It may be a year before there’s a secure route through the scenic Big Sur coast from Southern to Northern California, Caltrans said Thursday, as experts study a landslide that is one of the most massive along the coast in decades.
And the landslide is still on the move.
But the village of Big Sur, the dead end of one of the world’s loveliest new cul-de-sacs, is open for business.
You may have rushed through Big Sur Village in the past on your way down Highway 1 to Los Angeles. Now it’s as far as you’ll get if you’re driving south down Highway 1 from the Bay Area this Memorial Day weekend.
Two landslides and one broken bridge have closed a 30-mile stretch of coastal California frequented by the rich and famous, but things are still humming at the village’s cluster of hotels, restaurants and parks — north of the bridge closure.
“We’re open and unseasonably quiet — however, still as beautiful as ever,” said Jeanette Kenworthy, general manager of Glen Oaks Big Sur and Big Sur Roadhouse, with views that stretch from the redwood-studded hills to the banks of the Big Sur River.
“It’s the perfect time to come down and experience the blooming poppies and abundant young wildlife,” she said.
Southern access to Big Sur via Highway 1 has been cut off by landslides at Mud Creek, just south of the community of Gorda and 25 miles up Highway 1 from San Simeon.
Until this weekend, Caltrans thought it could open the route in mid-June, directing drivers over multiple small slides through a viaduct or raised roadway. But Saturday night’s massive slide — with rubble covering one-third of a mile of pavement, up to two or three stories deep — has scrapped those plans. Now Caltrans is facing a far bigger project.
“It may take up to a year before it is fully open,” said Jim Shivers, a Caltrans spokesman, although the agency may eventually be able to construct a one-lane road.
It is the second largest slide in Big Sur in the past several decades. In 1983, the road was closed for 14 months after a slide at Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park that brought down 4 million cubic yards, or 6 million tons, of rock and dirt. This slide measures 1 million cubic yards, or 1.5 million tons, but is still growing.
Because the mountain is still active, “we’re not out of the woods. It could slide again,” Shivers said. Over the next two weeks, Caltrans will use drones, aerial reconnaissance and ground-based monitoring to map the slide’s features, critical to planning for repair or replacement.
Also on Thursday, Caltrans announced that a second, smaller slide closed Route 1 at another point called Paul’s Slide, above Mud Creek.
Below Big Sur Village, you can travel south to Big Sur Ranger Station, just before the Pfeiffer Canyon Bridge. If you’re in a bus or RV, turn around at Big Sur Campground & Cabins or Fernwood Resort.
At that point, you’ll be turned around to take Highway 1 north to Highway 68 to the Highway 101 detour. Along the detour, you can visit National Steinbeck Center in Salinas, Pinnacles National Park and wine-tasting rooms in Salinas Valley, and San Antonio Mission in Jolon.
Everything that is magical about Big Sur — tall redwoods, crashing waves and a sunset so beautiful it takes your breath away — is still there.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
California State Parks’ Big Sur Sector Office: 831-667-1112
Big Sur Station: 831-667-2315.
Caltrans: 800-427-7623 or click here.
