Road Trip: Hwy 1 Central Coast

I went up to Carmel for a few days and decided to take the long way home today. I took Hwy. 1 from Carmel to San Louis Obispo. I had been to the northern part of Big Sur before traveling from Carmel, but this was my first time on the rest of the road.

All I can say is, "Wow!" This is one fun road! I heard it would be crowded on the weekend, but being that it was Monday morning I had the road almost entirely to myself. I only passed four cars over 100+ miles. I don't know about weekends, but I highly recommend it on a weekday (except during the summer I guess)!

Anyhow, here are some pics for those of you that haven't been.


Early into the trip.


What a view! I hated stopping, but then again I hated not to stop. Is that Bixby bridge in the distance?



Typical view when the coastline was hidden by trees. Where is everyone?



More open road... anyone out there?

A couple more...

great pix... looks like a fun time...

Me... stopping... in the middle of the road... to take a picture? Never!



Such great scenery. It was 65 degrees all along the coast, great for driving with the windows down to smell the pines and the ocean and listen to the engine sing a song.



The good curves end beyond the castle. Next time I'll cut across to 101 just before then.


Welp, that's it. Sorry I didn't stop by to visit Jon... I was way too tired! Anyhow hope everyone enjoyed the pics.



--SONET

Very nice

The road is quite narrow and scary in some places. Well, maybe only if you are driving a renal

Yep- It's a blast to drive. I'm from the Monterey Bay area and went to school at Cal Poly. My folks and dorm mates thought I was nuts to WANT to leave for school at 10pm on a Sunday night after spending the day/weekend in Monterey.

Now..follow me here....
It's 10pm, dark twisty road, NO traffic (and what there was you could see from a mile away because of the headlights...) You get my point. Hwy 1 was one wide lane for me (mostly anyway)
I got to the point of taking only 20 minutes more to go down 1 as opposed to the freeway (101).
And my Dad wondered why my Goodyear Euro NCT's only lasted 17,000 miles on my 2002... It got to the point that I knew every single mile of that road like the back of my hand. I still like to drive it - You never get tired of that road.

I envy you lip277. That road was the best... I wanted to turn around at the castle and give it another go in both directions. I just wish it wasn't so far away. Next time I think I'll stay in the area for a night or two and just enjoy the road.

By the way, I didn't see any CHP buddies along the way (good thing! heh). Is it always like that?

I go to Carmel a few times a year... I'll definately be taking Hwy. 1 from now on.

--SONET

The Highway 1 drive around Bigsur is one of the best drives u can drive ur car at. Sometimes when i have nothing to do over the weekend i just go there for a drive . 150 miles on the car for just a drive .........

It gets better the farther north you go:

Originally posted by SONET



...I didn't stop by to visit Jon... I was way too tired!

--SONET

Sheeesh....

Great pics

I drove the Coast Highway a couple of times way back in the early 80s, but haven't done it again since then. Usually I'm in a rush to just get there and take the 5 up the central valley.

But I've never done Carmel or any of the other sites along the coast, so I'm way overdue for another coastal run.

Great pics SONET! I wish there was something comparable on the east coast...

Nice pics Sonet! When I first read your post about going to Carmel, until I read further I thought this was Carmel, NY (where I'm from originally). I forgot there is actually a Carmel, CA. The roads in Carmel, NY are pretty twitsty but nothing to even come close to that scenery.

Many awesome drives on that road. Looks like you had a blast!

Thanks for the pictures!