Live for the Path

62 miles in 6.83 hours

I roll out before the other group again, ready to tackle the last two peaks in Big Sur. I quickly get to the town of Lucia and nab a couple of cookies, and then continue on my merry way.

Getting tired of these shots yet?

Too bad.

Oooh, kilometers.

More

of the

same.

I huff and puff through the mountains, but finally, at noon, I have gotten through the last thirty miles, and to the town of Big Sur, which is at the summit of the last peak. I stop for a sandwich, and then fly down the mountain, and into some pretty rolling countryside.

No more mountains?! Yay! Buildings on a hill.

There are still cliffs though. And ocean.

More flora.

More flowers?!?!

The wind isn’t as atrocious as it has been the last few days so I am making pretty good time, but there are these damn gulches, which are a huge pain in the ass. Basically they are breaks in the land right against the ocean, and instead of building a bridge over the gap, the road just follows them all the way down and around and then back up a big ass hill. Unfortunately I don’t have a good picture of one, but trust me, they are annoying.

Whence I came.

I finally get to the town of Carmel and get some cell reception for the first time in a few days.

...

I then need to climb up a mammoth hill, at rush hour, on a four lane highway with absolutely no shoulder. This is pretty terrifying and exhausting, but eventually I get up the hill, and then glide down the other side into Monterey. I then check my cell phone to see where my campground for the night is. Turns out it is at the top of the hill. Nice.

I cry a little and then get back on the bike and go back up the hill the other way, and eventually get to Veteran’s Memorial Park. I check in and set up my tent. I quickly notice that they other people at the hiker/biker spot seem to be long term residents there, and a little crazy. I then notice that there appears to be some sort of drug deal going down between two of the residents. You can imagine that this makes me a little uneasy. I get into my tent, but am then overwhelmed by the smell of marijuana, which actually made me feel much better. Homeless people on pot are a lot less frightening than homeless people on meth or crack or whatever else it could have been. Suffice it to say that I stay in my tent and get to sleep pretty early.

(Editor’s note 11/22/2024: Right now CA-1 is closed so the map is showing a hilarious routing on the 101. I did not do that on the bike in 2009! Hopefully this fixes itself once CA-1 reopens in 2026).