Pacific Coast Highway (CA-1) · part 3

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Morro Bay

   Morro Bay announces itself with a rock. Morro Rock, a smooth, rounded volcanic plug 175 metres high, stands at the mouth of the harbour, guarding the entrance like a stone sentinel. It is the westernmost of a chain of ancient volcanic peaks called the Nine Sisters that march inland toward San Luis Obispo, and Spanish explorers used it as a landmark from the sixteenth century, naming it El Morro, the crown. Peregrine falcons nest on its face, so climbing is banned, but you can walk the sand spit to its base, and the beach is a pleasant place to watch surfers and sea otters.

   Read the complete Morro Bay write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Waypoint 3 is where the day begins. Next is Waypoint 4.

2. 2. Near Malibu

   Twenty-one miles of the Pacific Coast Highway pass through Malibu, and most of them are within sight of the sea. The road squeezes between the steep brown slopes of the Santa Monica Mountains and a narrow ribbon of sand, a mix of beach houses, small plazas, surf breaks and sudden gaps with a view over the water. The town itself has about thirteen thousand people, a city of film stars and surfers, and a strong feeling of being at the edge of something. It was once a ranch owned by the Rindge family, who held off development for decades, and the land was divided only in the 1920s, after the state forced a public road through it.

   Read the complete Malibu write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Waypoint 4 comes up about 275 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Waypoint 3.

3. 3. back through Waypoint 3

   Morro Rock is a volcanic plug, the hard core of a long-extinct volcano, and it rises out of the water at the mouth of Morro Bay like a great grey bell, about 175 metres high. It is the last of a chain of nine such peaks that run inland toward San Luis Obispo, the Nine Sisters, and its slopes are a protected nesting place for peregrine falcons, which means that climbing is forbidden. Rock and town share a name, and the waterfront is dominated by the three tall stacks of the old power station beside it.

   Read the complete Waypoint 3 write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   At least about 552 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Waypoint 3. Next is back through Waypoint 2.

4. 4. back through Waypoint 2

   Big Sur is where California's coast shows its teeth. Between Carmel and San Simeon, the Santa Lucia range rises almost directly from the Pacific, with slopes that climb more than a thousand metres in a few kilometres, and Highway 1 is bolted to the cliff like a ledge. The area gets few services, no big towns and a lot of fog, and because the mountains cut the coast off from the interior, it stayed wild long after the rest of California was settled. In 1937 the highway opened, after many years of work, and made the coast accessible by car for the first time.

   Read the complete Waypoint 2 write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Waypoint 2, late in the day. Next is Waypoint 1.

5. 5. Near Sausalito

   The point lies at the southern end of the Golden Gate Bridge, close to Fort Point and the Presidio, with Sausalito across the strait on the Marin side. There is no grander way to start or finish a ride along the Pacific Coast Highway. When it opened in 1937, the bridge had the longest suspension span in the world, and its colour, officially called International Orange, was chosen partly to stand out in the fog. It still feels astonishing to ride across, with the towers soaring overhead and the Pacific opening up beyond the strait.

   Read the complete Near Sausalito write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Finish at Waypoint 1. That is the ride.