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Old 9th September 2009, 21:26   #1
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California Highway 1

Been to this magnificent road over last weekend. It runs between San Francisco and Los Angeles. We started from San Francisco and went for about 150 miles till Big Sur Park. Then returned back.

This journey is considered to be one of the best in US if not entire world. Road is smooth single lane on each side. very twisty and curvy, always clinging to the cliffs which drop into deep blue pacific ocean.

Since we went on the Labor day weekend, there was a decent amount of traffic. Never got stuck in traffic but couldnt push the car to limit.

Enjoy the pics

1. Seaside beach
California Highway 1-seaside.jpg

2. Road
California Highway 1-road.jpg

3. Bixby bridge : This is constructed in 1932.
California Highway 1-bixby.jpg

4. View from Hurricane Point
California Highway 1-hurricane.jpg

5. Bixby Bridge from hurricane Point
California Highway 1-hurricane-2.jpg

6. A rare straight stretch on CA-1
California Highway 1-road2.jpg

7. McWay falls in Big Sur state park
California Highway 1-falls.jpg

Comments welcome !
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Old 9th September 2009, 21:48   #2
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Very nice scenery
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Old 9th September 2009, 22:02   #3
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Good pics. I have heard of this road being one of the best in CA and entire US as well.

Got any more good pics of the drive?
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Old 9th September 2009, 22:22   #4
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Wow! Are these pictures or paintings? Never thought CA could be that beautiful on the sea. More pics please, when you have the time.
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Old 9th September 2009, 22:24   #5
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Oh, to do this stretch again !

@Abhijat : Next time, try northwards. Pretty good.
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Old 9th September 2009, 23:20   #6
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@Condor
Quote:
Next time, try northwards. Pretty good.
I did go Northwards too. I drove upto Humboldt county and Redwoods national park. Yes. Its pretty scenic as well....
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Old 9th September 2009, 23:31   #7
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Very scenic pics..waterfall near a beach is something i have never seen.
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Old 10th September 2009, 02:34   #8
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Amazing pictures!

I guess I too should take a trip down this road while I am still here in San Diego! In fact, I was planning to take a trip all the way to SFO via LA :-)
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Old 10th September 2009, 04:49   #9
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My Input!

Hey Abhijit - those are excellent pictures!

On my recent trip to San Francisco with family, we took a drive along the same route but didn't get as far down as Big Sur - I think we went halfway between Monterey & Big Sur, then back to San Francisco. Here's a few pictures (don't mean to hijiack your thread):

California Highway 1-dsc00952.jpg


California Highway 1-dsc00978.jpg


My cousin's rental Dodge Avenger seen pulling into a stop area. (It should be pulling into a junk yard - it was that bad).
California Highway 1-dsc00985.jpg


California Highway 1-dsc00989.jpg


California Highway 1-dsc00992.jpg


Another historic bridge - this route's full of them.
California Highway 1-dsc00994.jpg


Kishore Kumar probably got more pleasure out of his original Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi than this weird mobile.
California Highway 1-dsc01006.jpg


Another shot of the Dodge Avenger vanishing into the fog. Only problem - it returned.
California Highway 1-dsc01008.jpg


Eyesore!
California Highway 1-dsc00999.jpg

Vehicles used:
  1. Chrysler PT Cruiser
  2. Dodge Avenger
Verdict:
Don't bother with either. Especially disappointing was the fact that this road was nice and curvy and neither of the cars had it in them to be the slightest bit responsive.

Road signs like these only helped rub it in:
California Highway 1-dsc00984.jpg

Last edited by aah78 : 10th September 2009 at 04:56. Reason: Edit.
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Old 10th September 2009, 07:22   #10
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Beautiful pictures! To extent of giving the feel of a PS touch in all of them. That brilliant. Thanks for sharing.
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Old 10th September 2009, 08:49   #11
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hey, those are brilliant pix. like somebody earlier mentioned, a PS touch to these pix would make them awesome.
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Old 10th September 2009, 08:59   #12
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@Ads

Ya. Both those cars really suck.
Well, I was driving a Altima 2.5SL. Not exactly sporty, but it has that auto box with manual override. So it was a joy in some of the curves where traffic was sparse.

Coming to think of it, why all rental companies offer US made cars? I have only got a Camry once through Hertz. Rest all is full of Impalas, Calibers, Avengers, Focus (a decent car) and all american junk. I thought it would make sense to keep rentals as Jap vehicles since they are so low on maintenance and relatively trouble free than american c**p.

Last edited by abhijitaparadh : 10th September 2009 at 09:06.
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Old 10th September 2009, 09:01   #13
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Boy, oh Boy ! Last month on my road trip, I did this stretch from Santa Monica to Monterey Bay, all on CA-1; took about 6.5 hours. Interesting anecdote, while I was gunning the car, I realised that I was low on fuel and the next town was 50 miles away and I had fuel that could last about 63 miles, which was sort of pushing it (pun intended).Fortunately, somewhere along we found a fuel bunk and the guy was quite conveniently charging an arm and a leg for fuel; I paid $ 4.20/gal which was wayyyyyy over the top but absolutely worth every penny 'cos otherwise I'd have had to go back 40 miles one way and fill up; I can definitely say, those were the best $20 I ever spent. Man the road is unbelievable ! Although I had a Malibu which had pretty bad handling, I was still pushing it all the way. It was F-U-N driving on that road and its absolutely gorgeous and might I say COLD ! In some sections, temperature was as low as 52 F. I have so many pics from the highway; I was thinking of writing a travelogue of the whole coast-to-coast trip but my lazy posterior never gets to actually doing it.

Last edited by RJK : 10th September 2009 at 09:08. Reason: Added a story
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Old 10th September 2009, 09:06   #14
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Abhijit,
Very nice pics. Post some more if you can.
I recently traveled the same route recently while driving from Hollywood
to San Jose. Well worth the extra time vis a vis the enormously boring interstate.
Would love to do it again, only in a smaller, faster car

Cheers

Last edited by gotzuk : 10th September 2009 at 09:12.
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Old 10th September 2009, 09:20   #15
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Whoa !

A lot of us have been on this route ! I didnt know its this popular in Indian people as well....

Come on guys, hijack my thread ! Post all your pics and experiences about CA-1. I have many more pics, but they are quite similar to the ones that I posted. Narrow winding road on a cliff edge with the cliff dropping down into deep blue Pacific.

@Harbir, Satya:
If you are reading this, and havent yet been to CA-1, let me tell you its really worth taking the Lotus or rent a Vette for this road. You guys should rent a Vette and go to this stretch at 4am in morning. You will really love it. Better still, rent a Ferrari from Las Vegas and drive down here.

I also went to north of SF on US 101 into the Redwood counties. That was a totally different experience. Will post that soon.

Last edited by abhijitaparadh : 10th September 2009 at 09:25.
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