Monday morning I headed for the Pacific Coast Highway. My bike is obviously named after the highway and I have heard great things about the drive and the scenery. My take on that differs somewhat from what others have posted. First I would say if you are planning to travel the PCH, do it from North to South. I went the opposite direction and feel there was a lot I did not see due to the traffic between me and the coastline. I would also recommend that you give yourself an extra day or two or three in case the fog decides to roll in and obscure your view. Last but not least, dress warm! It can be down right cold with the wind blowing off the ocean, especially if there is fog. I thought the view and weather was nice from Malibu south but north of Malibu, I was cold most of the time. That really surprised me as I always thought of the California coast as being hot.
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| Laguna Beach, south of Malibu |
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| Malibu was the only place along the beach where I saw houses on the coast side of the highway |
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| Just north of Malibu, notice the fog ahead |
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| Futher north and fog is increasing |
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| Sun is going down and I am still searching for a campground |
so camping spaces
are hard to find.
After searching for
hours for a
campground that was not full I finally lucked out at one of the state run beach campgrounds. This particular campground was also full but a very nice couple offered to share their campsite with me. It was a beautiful night and I was still in southern California where it was actually warm, so I just set up my Ther-ma-rest cot, laid out my sleeping bag, and fell asleep under the stars listening to the sounds of the ocean. Tuesday morning I tried to plan a little better as far as where I could camp for the night. I must have called ten different campgrounds looking for a place to put my tent and all were full. There was one in Montery, CA that was in a county park. I tried calling several times but could never reach anyone so I decided to chance it. I lucked out! I arrived about 4:30 pm and claimed one of the last open campsites. Not only did I find a campsite, this one actually had hot showers! This morning after having coffee with the campers next to me I set out for the Golden Gate Bridge. Again it was cold along the coast and I decided that once I crossed the bridge, I was going to head inland for warmer weather. Getting to the bridge was quite an experience. I had to drive through San Francisco which is where I ran into the most traffic I have seen since leaving Maine. One thing that cyclist do in California is to drive on the dividing line between cars that are either stopped or going very slowly due to heavy traffic. I really did not think that I would ever do that myself but came to realize that in California, you either participate in lane splitting, so they call it, or your bike overheats and melts right between your legs. So yes, I did my share of lane splitting, but it is not something that I would want to do on a daily basis. I finally made it to the Golden Gate Bridge and was surprised at the number of people that walk across the bridge. The fog was very heavy so pictures were really limited.
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| Crossing the Golden Gate Bridge - Heavy Fog |
Once over the bridge I stuck to my plan and headed inland to warmer weather. Tonight I am camping at Skyline Wilderness Park in Napa,CA, the land of grapes, grapes and more grapes.
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| The little white stacks are freshly planted grapes while all the green are mature |
