cruz Mountains that form the spine of the San Francisco peninsula, the Central Coast is all about the interface between the sea and mountains. The Santa Lucia Range, stretching cross much of the belly of the Central Coast is so impenetrable that if you want to drive that coastline, as I often do, you had better hope that Route 1, the road along the ocean, has not washed out….as it is over a long stretch right now. There is no other way to go that distance than swing up Rt. 101 on the inland side of the Santa Lucia Range.
You may think this is just a tree-hugger Californication problem, but that ain’t so. Look at the map of the California Missions. The last one along the coast heading north is San Luis Obispo, and then they turn inland until Carmel. There are three (San Miguel, San Antonio and Soledad) that span that 146 miles, and they are inland behind the Santa Lucia Range. San Antonio is so remote, off the 101 tucked up against the eastern side of the range, that few people have ever visited it. There is a near defunct army base (Fort Hunter Liggett) nearby, but not much more. It is strange by today’s standards to find so much unused coastal land sitting between such exceedingly expensive and posh areas like Carmel to the north and Santa Barbara to the south, but this is the status of the Central Coast.
I wish I could say that man was simply wise enough to leave this long stretch of beauty alone for posterity sake, but that ain’t so either. He tried to harness it. None more than William Randolph Hearst, the Ruppert Murdoch of his day, which was a century ago. He created his Hearst Castle high on a hiss in the Santa Lucia, looking out over the vast rolling hills of golden grasses that roll down to the ocean as far as the eye can see. It was remote to go to Hearst Castle a century ago and it is remote still today. The nearest town is San Luis Obispo (48,000 souls only) and even it is 40 miles away. For such remoteness between LA and SF to still exist in such a beautiful setting is a great testament to the enduring power of nature. She simply said to the world of man, this is one spot I am not going to let you pretend that you can own and develop…at least not for very long. And so it stands to this day.
We come here to Cambria quite often as we head north on any road trips. We will have to backtrack to Paso Robles to head north again, but that is a small price to pay to once again see a snippet of this magnificent Central Coast area. We will not hit Hearst Castle like we normally would, because we have too many northbound miles to cover to end in Mendocino by tonight. That is 400 miles away if we drive as much coastline as is practical. We could trim 50 miles off that if we wanted to be most efficient, but we rather see more of the coast (along the Santa Cruz coast up to the Golden Gate) and then coastward again from Petaluma, beyond the bridge, to head to Bodega Bay (think The Birds) so we can hug the coast again (now above the Central Coast into what we can only call the Northern Coast).
This trip is a coastal trip covering as much of the 840 miles as we can. We covered 340 miles of that coast yesterday. We will do 100 miles from Salinas to the Golden Gate. Then there’s 300 miles from Bodega Bay to the Oregon border that follows the coast. That totals to 740 miles of coast that we will travel in California, leaving mostly this 100 miles of Central Coast too hard to traverse. Mother Nature likes to guck with us whenever she can. She fucked up the central east coast to a fair thee well with a hurricane last week. She seems to be evening the score of our ecological cavalierness in all sorts of places. Here in California, she never let us screw things up as much as we generally want to and that is what most defines the Central Coast.
I honestly think about this juxtaposition of man and nature when I come through this way. It never changes. It always vexes me and eventually makes me realize that we are just that small speck of sand on the beach of the universe. I should probably just head inland and stop worrying about it all. I think I will just let the Central Coast stay here doing what it does until the next time my head needs a good scratch again.