Here is a photo taken of the slip out taken today by a reader. Thanks, Simon!
1:00 pm – IMPORTANT NOTICE! Steve Price and Caltrans has sent out a formal notice through the chamber requesting CHP begin enforcing the ban on pedestrian access across the Rocky Creek slide area. Caltrans will reevaluate conditions and access options daily, but for now, pedestrian prohibition remains in effect and will be enforced by CHP. Additionally, this is what the 1 pm PIO notice said:
“• Crews assessing the roadway have tentatively determined that it will be nearly one month until April 16 for a temporary repair to occur. All businesses along the coast on Hwy. 1 remain open. Alternate routes include Highways 101, 68 and 46. More rain is expected in the Monterey Bay Area this week. Condon-Johnson & Associates of Oakland is the contractor for this $2.5 million emergency project and is currently mobilizing for a temporary repair to allow traffic on the roadway as soon as safely possible. They plan to drill vertical soil nails tomorrow to further stabilize the remaining roadway section. It continues to be unsafe for vehicle and pedestrian traffic and remains closed to public access. Continuous updates will be provided as more information becomes available and/or conditions change.”
11:00 am – Looks like it may snow on and off all day. Whether it sticks will be the next question.
This is the most recent I have for Nacimiento-Fergusson Rd. from CHP
9:40AM TRAVEL ADVISORY IN PLACE, NOT RECOMMENDED TO TRAVELLERS
9:40AM NACIMIENTO FERGUSON FM FT HUNTER-LIGGETT TO SR1 NOT CLOSED
10:00 am – received a report that the South Coast Ridge Rd. and Nacimiento (west side only) while scattered with trees was passable. Quite slippery in spots, but my son made it out to Lucia. Whew.
AS OF 9:30 AM PDT MONDAY…RADAR IS INDC SHOWERS…SOME LOCALLY HEAVY OVER THE DISTRICT AT THIS TIME. SATL IMAGERY IS INDC THAT AN MID/UPPER LEVEL VORT IS SWING THRU CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.
SHOWERS AND A SLIGHT CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE TODAY AS AN UNSTABLE AIRMASS CONTINUES OVER THE DISTRICT. THE 12Z NAM12 IS INDC THAT THE SHOWERS WILL INCREASE THIS AFTN WITH SUN BREAKS PROVING SURFACE HEATING…THEREFORE INCREASING INSTABILITY.
Bottom line is that the first week of spring will be wet, stormy, and unpredictable.
9:00 am – blue skies visible among the clouds, snow has stopped for the moment, but have several inches on the ground.
8:30 am – Major snow event started before dawn and is continuing. It is dumping a lot of snow up here, and if this keeps up, will be up to 6 inches of accumulation in a couple of hours! PLEASE do not use Nacimiento-Fergusson Rd. unless you have serious mud/snow tires and/or chains. It is going to be a problem up near the summit, I suspect. I should have reports coming in later, but for now, if you need to go to town – choose Cambria. Thank you. At 6 am, Avis indicated there was a tree down on N-F Rd., closing it for the night, but as of right now, it is not listed on the CHP site. Despite that, please use an alternative route, it could be treacherous.
Hope you have plenty of wood, wine, candles and chocolate!! Sending warm safe thoughts your way! 🙂
Got it all and then some- including dog food!
Tzila has it right. Big Sur obviously needs to collect herself before the next onslaught of tourists (people and pine beetles) so the cold wet weather is just her way to get some R & R. I would only add a can opener, some canned comfort food and a box of matches to her list.
Who needs canned comfort food when you have plenty of chocolate?
Seriously though, Kate, you know there will be those who will come to your aid should you need it. Here’s to staying warm and dry in the snow. It should actually be quite pretty. As long as your gennie holds it together!
I drove down to Rocky Creek this morning. Hiked across to Bixby. No foot traffic controls at all. And in fact the engineering co is driving across. There was a drill truck there and they are working on the drainage but no repair work has started. You see so much more on foot. For instance a man-made wall at the base of the cliff on the south side of RCB. It is disintegrating. Also large number of cracks in the balustrades. Hiked down to the creek, too high to cross. Cala lillies everywhere!
Good to know that walking across is feasible. We were told previously it wasn’t. The calla lilies are so beautiful, aren’t they. It sounds like there are a good many places along the road that need work. All this rain will only exacerbate those cracks, and any other problems on the road. I heard of some buckling and tilting on the highway by Lucia.
I’ve been down there three times now, twice at night. This afternoon it was virtually a promenade — quite a few tourists, both those who came deliberately to see for themselves, and others who didn’t quite believe the “road closed ahead” sign coming out of Carmel. One guy in a parked car asked me as I passed him on foot: “How long do you think it will be until they let us through?” I said: “I think a couple months.”
I’m really surprised there isn’t some supervision. It’s too tempting to step over the rail guard to get “just the right camera angle.” Sooner or later someone could do something really stupid. It would be better to allow foot traffic at controlled times — more or less like the car caravans during El Nino. Maybe there could be vans shuttling people up from Big Sur, timed to meet Monterey transit buses at prescribed times?
Is Torre Engineering still around? They would have had the road open before the the 8 green jacketed Caltrans guys were done with there break time Baloney sandwiches.
sterling doughty-good to hear from you-