Prewitt Ridge, 1 or 101?

First time I'll be doing dispersed camping in Big Sur; which route is the one to take? I can take 101 to Jolon to Mission to Coast or the 1 and take Nacimiento-Fergusson to Coast?

1 would be much more scenic, but wondering if there will be any closings etc.

I saved a map on Gaia to be on the safe side.

 

101.

1 is always traffic.

 

I should've stated; traffic will be a moot point as it only adds about an hour vs going down 101.

Surprised with the little bit of traffic there was on the 1 when I went to Old Coast Rd on July 4th.

 

1. The slog over the hill on Jolon sucks.

 

I downloaded the map on Gaia GPS for Pewitt Ridge.

I've never been on Nacimiento-Fergusson so that'll be nice as well. I'll take plenty of pics as usual.

 

Nice views....this is the lookout from Prewitt Ridge Campsite. We took Nacimiento-Fergusson Rd through Hunter-Liggett. Then dropped down to the coast, hoping to make this trip a loop back to Atascadero, only to find HWY 1 closed just to the south, my mistake for not scoping the trip out better. We went back up Nac-Ferg and made it home the way we came in.

 

July 4th in the middle of the week is always slow. July 4th on a friday, saturday, sunday, or a monday is always the worst.

Tuesday-Thursday have been my go tos for single day sunroof open touring trips.

I've noticed that while not everyone heads down to Big Sur at the same time, everyone who leaves always does.

I suggest taking 1 as long as you're not going during any rush hour schedules. Heading back up anytime around sunset to two hours after sunset is going to be a mess. Might as well just stop somewhere, have dinner, take a nap, and drive back home at 11pm and shave two hours off your return trip.

 

You're right about the leaving part.

I posted a rhetorical question in another thread about taking 101 or 1 to Prewitt Ridge; Highway 1 wins.

Staying the night out there though and packing up to leave Thursday morning/afternoon; that's the beauty with having every Wed and Thur off.

I hate weekend traffic

 

Yeah, at this rate, the only way to alleviate traffic is to spread it over on the rest of the days so more people can work on weekends.

TBH, I hate that since I usually work between 9-7 M-F, the time most businesses are open, I can't go to driveline shops, real hardware stores, or see mechanics until after they close. I need more stuff to be open on weekends or after 7pm.

 

No kidding!

I get off of work and everyone is at home after having spent the day being out.

Only fortunate thing is I'm a F&I director at an automotive group; after doing a ton of mods/maintenance to my truck myself, I just don't have the time to do an oil change so getting that done now in my shop.

 

After an hour and a half down 1, I finally got to my "start" point -


Didn't take many pictures but this is the drive up Nacimiento-Fergusson. Lots of blind turns so be wary of other drivers!

When I finally made it to South Coast Ridge Rd, I saw a warning side "USE 4-WHEEL DRIVE ONLY"



Seeing as I have a two-wheel drive, I turned around and went home...

 

I pulled over and decided to air down, and since I've got 10 ply Falken's, I took it down to 20psi.

Made a world of a difference, of course.

Took some pictures going up the road to Prewitt Ridge Rd but I won't bore you guys with those.

There are some places where you can get your suspension to flex, and I took every chance I could get. There was one road that really made the truck go sideways a bit -



It's hard to see, but it's really steep and there are some deep ruts that aren't visible in the picture.

Anyway after a bit of driving, I found the perfect spot.

Behind me -



And a good ways ahead, my new spot -

 

The views were amazing!

 

The sunset was definitely the best view throughout the stay -

 

Second best views were right after we woke up and looked outside the tent -





We stuck around a little while to have breakfast and decided to head back home.

Lesson learned here; wish I had bought a bug net for the canopy! The flies weren't the biting type, but it sure was annoying as hell having them bug you every so often.

Don't forget, when you air down, you've got to air back up!

 

I will mention, the only time I needed a little help was when I was driving around the campground; I wanted to keep the dust and dirt down so I had to use my rear locker to go up a steep climb with loose dirt since I chose to crawl up it slowly.

That and when I had to do a 6-point U turn at my camp spot. Otherwise, the tires gave me all the traction I needed.

 

Subd for camps

 

Nice pictures, the place looked empty.

That sign acts like a filter to keep all the mini vans, crossovers and various hooligans out.

 

The thing is, the sign probably does more to prevent the idiots from becoming stranded when the weather turns (but before the road closes). Not that four wheel drive is any guarantee, but likely you have clearance and the added traction on your side.

You’d hope it scares some away though.

 

I plan on going back to check out the other camp sites; I will say for dispersed camping though I think I got the best view.

Funny thing about that; after being there for about an hour or two I walked up to see if anyone was there. A lifted Ford van had parked up top, out in the open and stayed the night.

At a later point, a black CRV with a Tepui RTT started driving down towards my spot, only to see me from a distance, wave, and turn back around.

Finally in the evening, a 1st gen Tacoma drives down the same little road towards my camp. Girl jumps out, takes pictures of the scenery for a bit, gets back in and leaves.

Aside from us, there were only 2 other vehicles that stayed the night.

That's good.

The roads can be pretty damn tight, and I'd hate to run into an idiot blocking the road simply because he/she shouldn't have been there in the first place.

I know if I didn't air down my tires as much as I did, I would've had to use my rear locker.