Route 1: The Neverending Hairpin

We set off from San Simeon on Tuesday unwittingly about to embark on the most ridiculous expanse of road imaginable. At this point Route 1 and Highway 101 are separated by an array of insurmountable hills and mountains and so we wouldn’t be able to reach a level or straight road until we passed through Monterey and San Francisco. The California coastline is remarkable and coupled with the cliffs and mountains that run along it make it that much more impressive. There are a few small towns and even a sprinkling of random houses along the way. Big Sur is also on this portion of the route, a location beloved by writers such as Hunter S. Thompson, Jack Kerouac, Henry Miller, and also by surfers. The road is a bit up and down and employs a few weaves, but for the most part is an easy drive…besides the rock and mudslides and erosion affecting the southbound lane (sometimes it becomes one lane as workers rebuild sections). Reaching the Carmel-Monterey area (home of Pebble Beach for you golfers) the road becomes easier and safer and leads you through San Francisco to the Golden Gate Bridge (toll free northbound, at least the day we went).
A few miles after crossing the bridge we followed Route 1 off from 101 and discovered what an unremitting pile of turning it becomes. You basically have to drive from the east side of the northern peninsula to the west side and for the beginning you drive up…and then discover that going down to the coast is about the single most insane adventure ever. It winds, weaves, serpentines, slithers, hairpins, and all those other bizarre movements that roads make. By the time you’ve gotten the 3-4 miles across the peninsula you’ve changed direction 20-50 times and driven 32 miles (these are rough estimates). Then you move on and resume your old favorite of driving north along the coast. This of course starts off easing you through more uberwinding for a few too many more miles. You pass the Bolinas Lagoon, which is just a large puddle and actually get to enjoy some normal (straightish) roads for a bit. But then! Winding roads, straightish, winding, and so on. You aren’t exactly along the coast for a bunch of this as you go inland and past some lagoons and enclosed bays for a bit, but when you do return to the coast you are definitely aware of it. Pretty much when you begin incessantly going in and out of hairpins you have returned to the coast. Oh, and you can see the sea again. By sea I mean ocean. The Pacific Ocean. We’ve been driving alongside the Pacific Ocean, which is kind of really awesome.
Anyway, I drove this route on Tuesday up to Fort Bragg and Aubrey got to experience a little of the madness as she finished off our section of California coastal Route 1 on Wednesday. So we each got to experience the madness from the driver and passenger seat. I found that from the passenger seat , as you travel up the hillsides (really enormous hills or maybe they are mountains) you are thinking “This will hurt more” and as you go down them you get the reassurance of increasing safety. That is of course due to the fact that at any point in time you are inches away from a sharp drop into a valley. Sure, there are trees in the not-so-gentle slope, but they can hardly hold a car. As a driver, all I can recall thinking is “JUST BUILD A FREAKING BRIDGE!” You drive down from height X, turn at a hairpin, and then drive up to reach height X…a bridge would solve this and at a cost only to California taxpayers.
So, in summation: Route 1 is the world’s most insanely convoluted and complex Möbius strip (yes, the roads do curve in three dimensions and seemingly back to somewhere you just came from).
We did take time out of our trip today to travel the Avenue of the Giants (conveniently located alongside our planned route), which is a road allowing you to travel through forests of redwood trees. It’s a 31 mile stretch along Route 1/101 that passes a handful of small towns (i.e. food when necessary) and campgrounds as you feel incredibly diminished in sight of these unending towers. Walking through parts of the forest is like existing in another world as they are kept in excellent condition and are quite serene. And, yes, I did pee on one…it is mine now.

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