Yosemite Tioga Overnight · short arc

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Pacifica

   For decades the most nervous stretch of Highway 1 south of San Francisco was Devil's Slide, a ledge carved into crumbling cliffs above the Pacific between Pacifica and Montara, which slid into the ocean so often that the road was closed for months at a time. In 2013 twin tunnels finally bypassed it, and the old road became a walking and cycling trail where you can stand on the cliff edge and see what the engineers were up against. Pacifica sits at the northern end of that story, a string of beach neighbourhoods tucked into coves and valleys between the coastal hills and the surf.

   Read the complete Near Pacifica write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Yosemite Tioga Overnight is where the day begins. Next is Yosemite Tioga Overnight high point.

2. 2. Montara

   For years, the stretch of Highway 1 just north of Montara was the road everyone worried about. Devil's Slide, a crumbling headland of rock above the Pacific, kept sliding into the sea and closing the highway, sometimes for months. Since 2013 the traffic has passed through a pair of tunnels bored through San Pedro Mountain, and the old road along the cliff has become a walking and cycling trail with some of the wildest views on the San Mateo coast. If you have twenty minutes, walk a piece of it.

   Read the complete Montara write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   You top out here; the road stops climbing. Next is Yosemite Tioga Overnight checkpoint 8.

3. 3. Near Tamalpais Valley

   Tamalpais Valley is the first green fold north of the Golden Gate, a neighbourhood of wooden houses tucked into a narrow valley below the slopes of Mount Tamalpais, where Highway 1 leaves Highway 101 and starts its long, twisting journey up the coast. Mill Valley, with its redwoods and its old railroad depot turned bookshop and café, is just next door, and San Francisco is ten minutes away across the bridge.

   Read the complete Near Tamalpais Valley write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   The route ends here after 282 km. Next is Yosemite Tioga Overnight scenic road.

4. 4. Black Point-Green Point

   Where the Petaluma River slides out into San Pablo Bay, the land goes flat and wide: salt marsh, tidal sloughs, hayfields and long levees, with the brown hills of Marin and Sonoma rising behind and the bay stretching away grey-blue to the east. Black Point and Green Point are two small communities on the edge of this marsh, at the north-eastern corner of Novato, a few hundred houses among oaks and eucalyptus, with water on three sides.

   Read the complete Black Point-Green Point write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Yosemite Tioga Overnight scenic road, about halfway. Next is Photo stop near American Canyon.

5. 5. Photo stop near American Canyon

   Planning note

   Photo stop near American Canyon sits at 188 km, about halfway. Next is San Francisco Bay Area return.

6. 6. Near Pleasanton, on the way back

   Charlie Chaplin made The Tramp in 1915 in Niles, a small town at the western end of Niles Canyon, where the Essanay studio briefly turned out silent films. The canyon road, Highway 84, still winds along Alameda Creek between steep, oak-covered hills, with a heritage railway running alongside, and it is one of the classic rides of the East Bay.

   Read the complete Near Pleasanton, on the way back write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   San Francisco Bay Area return comes up about 206 km into the recorded legs. Next is Food stop near Mountain View.

7. 7. Food stop near Mountain View

   Planning note

   Food stop near Mountain View closes the day.