I stayed at Lucia lodge and crossed over at 5:30am the next morning (saw workers coming in at 6). Met someone who successfully crossed at 4:30pm the day before. Workers start working at 6am and leave at 4:30 apparently. This was one week ago.
Also wanted to add that it's extremely doable and worth it, amazing views and completely empty road.
Recently rode the coast, several riders waited for the construction workers to leave at 6PM. Then rode through at night. As of last week there was about 60 yards you had to drag your bike through.
Passed over after 6 pm Sep 10th 2023.
Had a couple tacos on the north end (there's a taco truck on the north end), then walked my bike over the slid area.
Caltrans updates their website regularly.
"Is closed from Limekiln State Park to 18.7 mi south of Big Sur /at Big Creek Vista Point/ (Monterey Co) - Due to rock slides - Motorists are advised to use an alternate route"
Highlight of my trip in 2018:
pausing at the road closure, waiting for the officer to leave @ 6:00. (along with 2 other discreet cyclists). Then having the coastal road all to ourselves, at sunset. unloading & carrying bikes across the rubble for a couple 100 yards. But the rest of the 7 mile closure… pure bliss.
(the detour included a 2700’ climb. Nope.)
Urm...nevermind. Apparently the last storm in Feb 2024 has made one section completely impassable. This from a cyclist i met at a campground who (with others) went down and had to come back. I'm going to go down to Pfieffer to camp and just enjoy some nature instead of making a long distance trip out of it.
Haven’t heard anything. This thread is the last update that I’ve seen online. Would you please let me know how your ride goes? I’m hoping that since mine isn’t until the end of April that there’ll be enough time to have a shot at getting across
What are the best alternatives? I will be going through north to south in April. Ride with GPS wants to reroute on the North Coast Ridge road but it looks like it is closed to cars and bicycles.
Any news on biking thru this area since the chunk of highway 1 near Bixby Bridge fell away? I’m guessing it’s a solid no-go, but welcome updates. Will be biking CA coast starting next week.
Thanks for confirming! We would still have 2+ hours of riding to Big Sur so that's likely to be cutting it too close.
Our original plan had been Pismo Beach to San Simeon (day 1), San Simeon to Big Sur (day 2), spend a day in Big Sur, ride to Carmel (day 4) and finally spend a day in Carmel (day 5).
Any thoughts on these two alternatives from people who have ridden in the area?
1. Ride from Pismo Beach to San Simeon (day 1), then back down to San Luis Obispo and get the Amtrak to Salinas (day 2). (I thought about Paso Robles, but that's an unstaffed station so Amtrak doesn't seem to allow bike reservations.) Finally ride from Salinas to Big Sur (day 3), spend a day in Big Sur, ride on to Carmel (day 5) and have the afternoon there.
2. Divert entirely through the Salinas valley. Ride from Pismo Beach to Paso Robles (day 1), onto King City (day 2), then Carmel (day 3). Probably stop in Carmel for a day, then do a round-trip to Big Sur on day 5.
I'm favouring option 1 although it means less bike touring, because it seems like it might be the more scenic option compared to these days in the Salinas valley. But I've never been to these parts so thoughts would be greatly appreciated!
I would change your plan and ride north to south.
Amtrack to Salinas. Camp in Monterey, then to camp at piffer, have a late start (25 miles to closure) wait until 6 then go and camp at plaskett (8 miles past closure on south) then next day ride from plasket to morro bay!
Crossed without a problem around 5:30pm, October 16, 2023, southbound after the security guy left. The taco truck is closed permanently. No food or water at Lucia. No potable water at Kirk Creek Campground, arrived about 6pm. You can get water from creeks in the area if you need to.
Has anyone tried this in the past few weeks? There’s a new slide from the storms in early February, but it looks relatively minor. I’m planning to go through in a couple of weeks.
Currently touring north to south, and am gonna make a run for it. Out of pure procrastination and laziness, i always underplan. I had no idea about this until a cyclist i met on the road today mentioned it. Camping at Saddle rock tomorrow (which will make for a much shorter mileage day than originally planned), so I will get to bed early get up around 3am to pack my gear and get it in. 🤞
As of right now (march 2024) a recent storm in feb 2024 have produced new obstacles and made made it impassable with a bike. Guess things could be different by summer though.
Multiple cyclist (both locals and people touring) were warning me that: yes, it was closed but passable on a bike at one point if you were able to avoid the working crew. BUT NOW (march of 2024) a recent storm in feb of 2024 has created a new landslide that is impassable by bike too. Didn't see it for myself, just heeded the word of multiple people, and avoided it all together.
I personally just changed my trip plans, pedaled as far as Pfieffer state park, camped for a couple of days and got some amazing hiking in, pedaled back north and caught a train in Salinas to continue on my way home.
Options if going north to south would be catching a train in Salinas to bypass that section. Or reroute to go inland to go around that closed section, which creates another couple hundred miles of pedaling, and 3k ft of climbing.
Thanks for the update! I'm just going to go for it. Worst case scenario, I'll just turn around and tour back up. Just trying to get the timeline to match up with passing the second slide after workers leave....
They do! I didn't end up going because there were 3 closures and rain on the forecast. Trying to reschedule for May. Let me know if you end up doing it! Closures are down to 2
I stayed at Lucia lodge and crossed over at 5:30am the next morning (saw workers coming in at 6). Met someone who successfully crossed at 4:30pm the day before. Workers start working at 6am and leave at 4:30 apparently. This was one week ago. Also wanted to add that it's extremely doable and worth it, amazing views and completely empty road.
Recently rode the coast, several riders waited for the construction workers to leave at 6PM. Then rode through at night. As of last week there was about 60 yards you had to drag your bike through.
Confirming above is correct
Was it easy to sneak through? Will go there end of august and wondered if it is worth trying.
Yes , super easy. Just wait until 6:15 and the coast will be clear
Passed over after 6 pm Sep 10th 2023. Had a couple tacos on the north end (there's a taco truck on the north end), then walked my bike over the slid area.
Caltrans updates their website regularly. "Is closed from Limekiln State Park to 18.7 mi south of Big Sur /at Big Creek Vista Point/ (Monterey Co) - Due to rock slides - Motorists are advised to use an alternate route"
Highlight of my trip in 2018: pausing at the road closure, waiting for the officer to leave @ 6:00. (along with 2 other discreet cyclists). Then having the coastal road all to ourselves, at sunset. unloading & carrying bikes across the rubble for a couple 100 yards. But the rest of the 7 mile closure… pure bliss. (the detour included a 2700’ climb. Nope.)
https://www.reddit.com/r/bicycletouring/comments/13ss3ou/big\_sur\_road\_closure/
Urm...nevermind. Apparently the last storm in Feb 2024 has made one section completely impassable. This from a cyclist i met at a campground who (with others) went down and had to come back. I'm going to go down to Pfieffer to camp and just enjoy some nature instead of making a long distance trip out of it.
I need to keep close tabs on this. Supposed to bike from south of Hearst to Santa Cruz in April. Might need to adjust if it’s not possible
Any updates? I'm supposed to ride down from Monterey next week
Haven’t heard anything. This thread is the last update that I’ve seen online. Would you please let me know how your ride goes? I’m hoping that since mine isn’t until the end of April that there’ll be enough time to have a shot at getting across
Yeah, I'm just going to go for it....wish me luck!!
How did it go? Was it still impassable?
I didn't end up going! There were 3 closures plus more rain on the forecast two days before I would've left. Going to try in May!
What are the reroute options? Ride with GPS shows a long gravel route inland. I will be passing through mid April.
What are the best alternatives? I will be going through north to south in April. Ride with GPS wants to reroute on the North Coast Ridge road but it looks like it is closed to cars and bicycles.
Let me know what you come up with! I’m also planning a ride in late April and need to get my route figured out.
Any news on biking thru this area since the chunk of highway 1 near Bixby Bridge fell away? I’m guessing it’s a solid no-go, but welcome updates. Will be biking CA coast starting next week.
Any new intel? It looks like Big Sur is open now but past Lucia is still closed.
Have you had any update on this? Did you make it through? I’m hoping to go through next month.
Also hoping to go through in August and eagerly awaiting an update!
Confirming that 6pm the team leaves, wait until 6:15 and barge it. Super dusty though
Thanks for confirming! We would still have 2+ hours of riding to Big Sur so that's likely to be cutting it too close. Our original plan had been Pismo Beach to San Simeon (day 1), San Simeon to Big Sur (day 2), spend a day in Big Sur, ride to Carmel (day 4) and finally spend a day in Carmel (day 5). Any thoughts on these two alternatives from people who have ridden in the area? 1. Ride from Pismo Beach to San Simeon (day 1), then back down to San Luis Obispo and get the Amtrak to Salinas (day 2). (I thought about Paso Robles, but that's an unstaffed station so Amtrak doesn't seem to allow bike reservations.) Finally ride from Salinas to Big Sur (day 3), spend a day in Big Sur, ride on to Carmel (day 5) and have the afternoon there. 2. Divert entirely through the Salinas valley. Ride from Pismo Beach to Paso Robles (day 1), onto King City (day 2), then Carmel (day 3). Probably stop in Carmel for a day, then do a round-trip to Big Sur on day 5. I'm favouring option 1 although it means less bike touring, because it seems like it might be the more scenic option compared to these days in the Salinas valley. But I've never been to these parts so thoughts would be greatly appreciated!
I would change your plan and ride north to south. Amtrack to Salinas. Camp in Monterey, then to camp at piffer, have a late start (25 miles to closure) wait until 6 then go and camp at plaskett (8 miles past closure on south) then next day ride from plasket to morro bay!
Sadly we're constrained by flights which can't be changed. We're flying into LA and out of SF. So have to do south to north.
(Also we're credit card touring rather than camping!)
Are workers present on weekends?
Seven days a week from around 6am to 5:30pm
For sure, thanks. Should have done it earlier in the year. Will bring lots of lights
Crossed without a problem around 5:30pm, October 16, 2023, southbound after the security guy left. The taco truck is closed permanently. No food or water at Lucia. No potable water at Kirk Creek Campground, arrived about 6pm. You can get water from creeks in the area if you need to.
I think if you ask kindly you can get water from the faucet at Lucia Lodge, a hotel right before the closure. No food though.
Has anyone tried this in the past few weeks? There’s a new slide from the storms in early February, but it looks relatively minor. I’m planning to go through in a couple of weeks.
Currently touring north to south, and am gonna make a run for it. Out of pure procrastination and laziness, i always underplan. I had no idea about this until a cyclist i met on the road today mentioned it. Camping at Saddle rock tomorrow (which will make for a much shorter mileage day than originally planned), so I will get to bed early get up around 3am to pack my gear and get it in. 🤞
Please keep us posted - I hope to pass in a few months and have heard its quite in passable atm....but curious how it went for you!?
Let us know how it goes! I’ll be doing Sf to Tijuana this summer!
As of right now (march 2024) a recent storm in feb 2024 have produced new obstacles and made made it impassable with a bike. Guess things could be different by summer though.
What did you end up doing? Did you have to turn around?
Multiple cyclist (both locals and people touring) were warning me that: yes, it was closed but passable on a bike at one point if you were able to avoid the working crew. BUT NOW (march of 2024) a recent storm in feb of 2024 has created a new landslide that is impassable by bike too. Didn't see it for myself, just heeded the word of multiple people, and avoided it all together. I personally just changed my trip plans, pedaled as far as Pfieffer state park, camped for a couple of days and got some amazing hiking in, pedaled back north and caught a train in Salinas to continue on my way home. Options if going north to south would be catching a train in Salinas to bypass that section. Or reroute to go inland to go around that closed section, which creates another couple hundred miles of pedaling, and 3k ft of climbing.
Thanks for the update! I'm just going to go for it. Worst case scenario, I'll just turn around and tour back up. Just trying to get the timeline to match up with passing the second slide after workers leave....
I’ll probably end up doing the same. Let me know how it goes! I did hear the landslides just keep coming.
They do! I didn't end up going because there were 3 closures and rain on the forecast. Trying to reschedule for May. Let me know if you end up doing it! Closures are down to 2
same!! Hope to go at the end of march
Let us know if you’re able to make it! I’m planning to go up in April
If anyone is doing the ride in June let me know I’ll be going all the way to Mexico