This road closes. Slides, fires, washouts — it has been cut somewhere for a large part of the last decade. A guide that only works when the road is whole is a guide that fails exactly when people need it most.
Highway 1 is open the length of this drive — and this road is the Place Name Guide Big Sur Drive. Free, narrated by Mabel Plaskett, works with no signal. Or simulate it with the demo drive from anywhere.
Highway 1 is open. Caltrans will close it between Ventana Entrance (Post Mile 44.59) and Nepenthe, North Entrance (Post Mile 43.91) from Thursday 8 October at 11:01pm, until 6:01am Friday 9 October. One fire is still burning on this coast and one is fully contained: the Timber Fire at 25,350 acres and 90% contained (interagency record, 5 Oct 4:27pm PT), the Plaskett Fire at 29,993 acres and 100% contained (interagency record, 29 Sep 5:35pm PT). Four zones are under an Evacuation Order — all of them on the Timber Fire (Sheriff via the Cal OES layer, read 5 Oct 9:15pm PT). The closest anything is mapped to the fire is Highway 1 between Willow Creek and Jade Cove, 0.0 miles from the Plaskett Fire's edge.
Below, in order: where the road is open and shut, then a map of each fire with its perimeter, the evacuation zones and the satellite’s heat detections. The northern fire comes first. Nothing on this page is an authority — for anything you would act on, ring the Monterey County Sheriff on 831-755-3700.
What has moved in the last 48 hours
Nothing published has moved. That is a statement about what the agencies have put out, not about the fire — the quietest feed on this coast belongs to the road that has no published status at all.
The whole coast, and both fires on it
Both fires in one frame. The northern one, the Timber Fire, is above Big Sur village; the southern one, the Plaskett Fire, is above Gorda. Twenty-two miles of coast lie between their mapped edges and they have not joined. Highway 1 is open past both of them.
burned, as last mapped
Plaskett Cabin
BigSurKate locked gate — inside the mapped perimeter
back-country camp, inside the mapped perimeter
back-country camp, outside it — none of them is somewhere to go
Three public sources on one picture: the federal interagency perimeter, the
Sheriff's evacuation zones through Cal OES, the
satellite's most recent thermal detections. None of them publishes the other three. The
perimeter and the satellite are separate observations taken at different times, and each
carries its own stamp above — on this fire the newer of the two has more than once been
the satellite.
The two fires, and what they are near
The northern one, the Timber Fire, is above Big Sur village. The southern one, the Plaskett Fire, is above Gorda. They are twenty-two miles apart and have not joined; they are one road closure because between them they cut the same stretch of Highway 1. On each map the shaded outline is the last mapped perimeter, the orange cells are what the satellite last saw burning, and the coloured areas are evacuation zones. Each map carries the age of its own outline, which is the number to judge it by.
burned, as last mapped
back-country camp, inside the mapped perimeter
back-country camp, outside it — none of them is somewhere to go
Three public sources on one picture: the federal interagency perimeter, the
Sheriff's evacuation zones through Cal OES, the
satellite's most recent thermal detections. None of them publishes the other three. The
perimeter and the satellite are separate observations taken at different times, and each
carries its own stamp above — on this fire the newer of the two has more than once been
the satellite.
burned, as last mapped
foot trail or old track — Silver Peak Wilderness, no vehicles, and nothing here is a way in
Plaskett Cabin
BigSurKate locked gate — inside the mapped perimeter
back-country camp, inside the mapped perimeter
back-country camp, outside it — none of them is somewhere to go
Three public sources on one picture: the federal interagency perimeter, the
Sheriff's evacuation zones through Cal OES, the
satellite's most recent thermal detections. None of them publishes the other three. The
perimeter and the satellite are separate observations taken at different times, and each
carries its own stamp above — on this fire the newer of the two has more than once been
the satellite.
Where the road is open, and where it is not
Highway 1 is open end to end. You can drive Carmel to San Simeon, and the coast is one road again — the three stretches below are how people describe it, not places it is cut. Expect one-way traffic control where crews are working.
Operators on the Coast
Everyone who runs something on this coast — lodges, restaurants, stores, campgrounds, fuel — set down the road north to south and coloured by whether you can use them today: green open, amber open in part, red shut. 55 on the map, 52 of them linked to the operator’s own site; tap a name to go there.
Schematic. Coordinates marked 'repo' are the ones already carried in the route data; the rest are placed by hand to show the shape of the problem. Do not navigate by this.
One fire is still burning and one is fully contained, not yet declared out. Neither closes Highway 1. What still closes is the ground either side: the Forest Service's fire-area order (05-07-51-26-11), the county's closure of Nacimiento-Fergusson Road, Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park and four Evacuation Order zones.
Holt Hanley posts a daily video walking the Plaskett Fire's map — where it moved overnight, what the infrared flights show, what the weather is about to do, and where the fire is likely to go — in plain language, from the same public data this page reads. This site carries the current record; his briefings teach you to see why it moves. Watch him, then read the maps here with better eyes.
Recommended by Bill Alderson, whose family ground the Plaskett Fire burned over. An independent analyst, not an agency.
About five miles south-east of Big Sur, inside the 2016 Soberanes scar, spreading north-west toward Ventana Double Cone and the upper Carmel River basin, north up Lion Creek, and east into the forks of the Big Sur River.
Highway 1 past this fire — Point Sur, Big Sur village, Nepenthe, Esalen — is open, with one-way control at work zones along it and one night of full closure between Ventana and Nepenthe on Thursday 8 October. The ground beside it is not all clear: the Sheriff still has Evacuation Orders on four zones inland of the highway (the nearest about 720 metres from it, above the Big Sur River valley), Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park is closed and Andrew Molera is open only in part, on State Parks' own notices.
Immediate threat to life. A lawful order to LEAVE NOW; the area is lawfully closed to public access.
Evacuation WARNING
Potential threat to life or property. Anyone needing extra time, and anyone with pets or livestock, should go now.
Issued by the Monterey County Sheriff's Office.
Follow the directions of public safety officials and the official channels. If this page and the Sheriff disagree, the Sheriff is right. Zone status can change in minutes and this page cannot.
Where: About five miles south-east of Big Sur, inside the 2016 Soberanes scar, spreading north-west toward Ventana Double Cone and the upper Carmel River basin, north up Lion Creek, and east into the forks of the Big Sur River.
Road: Highway 1 past this fire — Point Sur, Big Sur village, Nepenthe, Esalen — is open, with one-way control at work zones along it and one night of full closure between Ventana and Nepenthe on Thursday 8 October. The ground beside it is not all clear: the Sheriff still has Evacuation Orders on four zones inland of the highway (the nearest about 720 metres from it, above the Big Sur River valley), Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park is closed and Andrew Molera is open only in part, on State Parks' own notices.
As of source: Size and containment from the WFIGS incident record modified 4:27pm PDT on 5 October 2026: 25,350 acres, 90% contained, managed by a Type 3 incident commander. CAL FIRE's feed, updated 10:11am PDT on 5 October: 25,351.9 acres, 90%. InciWeb, updated an hour before it was read: 25,350 acres, 90%; its 4 October update gave 88%. All read at about 9:15pm PDT on Monday 5 October 2026 (04:15 UTC on the 6th).
Separation note: The two fires have not joined. At their closest the mapped perimeters are 22.6 miles apart — Timber above Big Sur village, Plaskett above Gorda.
Location — note: The same federal record carries InitialLatitude 35.929352, -121.383821, which is twenty miles south and inside the Plaskett Fire's burn — not a plausible origin for a fire discovered on 8 August in the Ventana. The point geometry is used here and the initial-position fields are not.
Personnel source: WFIGS incident record, TotalIncidentPersonnel 592, read at about 9:15pm PDT on Monday 5 October 2026 (04:15 UTC on the 6th).
Perimeter — nearest note: Distances are the shortest line from the mapped perimeter to each point, measured to the edges of the outline rather than to its corners, from the coordinates recorded in distance_points. This outline was flown at 5:20pm on 15 September and encloses 25,350 acres; every distance was rechecked against it on 6 October 2026 by tools/check-fire-distances.py.
Evacuation — highway 1: Highway 1 itself runs through none of the four. Tested against the zone polygons and OpenStreetMap's line for Highway 1: the nearest is MRY-F023-B, about 720 metres inland of the highway near Pfeiffer Big Sur, then F015-B 1.6 km, F015-C 2.9 km and D082 8.3 km.
Evacuation — order means: Immediate threat to life. A lawful order to LEAVE NOW; the area is lawfully closed to public access.
Evacuation — warning means: Potential threat to life or property. Anyone needing extra time, and anyone with pets or livestock, should go now.
Evacuation — closing: Follow the directions of public safety officials and the official channels. If this page and the Sheriff disagree, the Sheriff is right. Zone status can change in minutes and this page cannot.
Distance: Roughly twenty miles north of the Plaskett Fire.
About that acreage: 25,350 acres and 90% contained on the interagency record (WFIGS, modified 4:27pm PDT on 5 October 2026), read at about 9:15pm PDT on Monday 5 October 2026 (04:15 UTC on the 6th). Fire behaviour on the record: minimal.
Straight-line distance from the mapped fire edge, as last published
Big Sur village0.27 mi
Nepenthe0.4 mi
Henry Miller Library0.48 mi
Post Ranch, MM 44.50.79 mi
Julia Pfeiffer Burns, MM 373.13 mi
Point Sur5.99 mi
Little Sur River Bridge (PM 56.1)6.43 mi
The perimeter is a floor. It was mapped at 5:20pm on 15 September and the fire may have grown since, so every figure here is the furthest it could be, not the nearest.
Reported 2026-10-05 16:27
Since 26 Aug
Plaskett Fire
29,993 acres · 100% contained
Forest Road 23S10, east of Los Burros Road, Plaskett. The origin is 35.90356, -121.41472 — about a mile from the old Los Burros mining ground and the Plaskett family's Ocean View claim, two and a half miles from Gorda and three from Plaskett Creek.
Highway 1 runs through this fire's ground and is open. The fire is mapped across the highway between Willow Creek and Jade Cove, so you drive through burned ground here. Los Padres Forest Order 05-07-51-26-11, in force until 31 January 2027, closes the forest east of the highway and the ridge roads; the beaches and day-use sites west of it are outside the new order, but the Forest Service's own pages still list them as shut. Ring the Forest Service on 805-968-6640 before you count on any of them.
Evacuation ORDER
Immediate threat to life. A lawful order to LEAVE NOW; the area is lawfully closed to public access.
Evacuation WARNING
Potential threat to life or property. Anyone needing extra time, and anyone with pets or livestock, should go now.
Issued by the Monterey County Sheriff's Office.
Follow the directions of public safety officials and the official channels. If this page and the Sheriff disagree, the Sheriff is right. Zone status can change in minutes and this page cannot.
Forest Order 05-07-51-26-11: Los Padres National Forest closes the Timber and Plaskett fire area, the National Forest land, roads and trails described in its Exhibit A, by Forest Order 05-07-51-26-11, signed 25 September 2026 and in force from 26 September 2026 until 31 January 2027 — an end date now, where the order it replaced ran until both fires were declared out. It lifts sooner only if the Forest Service rescinds it. WHAT CHANGED ON THE COAST: the new boundary runs along the eastern edge of Highway 1 on the south coast, not the mean high tide line, so the Forest Service land west of the highway — the beach day-use sites and Kirk Creek Campground — is no longer inside the closed area. East of the highway the closure stands, with a cut-out at Pacific Valley between the section 18/19 line and Plaskett Ridge Road, and the ridge roads, Nacimiento-Fergusson and the inland trails are named in its Exhibits C and D.
More on this fire
Where: Forest Road 23S10, east of Los Burros Road, Plaskett. The origin is 35.90356, -121.41472 — about a mile from the old Los Burros mining ground and the Plaskett family's Ocean View claim, two and a half miles from Gorda and three from Plaskett Creek.
Road: Highway 1 runs through this fire's ground and is open. The fire is mapped across the highway between Willow Creek and Jade Cove, so you drive through burned ground here. Los Padres Forest Order 05-07-51-26-11, in force until 31 January 2027, closes the forest east of the highway and the ridge roads; the beaches and day-use sites west of it are outside the new order, but the Forest Service's own pages still list them as shut. Ring the Forest Service on 805-968-6640 before you count on any of them.
As of source: Size and containment from the WFIGS incident record modified 5:35pm PDT on 29 September 2026: 29,993 acres, 100% contained, fire behaviour 'Minimal', no fire-out date. CAL FIRE's incident feed, updated 8:32am PDT on 1 October: 30,124 acres, 100%. InciWeb's own page still showed 99% and an estimated containment date of 1 October, last updated five days before it was read. All read at about 9:15pm PDT on Monday 5 October 2026 (04:15 UTC on the 6th).
Personnel source: WFIGS incident record, TotalIncidentPersonnel 344, read at about 9:15pm PDT on Monday 5 October 2026 (04:15 UTC on the 6th).
When this ground last burned — headline: A fifth of this fire is running on fuel that has not burned since 1970.
When this ground last burned — note: Sampling the ground inside the perimeter and asking, for each point, when it last burned. IMPORTANT: these percentages were computed against the 30 August outline of 15,478 acres. The fire grew to its final 29,993 acres after that, and the shape changed completely, so the proportions below describe the older, smaller footprint and have not been recomputed. The place names and their last-burn dates are unaffected.
2000 PLASKETT 2 35.7% of the burn 26 years ago
1996 WILD 30.9% 30 years ago
1970 BUCKEYE 21.0% 56 years ago
1985 unnamed 4.6% 41 years ago
1930 and earlier 3.4% 96 years and more
never mapped 4.3%
So this is not one landscape with one age. Two thirds of it burned within the last thirty years. But 21% of it — better than three thousand acres — last burned in the Buckeye Fire of September 1970, the fire that took what was left of the miners' cabins at Manchester. Add the ground with no mapped fire at all and 29% of this burn is carrying half a century or more of fuel.
That is the honest version of a thing people say about this coast. Fifty-six years is a real number and it belongs to a fifth of this fire, not to all of it.
When this ground last burned — place note: The ground under the Plaskett Cabin carries no mapped fire at all, back to 1912 when the record starts. Nor does Gorda. The fire came within 850 feet of a place with no history of burning in anything anybody has mapped.
Perimeter — nearest note: Distances are the shortest line from the mapped perimeter to each point, measured to the edges of the outline rather than to its corners, from the coordinates recorded in distance_points. This outline was flown at 1:44pm on 14 September and encloses 29,993 acres, the fire's final mapped edge at 100% contained. It maps the burned ground ACROSS Highway 1 between Willow Creek and Jade Cove; Pacific Valley stands 0.76 miles from the line and Sand Dollar Beach 0.26. Every figure was rechecked against this outline on 6 October 2026.
Evacuation — changed: By 29 September every Plaskett Fire zone had been lifted: no Order and no Warning remains on this fire.
Evacuation — order means: Immediate threat to life. A lawful order to LEAVE NOW; the area is lawfully closed to public access.
Evacuation — warning means: Potential threat to life or property. Anyone needing extra time, and anyone with pets or livestock, should go now.
Evacuation — closing: Follow the directions of public safety officials and the official channels. If this page and the Sheriff disagree, the Sheriff is right. Zone status can change in minutes and this page cannot.
Evacuation — county wide note: Five were added in that window — F014, F016, F017, G015 and G016 — and F015-A, F016, F017, F020 and G016 are Orders while F018 and F019 moved to Shelter In Place. Those are the Timber Fire's zones north of here, not this fire's, but they show the direction of travel.
Evacuation — reference points — method: Our own reference points tested against the zone polygons read from the Cal OES layer read at about 9:15pm PDT on Monday 5 October 2026 (04:15 UTC on the 6th). Point-in-polygon, not a landmark reading.
Forest order — exhibit a: Exhibit A, the closed-area description, read 6 October 2026. On the south coast the boundary runs 'along the eastern edge of Highway 1', from the Salmon Creek Trail (6E11) trailhead north to Plaskett Ridge Road (23S02.4), and again from the section line between Sections 18 and 19 north to Limekiln State Park. The South Coast Ridge Road (20S05.6) and the Salmon Creek Trail form the southern edge, with the closed area to their north.
Forest order — exhibit b: Exhibit B, the map, read 6 October 2026: the shading stops at Highway 1 along the south coast; the strip west of the highway is unshaded.
Forest order — penalty: Up to $5,000 for an individual or six months’ imprisonment, 16 U.S.C. § 551 and 18 U.S.C. §§ 3559, 3571, 3581.
Forest order — signed: The Deputy Forest Supervisor, Los Padres National Forest, executed at Santa Barbara, California, 25 September 2026.
Forest order — kept at: /mnt/storage/masters/orders/forest-order-05-07-51-26-11.pdf
Forest order — exceptions: Three, in the order's own words: officers and organized rescue or firefighting forces on official duty; owners, lessees and residents of private land inside, to reach it, 'unless the area is under evacuation order by the Monterey County Sheriff or California Office of Emergency Management'; and holders of a Forest Service permit, form FS-7700-48.
Forest order — which closure: THREE CLOSURES WERE IN FORCE HERE AND THEY ARE NOT THE SAME THING. The Sheriff closed public access by evacuation order under Penal Code 409.5; every zone on this fire had been lifted by 29 September. The Forest Service closed National Forest land, and that one stands: Forest Order 05-07-51-26-11, signed 25 September, runs to 31 January 2027 and now stops at the eastern edge of Highway 1 on this coast. Read on the Los Padres alerts page 6 October 2026.
Forest order — who can lift it: Monterey Ranger District, Los Padres National Forest — 831-385-5434, Monday to Friday 8:00am to 4:30pm. They issued this order and they are the only body that can rescind it. Ask whether it still stands; if they say it is lifted this page will say so the same day.
Forest order — confirmed by telephone: Its successor, 05-07-51-26-11, has not been asked about by telephone; its own text and end date are what this page relies on.
Forest order — why still: The order gives its own reason: public safety in the fire area. The Timber Fire is 90% contained and still has crews on it, and the burned slopes above the inland roads and trails are the hazard once the rains come. Its end date is 31 January 2027.
Forest order — settled — asked: Read from the signed order, 6 October 2026
Forest order — settled — answer: In force until 31 January 2027, by its own text.
Forest order — settled — what reopens it: The Forest Service rescinding or replacing the order. Its own site pages, not the order, say whether a beach or campground west of the highway is open.
Forest order — settled — stop asking until: the Forest Service publishes new guidance or the order's end date. Watched by tools/check-forest-guidance.py.
Whose fire it is: US Forest Service — Los Padres National Forest, unified command. Not a CAL FIRE incident, though CAL FIRE crews are working it and CAL FIRE publishes the figures.
Cause: Under investigation.
About that acreage: 29,993 acres and 100% contained on the interagency record (WFIGS, modified 5:35pm PDT on 29 September 2026), read at about 9:15pm PDT on Monday 5 October 2026 (04:15 UTC on the 6th). CAL FIRE's feed agrees on 100% contained, at 30,124 acres, updated 8:32am PDT on 1 October. Neither record gives a date the fire was declared out, so this page says contained, not out.
Straight-line distance from the mapped fire edge, as last published
Highway 1 between Willow Creek and Jade Cove0.0 mi
Plaskett Cabin0.16 mi
Sand Dollar Beach0.26 mi
Highway 1 at Plaskett Creek0.32 mi
Plaskett Creek Campground0.46 mi
Jade Cove0.47 mi
Pacific Valley0.76 mi
Gorda1.17 mi
Kirk Creek and the Nacimiento-Fergusson turning2.48 mi
Measured to the fire's final mapped edge, mapped at 1:44pm on 14 September; the fire is fully contained.
Reported 2026-09-29 17:35
Zones are printed above only where we have the
Sheriff's own notice, with the time it was issued. They change through
the day, and which zone a particular place sits in is a question only the
map answers.
alertmry.org →
·
County
emergency →
Highway 1 is open end to end — you can drive Carmel to San Simeon. Expect one-way traffic control at work zones all along the coast: round the clock at Rocky Creek Bridge, at the slide north of Point Sur Light and at Mud Creek, and by day on weekdays at Big Creek, Dolan Point, Sycamore Draw to Torre Canyon, Ventana to Nepenthe, Limekiln Creek Bridge and near the Big Sur State Park entrance. Caltrans will close the road completely between Ventana and Nepenthe on the night of Thursday 8 October, 11:01pm to 6:01am Friday, for drainage work.
Cause: No closure is in effect. Neither fire holds a gate on Highway 1; the one full closure announced is a single night of drainage work at Ventana. The closure runs from no closure reported
to no closure reported. Reopening: What would change it: only Caltrans shuts this road. The burn scars above it are the thing to watch once the rains come: Caltrans said at the reopening that recently burned ground is vulnerable to flooding and debris flows.
Is Highway 1 open?
YES
Highway 1 is open end to end.
Closing Thursday 8 October at 11:01pm, until 6:01am Friday 9 OctoberConfirmed by CaltransA 0.68-mile hard closure, Ventana Entrance (Post Mile 44.59) to Nepenthe, North Entrance (Post Mile 43.91). A full closure of both lanes for one night, 0.68 miles between Ventana and Nepenthe. Through that night there is no way past it on Highway 1: Nepenthe, Deetjen's and everything south of it cannot be reached from Big Sur village, and Ventana, Post Ranch and the village cannot be reached from the south. The same stretch carries a temporary signal for bridge work through 6 November.Caltrans Lane Closure System, District 5, closure C1HD, 'Full', type of work 'Drainage Work', record time 8:53pm on 5 October 2026: begin Ventana Entrance, Post Mile 44.59; end Nepenthe (North Entrance), Post Mile 43.91; all lanes of two; 2026-10-08 23:01 to 2026-10-09 06:01. Read directly read at about 9:10pm PDT on Monday 5 October 2026.
Drive it — free
Take my grandmother along
Highway 1 is open end to end, and it happens to be the family's old drive. Our free guide plays Mabel Plaskett's stories through your phone as you reach each place — 38 stops, Carmel to San Simeon, either direction, and it works with no signal once downloaded. Every stop on it is reachable again.
Download while you have signal. Far from the coast, the same link offers a demo drive from wherever you are.
Checked automatically—no change found
Reviewed by a person2026-10-06
Those are two different things. The automatic check runs at
9 AM and 9 PM Central and can only ever add caution — it is not
permitted to reopen a road or to refresh the review date. Only a person can do
that, which is why the second date moves more slowly than the first.
Restrictions in force right now
Straight from Caltrans, not summarised
one-way control
In force 24 hours a day · In force until 6:00 AM on 11/30/26 · Cause: construction
1-way controlled traffic 15.7 mi south of Monterey /at Rocky Creek Bridge/ (Monterey Co) 24 hrs a day 7 days a week thru 0600 hrs on 11/30/26 - Due to construction
one-way control
Cause: emergency work
1-way controlled traffic at Mud Creek (Monterey Co) from 0630 hrs to 1200 hrs Monday thru Friday thru 11/13/26 - Due to emergency work
one-way control
Cause: maintenance
1-way controlled traffic at various locations from Highland Dr to Spindrift Rd /in Caramel Highlands/ (Monterey Co) from 0900 hrs to 1500 hrs Monday thru Friday thru 10/9/26 - Due to maintenance
one-way control
Cause: construction
1-way controlled traffic at various locations from Rat Creek to Dolan Creek Bridge (Monterey Co) from 0700 hrs to 1900 hrs Monday thru Friday thru 10/9/26 - Due to construction
one-way control
Cause: construction
1-way controlled traffic at various locations from Sycamore Draw Bridge to Torre Canyon Bridge (Monterey Co) from 0645 hrs to 0515 hrs Monday thru Friday thru 10/9/26 - Due to construction
Every closure since 2017, counted
How much of each
year this road was cut, what caused it, and how long it lasted.
Checked automatically at 9 AM and 9 PMCaltrans reported as of Thursday, October 8th, 2026 at 07:11 AM
This page has not been checked recently. A scheduled check has been missed, so what
follows may be out of date. Do not act on it — call Caltrans on 1-800-427-7623 or open
QuickMap before you drive.
What Caltrans is reporting for this stretch, in their words
No closures reported on Highway 1, US-101, CA-46 or CA-68 in this stretch.
Also in effect
1-way controlled traffic 15.7 mi south of Monterey /at Rocky Creek Bridge/ (Monterey Co) 24 hrs a day 7 days a week thru 0600 hrs on 11/30/26 - Due to construction
1-way controlled traffic at Mud Creek (Monterey Co) from 0630 hrs to 1200 hrs Monday thru Friday thru 11/13/26 - Due to emergency work
1-way controlled traffic at various locations from Highland Dr to Spindrift Rd /in Caramel Highlands/ (Monterey Co) from 0900 hrs to 1500 hrs Monday thru Friday thru 10/9/26 - Due to maintenance
1-way controlled traffic at various locations from Rat Creek to Dolan Creek Bridge (Monterey Co) from 0700 hrs to 1900 hrs Monday thru Friday thru 10/9/26 - Due to construction
1-way controlled traffic at various locations from Sycamore Draw Bridge to Torre Canyon Bridge (Monterey Co) from 0645 hrs to 0515 hrs Monday thru Friday thru 10/9/26 - Due to construction
Before you come
This coast has a temperament. Match it.
Be patient when it goes wrong, and it will. Roads close. Slides come down, fires start, bridges wash out, and the coast gets cut in half with no notice and no timeline. When that happens, the person in front of you at the counter has been living with it for years — it is their commute, their business, sometimes their home. They did not cause it and they cannot fix it. Getting angry at them about a road is the worst thing a visitor can do here, and it is remembered.
These are acts of God, and nobody here is in charge of them. The fire, the slide, the flood, the fog that hides the view you drove six hours for — none of it is anybody's fault, and none of it takes bookings. The coast does what it does. The people who have stayed here have made peace with that, and the visitors who enjoy it most are the ones who arrive already holding their plans loosely.
Reached from Carmel — US-101 to Salinas, then CA-68 over to Monterey
Point Lobos
Bixby Bridge
Point Sur Light
Big Sur village
Pfeiffer Big Sur
Post Ranch and Ventana
Nepenthe
Henry Miller Memorial Library
Deetjen's
Partington Cove
Julia Pfeiffer Burns and McWay Falls
Lucia
Limekiln
Middle coast
Open
Kirk Creek south through Gorda to the San Luis Obispo County Line
Open, and reached along the coast road from either end: Carmel in the north, San Simeon in the south.
Pacific Valley
Kirk Creek
Plaskett Creek
Sand Dollar Beach
Treebones
Gorda
South segment
Open
Ragged Point, San Simeon and south — outside Monterey County altogether
Reached from San Simeon — US-101 at Paso Robles, then CA-46 west to the coast
Ragged Point
San Simeon
Two ways onto the coast
Normally three: two ends and a middle. King City is no use while this closure stands, because it lands inside it.
Carmel
US-101 to Salinas, then CA-68 over to Monterey
reaches the north segment
San Simeon
US-101 at Paso Robles, then CA-46 west to the coast
reaches the south segment
King City
You can drive in from Jolon across Fort Hunter Liggett, but the western half is shut: Los Padres Forest Order 05-07-51-26-11 closes it (Forest Road 22S01) until 31 January 2027, and Monterey County carries the entire road closed since 30 August, until further notice. It lands at Kirk Creek, MM 21, which is open road — but you cannot get there this way. (Crossing status last verified 6 October 2026: the western half from the forest order and the county's road layer, the Army's half by telephone to its desk. Its Emergency Info page, home.army.mil/liggett/about/Garrison/public-affairs/Emergency-Info, says "Nacimiento-Ferguson and Del Venturi Roads are now open" (page last modified 24 September 2026, read 8 October 2026) — written two days before Forest Order 05-07-51-26-11 closed the western half, and the Army's word only for its own half.)
reaches the middle
Nacimiento-Fergusson Road
The only road across the Santa Lucia Range between Monterey and Cambria.
24.5 micoast to Jolon
2,780′summit
7.6%average grade
11.5%steepest
West end at Highway 1 at Kirk Creek Bridge, east end at Mission Road at Jolon.
Reopened 15 November 2024, after nearly four years closed by the Dolan Fire.
Closed. CLOSED. The western half, from Highway 1 at Kirk Creek up to the Fort Hunter Liggett boundary, is shut on two published government sources read 6 October 2026 (9:27pm PDT on the 5th): Monterey County Public Works' road-closure layer carries the entire road closed since 30 August 2026, until further notice, for the Timber Fire; and Los Padres Forest Order 05-07-51-26-11 closes Forest Road 22S01 until 31 January 2027. With that half shut there is no through route, whatever the eastern half is. The Army's half, across Fort Hunter Liggett to Jolon, is open: its desk said so by telephone on 6 October 2026. Its Emergency Info page, home.army.mil/liggett/about/Garrison/public-affairs/Emergency-Info, says "Nacimiento-Ferguson and Del Venturi Roads are now open" (page last modified 24 September 2026, read 8 October 2026) — written two days before Forest Order 05-07-51-26-11 closed the western half, and the Army's word only for its own half. Ring 831-386-2513 to be sure of the gates. Highway 1 at the western end is a different road and is open.
Closed by the Forest Service order, not by fire. The western half is shut by the Forest Service's order, in force until 31 January 2027, which closes Forest Road 22S01 for public safety in the Timber and Plaskett fire area; the Monterey County road-closure layer carries the same road closed for its entire length. The fire beside it, the Plaskett, is 100% contained, so the order is about the burned ground and the repair work, not about flame. It lifts when the Forest Service says so.
Los Padres Forest Order 05-07-51-26-11, signed 25 September 2026, read 6 October 2026; Monterey County Public Works' road-closure layer, read the same day.
It is the one place you can enter or leave this coast in the middle instead of at an end. It is still closed as a through route: the western half is shut: Los Padres Forest Order 05-07-51-26-11 closes it (Forest Road 22S01) until 31 January 2027, and Monterey County carries the entire road closed since 30 August, until further notice. The Army's half, across Fort Hunter Liggett to Jolon, is open: its desk said so by telephone on 6 October 2026. Its Emergency Info page, home.army.mil/liggett/about/Garrison/public-affairs/Emergency-Info, says "Nacimiento-Ferguson and Del Venturi Roads are now open" (page last modified 24 September 2026, read 8 October 2026) — written two days before Forest Order 05-07-51-26-11 closed the western half, and the Army's word only for its own half. The junction sits at Kirk Creek, MM 21, on open highway; the road east from it is shut. (Crossing status last verified 6 October 2026: the western half from the forest order and the county's road layer, the Army's half by telephone to its desk. Its Emergency Info page, home.army.mil/liggett/about/Garrison/public-affairs/Emergency-Info, says "Nacimiento-Ferguson and Del Venturi Roads are now open" (page last modified 24 September 2026, read 8 October 2026) — written two days before Forest Order 05-07-51-26-11 closed the western half, and the Army's word only for its own half.)
↑ North
Limekiln, New Camaldoli Hermitage, Lucia
as far as Carmel — open road; it is the crossing east that is shut
↓ South
Mill Creek, Pacific Valley, Sand Dollar, Plaskett Creek, Gorda, Treebones
as far as You can drive straight through. Nacimiento-Fergusson, the road east from this junction, is closed.
→ East
Nacimiento-Fergusson over the summit to Jolon, then King City or Bradley
as far as closed at the forest boundary — Forest Order 05-07-51-26-11, read 6 October 2026
And it puts you back on US-101 at either end — Jolon is a fork, not a
dead end.
Left (north-east) at JolonJolon Road to King CityUS-101 north, for Salinas, Monterey and the Bay
Right (south-east) at Jolonthrough Lockwood and BradleyUS-101 south at Paso Robles, for the Central Valley and Los Angeles
Who can close this road
Four separate bodies can shut this road and they do not publish in the same place, in the same form, or on the same clock. Asking 'is it open' of any one of them answers only their own segment.
US Forest Service — Los Padres National Forestmachine-readable
Owns the western portion. The Forest Service designates it Forest Road 22S01 and issues orders governing it — its roadside camping prohibition names "Nacimiento-Fergusson Road (Forest Road No. 22S01), from its intersection with State Highway 1 then east for 12 miles", effective 6 September 2025 to 5 September 2027. A body that numbers a road and regulates conduct on it by order is the body that can close it.
Says so: Forest orders, published in full as text on the forest's alert page — order number, end date, the closed roads in Exhibit C and a 'Last updated' date — with the signed PDF and the Exhibit B map attached. tools/check-crossing-status.py reads it every cycle.
Forest Order 05-07-51-26-11, signed 25 September 2026 and in force until 31 January 2027, names Forest Road 22S01 Nacimiento-Fergusson, with its spurs 22S01A to C, among the roads it closes. Read on the alert page 6 October 2026 at 2:47pm PT; the page was last updated 5 October.
Monterey County Public Worksmachine-readable
Maintains and manages the road under contract with the Forest Service — the equipment and the staff are the county's. In practice this is the body that closes it for storm damage and washouts.
Says so: The Road Closures & Traffic Advisory layer, a public ArcGIS feature service that needs no key, and a road-conditions web page that returns 403 to automated clients.
Nacimiento-Fergusson is on the layer, read 6 October 2026: 'Entire road 08-30-26 Until further notice — Timber Fire — Emergency'. Los Burros Road and Plaskett Ridge Road are on it too, on the same terms.
Fort Hunter Liggett — US Armynot machine-readable
The eastern descent crosses the installation, and the Army closes it in its own name. Not inferred from ownership — it is the documented, repeated practice of the garrison, announced by its own Public Affairs Office and enforced on the ground by Military Police.
Says so: By telephone, 831-386-2513, 24 hours; and on its Emergency Info page, home.army.mil/liggett/about/Garrison/public-affairs/Emergency-Info, whose road notice (last modified 24 September 2026, read 8 October 2026) is the Army's word for its own half only: it names no limits and predates Forest Order 05-07-51-26-11, which shut the western half from 26 September. The front page carries only a Caltrans referral.
OPEN on its own half. Fort Hunter Liggett's 24-hour desk, asked by telephone by Bill Alderson on 6 October 2026, said Nacimiento-Fergusson Road is open on the Army's side and closed on the other, the Forest Service's western twelve miles. It can shut its gates for training with no notice; its desk on 831-386-2513 answers 24 hours.
831-386-2513 (the Army's half last confirmed by telephone to this desk on 6 October 2026; its Emergency Info page agrees for that half, last modified 24 September 2026)
Monterey County Sheriffmachine-readable
An evacuation order closes an area to public access as a matter of law, whatever any road notice says. This overrides everything above.
Says so: The Cal OES California Evacuation Aggregation Layer, which carries zone polygons and live status.
No zone on or near the road is under an Order or a Warning. Read on the Cal OES layer and the county's zone map 6 October 2026: the only Monterey zones in force are four Timber Fire Orders far to the north, inland of Big Sur and in the Carmel Valley backcountry.
Caltrans — not an authority here
Nacimiento-Fergusson is not a state highway, and Caltrans' remit is the state highway system and nothing else. Streets and Highways Code § 90: "The department shall have full possession and control of all state highways and all property and rights in property acquired for state highway purposes." That sentence is the entirety of what Caltrans possesses and controls. The state highway routes are the ones the Legislature enumerates in the Streets and Highways Code; this road is not among them and carries no route number. It is a county highway maintained by Monterey County — under § 941 a road is a county highway once the board of supervisors accepts it into the county road system, and boards "shall, by proper order, cause those highways which are necessary to public convenience to be established, recorded, constructed, and maintained". Caltrans therefore has neither possession nor control of this road.
Fort Hunter Liggett's own public page refers callers to Caltrans for this road. One of the four closing authorities is pointing the public at an agency that neither owns it, controls it, nor carries it in any of its data. That is a broken referral, not a source — and it sends people to a dead end during a fire.
Before you commit to it
Steep, narrow and winding — seven miles of it at eight to ten per cent. Not a road for a big rig or a towed trailer.
It crosses Fort Hunter Liggett, an active Army post. Carry your vehicle registration and proof of insurance.
It closes on occasion for artillery and tank exercises. That is a real closure, not a suggestion. Be ready to turn around and be ready to wait — hours is possible. They plan well and usually tell you the scoop, but an emergency changes that. Carry fuel, food and an alternative: back out to 101 and around to whichever end of the coast you wanted.
No fuel, no food and no signal for the whole crossing.
The coastal end, at the bridge. The campground sits on the bluff right here, and this is where you rejoin Highway 1.
The summit
2,780 feet, about seven miles up from the ocean. On a clear day you see the whole south coast behind you at once.
Fort Hunter Liggett
An active Army installation, and the reason to have your paperwork in the glovebox. The road runs through it on the eastern descent.
Mission San Antonio de Padua
Founded 14 July 1771 by Junípero Serra, the third mission in Alta California. It stands on Fort Hunter Liggett land, in open country with nothing modern around it — which is why it looks more like itself than almost any other mission in the state.
Jolonsay ho-LONE
Not 'JO-lon'. It is ho-LONE — a Salinan name, and one of those places where saying it right marks you as someone who has actually been. The settlement sits in the San Antonio River valley, entirely surrounded by the post.
Lockwood
On County G14 between Jolon and the highway. Blink and you have driven through it.
King City
US-101, and the end of the crossing. Fuel, food and a signal again.
Businesses and places to see on this coast
Whether a particular place is trading is its operator's to say and nobody else's, so the list is built from what each one publishes and carries the date it was last checked. Whether the road reaches a place and whether the place is open are different questions, and the list answers them separately.
Highway 1 is open end to end, so there is no cut stretch to get out of. The crossing matters again the day the coast is shut; it is closed in its own right today.
Before you drive on this
Who to ask
This page is maintained carefully, but treat it as plus or minus 24 to 48 hours. During a fire or a storm a road can be opened in the morning and shut again by afternoon, and we will not always know before you do.
Nothing here is an authority. Before you drive on it, confirm with the Forest Service, the Sheriff's Office, Caltrans, and — for Nacimiento-Fergusson — Fort Hunter Liggett. If an agency and this page disagree, the agency is right.
Agencies and authorities
These are the bodies that decide. A road is Caltrans and CHP; an evacuation is the Sheriff; a fire is CAL FIRE and the Forest Service; a business is its own operator. Anything you would act on should come from one of these.
For whether a particular place is trading, its operator is the authority and nobody else is. Phone numbers for lodging, fuel and food on this coast are on the what-is-open page.
Every figure above comes from one of these. Nothing here updates itself — when an agency stops publishing the numbers stop moving, and a page of unchanging figures is not evidence that a fire has stopped.
A fire is real long before it is indexed. On 26 August a
fire started two miles east of Plaskett at eleven in the morning and this
page said there was no such fire, because the slow sources were still
silent. Watch Duty had it within minutes. If these disagree with each
other, the agency named as the authority is right and we are not.
We keep this as honest as we can. But fires, slides and floods do not check with anybody, and we are not the ones who decide what this coast does next.
Get told when the road or the fires change
Pick what you want to hear about. You will only ever be
emailed about the things you tick.
You are welcome to use anything on this page — the figures, the maps, the measurements — for any purpose, including reprinting it. Please attribute it, so that a reader can get back to the sources and check it for themselves.