Driving down Hwy 1. Need tips

My wife and I are headed to CA at the end of May. This will be my first time out there other than a LAX layover. We are flying into San Francisco and driving down Hwy 1 to Morro Bay. Other than the typical stops on the side of the road, are there any hidden places we should detour to? We have the entire day set aside for photos. We aren't stopping in any cities during this day. It will only be driving down the coast and getting to Morro Bay to spend the night. We have another day set aside for Hearst Castle and Big Sur.

check out Pismo beach...

Errr... not to put a kink in your plans, but Highway 1 is closed about 20 miles north of Cambria.

In the last winter's storms, a whole big piece of the mountain slid down into the ocean, highway included. I'm not sure if it'll be open in the next 20 days.
http://www.sanluisobis​po.com …way-1-closed-big-sur.html

To bypass, you'd have to cut over on Highway 68 East to US101 just north of Monterey, and then take Highway 46 west back to 1 to go to Hearst Castle. You'd end up skipping over 100 miles of the most remote parts of Highway 1. The map also shows a Naciemento Road cutting across from Highway 1 to US 101 much further south than Monterey, through Fort Hunter Liggett, but I've never driven that route. Other roads that pass through FHL are open to civilian traffic, but I'd double-check that Naciemento is included in that before driving all the way down there. Even then, that'll add at least 3 hours to the drive time, and you'd still lose about 30 miles of Highway 1.

d'oh! That article was posted in March. Is it still shut down?

Edit: just found this article.

http://www.sanluisobis​po.com …n.html#storylin​k=misearch

Has anyone driven down the coast in the past few days?

I was there 5 days ago. It was closed at that time.

We aren't leaving until May 26, so hopefully some (positive) things will happen between now and then.

If you can get to Cambria, I've always thought the East West Ranch Bluff Trail is kinda nice. Late may, early june some of the wildflowers may be popping.

Just north of Half moon Bay, about 35 min south of SF on Hwy 1, is an amazing gem of a location hidden away right off the road called Fitzgerald Marine Preserve. In it there are tide pools galore, beautiful cypress trees up on a cliff that you can hike through, great high view of the beach and ocean below.It's fantastic.Highly recommended. However, you have a REALLY tough choice as there are literally hundreds, if not thousands of places to shoot at and finding time to hit a few of them AND make it down there to Cambria in 1 day is a daunting task.

Thanks for the tips everyone! Got them all written down.

Ok, so we found out where the road is closed and unfortunately it is between Hearst Castle and Gorda Springs Resort (where we are staying). Does anyone know how narrow those time roads are through the forest? Salmon Creek Rd, Burnett Creek Rd, etc. We really don't want to backtrack all the way to Hwy 101 if we can help it.

They're ranch access roads, so they'll probably be one lane, paved but probably not recently. You'll be fine in anything larger than a Smart car, but you won't be going faster than 40mph except in short straightaways.

bior wrote in post #12420194
They're ranch access roads, so they'll probably be one lane, paved but probably not recently. You'll be fine in anything larger than a Smart car, but you won't be going faster than 40mph except in short straightaways.

Thanks much. We'll be in a mid-size car. It should save us a good 60-80 mi if I'm calculating it correctly.

dsd17 wrote in post #12403501
My wife and I are headed to CA at the end of May. This will be my first time out there other than a LAX layover. We are flying into San Francisco and driving down Hwy 1 to Morro Bay. Other than the typical stops on the side of the road, are there any hidden places we should detour to? We have the entire day set aside for photos. We aren't stopping in any cities during this day. It will only be driving down the coast and getting to Morro Bay to spend the night. We have another day set aside for Hearst Castle and Big Sur.

Carmel... and spend some time in the Weston Gallery there. The old mission at Carmel is really sweet too.

i always recommend point lobos reserve.

http://www.pointlobos.​org/

Anyone mind taking a look at this route and see if it's doable? it'll cut 100 mi off of our drive after Hearst Castle. Mainly, are we able to drive on that 'Hearst Castle Rd'? From what I've heard, you park down below and take a bus up there, but do they allow other vehicles on it?

http://maps.google.com …pn=0.102386,0.2​64187&z=13