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Published: January 30th 2018
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Nacimiento Road
A view from along the Nacimiento Road. We were advised by several folks on the TA forum not to take this road because it was too curvy and dangerous. It was curvy and narrow - but we had no problems. Friday, 12/29.One reason we stayed at Ft. Hunter-Leggitt was its location near the Nacimiento-Ferguson Road, a very narrow and curvy road through the mountains to the Big Sur region of the Pacific coast. Due to highway 1 being closed just south of Big Sur at that time, this was the closest access to highway # 1, the Pacific Coast Highway, south of Monterey. This was a very scenic route that was the quickest way to the coast and several of the California state parks that we hoped to be able to hike in. Unfortunately, this was the start of the weekend and about a million other people had the same idea. Couple that with the fact that most of the hiking trails on the inland side of the highway were closed due to damage from fires and recent storms, it was just way too crowded. This was certainly a very beautiful and scenic area, and we did manage to hike on a few of the trails that were open. We were able to take a short hike in Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park to an overlook to view McWay Falls and then a little longer, maybe 2 mile hike along the
Nacimiento Road
An example of one of the straighter sections of the road. Partington Cove Trails at the northern edge of the park to the rocky shore in the cove. After braving the crowds there, we gave up and headed on to our hotel for the next two nights, the Navy Gateway Inn at the US Navy Postgraduate School in Monterey.
Saturday, 12/30. Had hoped to be able to celebrate our 50
th wedding anniversary today with a spectacular hike somewhere along the coast, but with the crowds and areas that were closed to access, that was not to be. We ended up hiking the Ollason Peak Trail at Monterey County's Toro Park. This hike was a pretty strenuous climb of about 1,300 ft to the 1,800 ft peak with sweeping views of Monterey Bay and the Salinas Valley. The hike was a loop that looked easy to follow on the map but, as with a lot of trails in the smaller state and county parks, was not well marked, and we ended up returning from the peak on a mountain bike trail that ran through a narrow canyon with lots of unnecessary ups and downs. Nevertheless, this was a nice hike to a peak with a scenic view and one
Nacimiento Road
View from along the road. we didn't have to share with too many others.
Sunday, 12/31. Up Sunday morning fairly early, we checked out of the Gateway Inn, exited the Naval facility, and parked right outside the gate so we could walk down to Monterey Bay and walk along the waterfront to Fisherman's Wharf and Cannery Row. This was about four miles so we got our exercise in for the day. Returning to the car, we drove to Santa Cruz, about an hour away, for a short visit with Anne's college roommate and her daughter's family who had recently moved to the area. After the visit, we drove on to our motel near the San Francisco airport where we had an early bedtime in preparation for a very early morning departure to catch our 6:15 AM flight home.
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