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Big Sur Slide Spectacular Part 1 (CA 1; G16 to Pfeiffer Canyon)

Started by Max Rockatansky, June 09, 2017, 09:32:28 PM

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Max Rockatansky

The title pretty much describes it all....  The way I see it with all the landslides wiping out sections of CA 1 in Big Sur this year, it left me with a hell of chance to see the road alignment pretty much in a completely unique way.  That being the case, I figure that I an complete the majority of CA 1 through Big Sure (slide areas excluded of course) in three segments.  This was the first part of three; CA 1 south from County Route G16 to the closure at Pfeiffer Canyon:

https://www.flickr.com/gp/151828809@N08/Zp9Q26

Some observations though....

-  The weather was pretty ugly, especially for this time in June.  Even in the Central Valley it is hovering around the low 80s which is extremely odd.  That being the case there was a light rain/mist in progress south out of Carmel to Pfeiffer Canyon.  Granted this section was in pretty good shape, I can't imagine that it is really helping with road repairs.  I was debating whether to try the central section via the Nacimiento-Furgusson Road first but the fog coupled with apparent traffic increases made that dicey....especially when you consider that I'm talking about a one/one-half lane road.  The Army people at Fort Hunter Liggett were impossible to get on the phone to check for a road status and really the only semi-reliable information is coming from the BigSurKate blog.
-  None of the older 1930s era bridges seemed to be in bad shape.  There wasn't much in the way of debris or even evidence of slides around any of the older bridges.  Funny how a newer bridge like Pfeiffer Canyon got wiped out while all the older designs stood up through the storms.
-  All the state parks besides Pfeiffer Big Sur were closed due to "dangerous conditions."   Even Pfeiffer Big Sur was limited to pretty much stuff around the park visitor center.  I had a look around some of the highway bridges and for the most part the adhoc trails were in usable condition.  So I think its a matter of low return on investment for fixing up some of the state park trails given the likely low turnout.
-  Speaking of low turnout, holy crap I've never seen the segment south from Carmel to the Bixby Bridge so quiet.  Granted I would imagine the weather played a factor in things to an extent....it was still odd being able to drive 55-60 MPH mostly unabated.
-  I want to say someone said Coast Road was an alternate around Pfeiffer Canyon in the other Big Sur thread....well not so much.  Coast Road has a sign up saying "locals only."


All and all I'd say that Caltrans in addition to pretty much every state agency is really trying to discourage tourism traffic in Big Sur this year.  I'm really curious to see if there is an ongoing push for closures even after the Pfeiffer Canyon Bridge is rebuilt.  I would imagine the prospect of a huge volume of tourist traffic using the Nacimiento-Furgusson Road is a worrisome one given Mud Creek appears to be a total loss for several years. 


MaxConcrete

So apparently it is not possible to get close enough to the landslide to actually see it. How far from the landslide was the U-turn?

Does anyone know about the south approach - is it possible to get close enough to see it?
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Max Rockatansky

Quote from: MaxConcrete on June 09, 2017, 10:54:35 PM
So apparently it is not possible to get close enough to the landslide to actually see it. How far from the landslide was the U-turn?

Does anyone know about the south approach - is it possible to get close enough to see it?

Pfeiffer Canyon is actually only a couple hundred feet past that the closure.  Once Sycamore Canyon Road is reopened I would imagine that the bridge replacement project would be plainly visible from CA 1.

As far as the Mud Creek Slide goes the game plan is to give the segment between there north to Paul's Slide a try Wednesday or Friday.  Granted that would be via the Nacimiento-Furgusson Road and it is subject to closure from convoys heading to Pfeiffer Canyon or from the Army training grounds at Fort Hunter Liggett.  I'm hoping that I can get a view of the Mud Creek slide, but it wouldn't surprise me if the closure is a little ways back given that it is likely really unstable.

Max Rockatansky

#3
Figured that I would link this 1935 California Division of Highways Map over of Monterey County since it is topical to this thread:

http://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~247320~5515371:Monterey-County-?sort=Pub_List_No_InitialSort%2CPub_Date%2CPub_List_No%2CSeries_No&qvq=q:california%2Bdivision%2Bof%2Bhighways;sort:Pub_List_No_InitialSort%2CPub_Date%2CPub_List_No%2CSeries_No;lc:RUMSEY~8~1&mi=48&trs=160

Interestingly CA 1 is shown as still under construction just slightly south of Pfeiffer Canyon to approximately the present junction with the Nacimeinto-Fergusson Road.   The Nacimiento-Fergusson Road is shown existing but the last 7 or so miles dropping to the coast isn't present.  Coast Road is pretty well displayed from Bixby Creek southward back to CA 1.  Interestingly it shows Coast Road possibly extending south of CA 1 pretty close to the coast line with a connector road to Point Sur.  I can't find evidence of such a road on any images I've seen, even though there is farm land I would imagine that there would be some trace of a grade.

Interestingly the 1938 State Highway Map shows the Nacimiento-Fergusson Road being completed by 1938:

http://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~239588~5511892:Road-Map-of-the-State-of-California?sort=Pub_List_No_InitialSort%2CPub_Date%2CPub_List_No%2CSeries_No&qvq=q:caltrans;sort:Pub_List_No_InitialSort%2CPub_Date%2CPub_List_No%2CSeries_No;lc:RUMSEY~8~1&mi=69&trs=86

That being the case the opening of CA 1 through Big Sur and the Nacimiento-Fergusson Road were pretty close together it seems.  Kind of dumb luck that it happened when it did because I don't think it would have been possible after 1940 when Fort Hunter Liggett established.

Speaking of the Nacimiento-Fergusson Road the only reliable information I've been able to find on closures stats is on the blog for BigSurKate:

https://bigsurkate.blog/

That said, I would highly caution that any advice you might see on her site seems to be coming from someone who has a lot of opinions and could possibly be really short on facts.   It seems like the locals in Big Sur kind of have some severe island fever going on and really haven't been too tolerant of tourism since the slides this winter.   BUT.....I wouldn't find it far fetched to assume people who are currently using the Nacimiento-Fergusson Road these days aren't exactly the variety who would commonly use it if the present mudslides aren't around. 

Technically for Nacimiento-Fergusson Road information you are supposed to be able to call Fort Hunter Liggett here for information:

http://www.liggett.army.mil/sites/local/home.php

If you call the number provided for traveling through Fort Hunter Liggett they direct you to extension 3787.  I'm assuming that the number is for the Watch Commander but I haven't been able to reach anyone nor is there an option to leave a voicemail.

Los Padres National Forest just says the Nacimiento-Fergusson Road is open on there site:

https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/lpnf/alerts-notices/?cid=stelprdb5347980

I'll probably give the Forest Rangers a try Tuesday and see what information they can give me on convoys.  It seems like mot of the convoys for the Pfeiffer Canyon Bridge project have been using the Nacimiento-Fergusson Road on Wednesdays.  Since this post went all encompassing here is a link to the Nacimiento-Fergusson Road on dangerousroads.org:

http://www.dangerousroads.org/north-america/usa/4308-nacimiento-fergusson-road.html

And the video I posted on this board the other day:



I've driven the Nacimiento-Fergusson Road from the bottom to the top of the grade a couple times when CA 1 wasn't all busted up.  Honestly this one has me kind of nervous to attempt given the current state of things with the mudslides.  Most of single lane roads in the state generally have people on them that really mean to be there and know what they are doing.  The thing is now there are likely tourists and GPS types probably trying to reach Limekiln State Park.  I would imagine most people don't know how to back up on a grade or even how to use low gear...could be REALLY interesting...



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