leather tramping cali, any suggested routes?

[meonsaor]

My partner and I, and another couple are about to tramp through California. We from the East Coast but are in Cochise County for the time being on a farm we found through WWOOF. Looking to travel for a while rather than stay at farms constantly.. Wondering if anybody has suggestions on a good route through from SoCal to Northern Cali and Oregon. Places to avoid, must see landscapes, good camping spots, couches to crash, people to meet up with... Any info will help!

 

[Tude]

Ooooo siamese kitten - Yay!!

 

[meonsaor]

She's one of our little bittys from the farm cats here in AZ. The pic is from a Farmers market we attend in Tucson!

 

[creature]

head up CA1 from SLO to Monterrey & then bus around the peninsula, jump back on CA 1 to Santa Cruz, then to Halfmoon Bay or so, then circumvent SF, if cities & traffic don't appeal to you, or just bus/BART out to Bolinas, back on the 1.. the whole road is gorgeous, & has cool little places all along the way..
avoid I-5 & 101, when possible..
northern CA 1 has a scenic section called 'avenue of the giants'.. prolly an easy hitch through it, & some beautifull spots.. then back onto 1..
there's the pacific coast trail up around there, too..

you can hit me up, on occasion.. i'm kicking around the coast, waiting for the right job to pop up (or just about any job, really), but no huge rush..

good luck!!

 

[meonsaor]

head up CA1 from SLO to Monterrey & then bus around the peninsula, jump back on CA 1 to Santa Cruz, then to Halfmoon Bay or so, then circumvent SF, if cities & traffic don't appeal to you, or just bus/BART out to Bolinas, back on the 1.. the whole road is gorgeous, & has cool little places all along the way..
avoid I-5 & 101, when possible..
northern CA 1 has a scenic section called 'avenue of the giants'.. prolly an easy hitch through it, & some beautifull spots.. then back onto 1..
there's the pacific coast trail up around there, too..

you can hit me up, on occasion.. i'm kicking around the coast, waiting for the right job to pop up (or just about any job, really), but no huge rush..

good luck!!

Thanks so much that actually helps a lot ! I will definitely stay in touch!

 

[drewski]

head up CA1 from SLO to Monterrey & then bus around the peninsula, jump back on CA 1 to Santa Cruz, then to Halfmoon Bay or so, then circumvent SF, if cities & traffic don't appeal to you, or just bus/BART out to Bolinas, back on the 1.. the whole road is gorgeous, & has cool little places all along the way..
avoid I-5 & 101, when possible..
northern CA 1 has a scenic section called 'avenue of the giants'.. prolly an easy hitch through it, & some beautifull spots.. then back onto 1..
there's the pacific coast trail up around there, too..

you can hit me up, on occasion.. i'm kicking around the coast, waiting for the right job to pop up (or just about any job, really), but no huge rush..

good luck!!

Bro knows his shit.

 

[Blu]

head up CA1 from SLO to Monterrey & then bus around the peninsula, jump back on CA 1 to Santa Cruz, then to Halfmoon Bay or so, then circumvent SF, if cities & traffic don't appeal to you, or just bus/BART out to Bolinas, back on the 1.. the whole road is gorgeous, & has cool little places all along the way..
avoid I-5 & 101, when possible..
northern CA 1 has a scenic section called 'avenue of the giants'.. prolly an easy hitch through it, & some beautifull spots.. then back onto 1..
there's the pacific coast trail up around there, too..

you can hit me up, on occasion.. i'm kicking around the coast, waiting for the right job to pop up (or just about any job, really), but no huge rush..

good luck!!

Agreed. If you have time and patience, see as much of the 1 as you can. Damn near everyone that's picked me up there (hitched it 3 out of the last 4 years) has been very social, interesting, and will smoke you out more often than not.

Good luck and have fun! You're about to hitch an incredibly beautiful stretch of highway!

 

[Tude]

@creature - Cool - great response

 

[meonsaor]

Awesome thanks for the awesome info everybody I was a little nervous thinking about it because I've never even been to California but I'm feeling a lot better about it now ! Another question, is it fairly easy to camp out off the side of 1? Also all we have is a bright yellow tent. We don't want to draw too much attention to ourselves anybody know of a fabric dye we could use? The tent itself is mesh netting but the rainfly bright yellow.. Should this be a problem ?

 

[meonsaor]

Agreed. If you have time and patience, see as much of the 1 as you can. Damn near everyone that's picked me up there (hitched it 3 out of the last 4 years) has been very social, interesting, and will smoke you out more often than not.

Good luck and have fun! You're about to hitch an incredibly beautiful stretch of highway!

I have all the time in the world. Don't plan on heading back east until May, figure that'll give us plenty of time to get thru Cali at least

 

[Blu]

Another question, is it fairly easy to camp out off the side of 1? Also all we have is a bright yellow tent. We don't want to draw too much attention to ourselves anybody know of a fabric dye we could use? The tent itself is mesh netting but the rainfly bright yellow.. Should this be a problem ?

I found it very easy. Some areas (Wilder State Park just north of Santa Cruz comes to mind) have thick patches of trees, brush, bushes, and so on, that are easy enough to climb into or sleep under. On that note, I never used a tent, only my sleeping bag, but I did sleep in areas where by the time I woke up, people would be walking past me on the beach and no one ever cared or hassled me. It's the 1, beach bums are expected.

If you make it to Half Moon Bay, there are shower stations set up there with hot water for a quarter (I want to say 5 minutes per 25¢). I believe there are terminals scattered along the Cali coast near the 1, but Half Moon Bay is the only location I specifically remember taking a shower at. I met the man who lobbied to have these put in place in Monterey. His name is Steve Cunsie and he looked kind of like a 70's porn star when I met him back in 2011, with the perm and the gold chain and all, but he ended up talking to me passionately about his hitching adventures back in the day and buying me lunch and putting me up in a hotel on the beach for the night. Hell of a guy, and I've been keeping an eye out for him since.

I have all the time in the world. Don't plan on heading back east until May, figure that'll give us plenty of time to get thru Cali at least

Good! Having until May could get you much farther than just through Cali, but I think you're wanting to stick around and soak up the area which is a great decision.