"The greatest meeting of land and sea"

May 24, 2017 11:32 AM

In a year of dramatic change and threat, An unprecendented 40-foot deep and 1/3 mile wide tongue of earth is newly jutting into the Pacific Ocean across the historic Roosevelt Highway portion of California’s Pacific Coast Highway through Big Sur, at Mud Creek.

The famous All-American Road was a miraculous feat of construction, completed by hook and by crook: sea-borne construction ships, and inmates from San Quentin Prison, in the New Deal era.

Stopping on its dramatic cliffside vistas can provide unique opportunities: land-based whale watching below and observation of North America’s largest flying land bird, the California Condor above, as well as inspiration for painting, photography, literature, and music.

posted by Ambrosia Voyeur (35 comments total)

Some great links, thank you.

For some more recent history, in addition to this recent landslide the Pfeiffer Canyon Bridge was damaged during the recent winter storms and has been down since February, cutting off residents. Big Sur lost a bridge and slipped back in time. Now residents are wondering what happens next

The new bridge is scheduled to open September 30.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 11:45 AM on May 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

One of the most magical hotels I've ever been in was Deetjens, a little cluster of cabins right on that highway. You could stay in the lodge or in one of the cluster of little cabins scattered around it; there were also a couple of short hiking trails on the property. Their cheapest room was a teeny-tiny room only big enough for a twin bed and a chair, with a shared bathroom, but it felt hobbity and cozy instead of cramped, and they had a guest book in every room and I spent an evening reading the messages people had left (many of which were utterly heartfelt and beautiful) and then discovered that previous guests had hidden some things in the room that they tipped you off to in the book - quotes written on the back of the picture, little treats in a tea kettle stashed in the rafters. At one point I was on an easter egg hunt through the room, looking behind pictures and peeking into cupboards and it was delightful.

I've also taken one of the best pictures I've ever taken about ten yards into the woods past their parking lot - one of their trails was there, and I followed it into the woods, turned a corner, and came on a scene that looked like it was in Lothlorien. (Not on flickr, sorry.)

They were already clobbered over the winter by other slides, and are still coming back from that. They weren't buried by this slide, but it's certainly cut off access....I hope they stay open.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:25 PM on May 24, 2017 [15 favorites]

Stay tuned for more of the same in the coming years as the storms get bigger and the infrastructure ages.

I feel for the people living there, some scary stuff.

That photo also underscores for me, in a poignant way, the hubris of thinking coastlines, watersheds, or slopes are stable or static areas to build upon. The WPA was ambitious in its dedication to Technological Triumph but it's nothing compared to the stuff we can build these days...
posted by epanalepsis at 12:29 PM on May 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

D...amn. Where are we going to film our car commercials, now?
posted by Don Pepino at 1:02 PM on May 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

"Just like last winter, a magnificent 30-mile stretch of Big Sur is once again isolated from the rest of California and the world — accessible to tourists only by helicopter...

"For prices ranging from $4,300 to $13,500, the posh Post Ranch Inn will carry you and a friend to the resort by helicopter from the Del Monte Aviation’s tarmac at Monterey Regional Airport for a two- to four-night stay — meals and yoga included."
posted by Lyme Drop at 1:02 PM on May 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

One of the most magical hotels I've ever been in was Deetjens

We honeymooned at Deetjens, though the main entry I remember from the guest book in our room was a New York couple who were terribly disappointed that the weather during their visit was rather rainy.

Also noteworthy nearby is Nepenthe, a restaurant perched on a cliff above the ocean: the views are magnificent, and the history of the place is too much fun also, including having been originally owned by Orson Wells and Rita Hayworth.

Beautiful place - one thing to miss about no longer living in California (it used to be doable as a weekend trip).
posted by emmet at 1:04 PM on May 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

I'm very glad that I had the opportunity to drive a huge stretch of the PCH -- from Santa Cruz down to San Luis Obispo where it feeds into the 101 -- back in the mid aughts. It was a gorgeous drive. We'd left SC about 1am and got to SLO later in the day. That was during a really terrible time in my life, but that particular experience was really wonderful.
posted by Made of Star Stuff at 1:05 PM on May 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

We drove up the PCH with my mom last summer - I've been trying to give my mom unique experiences when she visits, she never traveled a lot before my dad died, and now that she's older I want her to have as much time with Typechip (3) as possible doing all sorts of neat things.

We drive the PCH, went to Big Sur, did a very little bit of hiking and ate some lunch out there, and I was white-knuckled nervous driving those roads, with my mother and toddler in the car and now I'm so glad we did it.
posted by FritoKAL at 1:22 PM on May 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

I saw these pictures and my first thought was "oh, God, this administration will be in charge of handling the next natural disaster."

I hope individual States have their own back up plans.
posted by schadenfrau at 1:31 PM on May 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

Every year my wife and I try to do an anniversary camping trip to Kirk Creek, one of the most beautiful car camping sites on Earth. This year it's not gonna happen. Bums me out.
posted by infinitewindow at 1:35 PM on May 24, 2017

The Big Sur area damage is the tip of the iceberg. SR1 is pretty well fucked thoughout its length right now. Drove past some charming 3/4 width roadway, the rest having churned down the hillside below. Being worked on pretty furiously but there are only so many workers you can get into those spaces.

Every year my wife and I try to do an anniversary camping trip to Kirk Creek, one of the most beautiful car camping sites on Earth. This year it's not gonna happen. Bums me out.

Google suggests there's a route in from King City off 101 but like all good back roads through the coastal range, wiggly as hell. So, like, maybe its out if you're lugging the Airstream. Drops you right there though...
posted by Ogre Lawless at 2:00 PM on May 24, 2017

D...amn. Where are we going to film our car commercials, now?

Not to worry, Bixby Bridge is still open.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 2:00 PM on May 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

Driving from San Luis Obispo north on the PCH a few winters ago was gorgeous. I hadn't realized what a fierce barrier the Sierra Mountains are, rising steeply from the Pacific. The builders of the original road must have been intrepid. The people who live with that beuty all the time are lucky indeed.
posted by theora55 at 2:09 PM on May 24, 2017

I should have said California Coastal Range, not Sierras, and beauty.
posted by theora55 at 2:23 PM on May 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

My wife and I drove the Pacific Coast from Olympic Park in WA to LA for our honeymoon and we stayed at Glen Oaks instead of Deetjens. We also dined at Nepenthe and Post Ranch and were entranced by the views. It was in the midst of wildfires going on nearby so the smell of burning wood was everywhere and the parks were closed. We consoled with kayaking with otters at the Elkhorn Slough and hanging out at the Monterey Aquarium. That was a beautiful piece of coast, though we found the whiteness of that area + Carmel a bit unsettling.
posted by bl1nk at 2:46 PM on May 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

Where are we going to film our car commercials, now?

Flower St. in DTLA between 3rd and 5th, and 4th St. between the 110 and Grand are still open, too.
posted by hwyengr at 2:48 PM on May 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

Even accounting for concerns with our current ecological and political state, maintaining roads carved into the sides of steep dirt hills and crumbling mountains is an eternal battle against entropy, probably more so than any other human made infrastructure.
posted by MillMan at 2:53 PM on May 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

> D...amn. Where are we going to film our car commercials, now?

Conzelman Road, Marin Headlands.

Also, I streetviewed part of that alternate route to the Kirk Creek campground and got a little carsick. And I'm used to driving route 1 north of Jenner.
posted by rtha at 2:59 PM on May 24, 2017

D...amn. Where are we going to film our car commercials, now?

Colorado Street Bridge, still open, still picturesque.
posted by ApathyGirl at 3:28 PM on May 24, 2017

That photo also underscores for me, in a poignant way, the hubris of thinking coastlines, watersheds, or slopes are stable or static areas to build upon

exactly my thoughts. it's typical human arrogance to think natural geological processes should stop for our convenience.

D...amn. Where are we going to film our car commercials, now?

imagine if they filmed car commercials to match most people's everyday reality; think that would move many units?

anyway, i drove down big sur once, very beautiful, but it would be just as lovely—nay, more so—without a giant asphalt scar across it
posted by entropicamericana at 3:38 PM on May 24, 2017

it's typical human arrogance to think natural geological processes should stop for our convenience.

Disagree. Every living creature, humans included, lives a life that is in arrogant defiance of an uncaring universe. Any bit of localized order (and this includes the cliffs that stand for as long as they can before themselves falling down) is a brief blip in the otherwise steady march towards maximum entropy.

I believe the whole point of human existence is to metaphorically (and literally) maintain the roads that otherwise want to crumble into the sea, for as long as we can.
posted by danny the boy at 3:51 PM on May 24, 2017 [16 favorites]

that line of thinking is how you end up with the la river in the south and extinct salmon runs in the north
posted by entropicamericana at 3:58 PM on May 24, 2017 [6 favorites]

> imagine if they filmed car commercials to match most people's everyday reality; think that would move many units?

I never really got that about car commercials, because I've spent my whole life living up and down PCH.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 4:17 PM on May 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

it's typical human arrogance to think natural geological processes should stop for our convenience.

Natural geological processes don't care whether they stop or go or anything else. Rocks don't have feelings.
posted by bracems at 4:17 PM on May 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

I got to drive the PCH from Santa Cruz to Santa Barbara 2 years ago. I've never seen anything like it. Bixby Bridge was amazing.
It was all amazing. I feel so lucky to have been able to experience it. We couldn't drive the PCH back because my beloved passenger had become very car sick from all the twists and turns, and wound up offering the half-digested fruits of her stomach to the eagerly awaiting birds and squirrels at an elephant seal viewing area in San Simeon.

In the scale of geologic movement, the creations of man are just a blink. It's like the Old Man of the Mountain in New Hampshire: the Earth moves on. It doesn't make it any less sad or frustrating at our scope, though.

also, I would like to say that, "Tongue of Earth" is my favorite sexy D&D spell.
sorry
posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 5:01 PM on May 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

I was recently in California, drove SR 20 from Willits to Fort Bragg, SR1 from Fort Bragg to Leggett, Ferndale-to-Petrolia and Platina-to-Redding, all of which were terrifying and beautiful to this east coaster in a rented Hyundai Elantra. (I was vacationing to, among other things, see the redwoods.) Slides were fairly plentiful on all steep surfaces even though I was way north of the one near Big Sur. For what it's worth, the park rangers said this was quite a bad year for slides on the roadways.
posted by which_chick at 5:46 PM on May 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

We got the LA River (assuming you're talking about it being concrete lined?) because the natural riverbanks flooded terribly in 1938 and killed 100 people.
posted by hwyengr at 8:18 PM on May 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

https://bigsurkate.wordpress.com/

https://contemplation.com/
posted by anshuman at 8:19 PM on May 24, 2017

So what's strange to me is that I live in SoCal and didn't hear about this story through any of my local outlets. It took a major story in my news aggregator YESTERDAY, three days after it'd happened, to make it to my eyes. Even the LA Times story linked above wasn't from Sunday.

It's 40 feet deep and 1/3 of a mile long, but I still saw more about the Mar a Lago sinkhole than this over the weekend. Strange I tell ya.
posted by ovenmitt at 11:08 PM on May 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

Isn't there a rich fossil bed (maybe more than one) that was supposed to formed this way (IE by a seaside cliff slumping into the ocean in one big go and burying all the plants and animals that were there).
posted by Mitheral at 11:35 PM on May 24, 2017

Yikes. I drove N from SF up to Redwoods NP last summer on the PCH and aside from the drop to the sea on my left, I was astonished that there was so little debris on the road given the land slip potential. I've never been so constantly alert/ on edge and it was quite hard to appreciate the staggering beauty of it all.

After a few hours I couldn't work out why I had stomachache until I realised how hard I'd been clenching my stomach muscles all the damn way.

It certainly looked like a fight against entropy to me.

Our local coast in the UK is falling into the sea, more so in recent years due to the climate change induced increase in localised heavy rainfall that saturates the ground. Are the slips in CA linked to the wet winter I think you had?
posted by dowcrag at 4:33 AM on May 25, 2017 [1 favorite]

I saw these pictures and my first thought was "oh, God, this administration will be in charge of handling the next natural disaster."

I hope individual States have their own back up plans.

To its credit, California, at least, is more-or-less an independent nation, however dysfunctional it may be at times. Here in Indiana, on the other hand, we can't do much more than fill a pothole without some level of Federal assistance.
posted by Thorzdad at 4:38 AM on May 25, 2017

rich fossil bed

Do you mean The Burgess Shale?
posted by spitbull at 7:28 AM on May 25, 2017

I drove that highway once. Once. I have never been so frightened in my life. And now I know why. Because at any second, I was likely to become a fossil.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 12:35 PM on May 25, 2017 [2 favorites]

spitbull: "rich fossil bed

Do you mean The Burgess Shale?"

Sounds like what I was remembering; though reading the wiki article there appears to be some pull back on the just so story I was remembering.
posted by Mitheral at 11:04 PM on May 25, 2017