Biking Big Sur: Trip Report

Big Sur Trip Report

As I first write these words, I wish I wrote down the details at the end of each day of this trip. I know that there are experiences and feelings that will fade, like a specific hill that hurt me in a specific way, or turning around a specific bend that offered a stunning view. But honestly, I am not sure that my brain was going to write after some of these tough days. I’m now on the train back home, newly settled into my roomette still waiting for the train to leave San Luis Obispo, a place I stayed for 2 nights and 3 days unexpectedly. I think it’s a good time to reminisce, because this was an incredible week of my life that I hope to remember forever, but it also came with the most difficult hills I have ever ridden a bike over.

Day 1:

Woke up in my apartment in Seattle at about 6:45am on January 18th, 2026, wide-awake immediately. I would be taking the coast starlight Amtrak train at 9:50am that morning, heading south to California. It was sunny but chilly, and after rigging down my bags in my apartment living room, carrying the heavy rigged-up bike down the staira, I was off leaving Capitol Hill, Seattle at daybreak. I had a smooth and short ride down 2nd Ave downtown to King street station. My gear felt heavy and slow, as it always does on day 1 of bikepacking.

After checking in at the Amtrak station luggage desk, I meandered around the waterfront, soaking in some sun by the Ferris wheel. I actually biked around the train station neighborhood quite a bit (it’s called Pioneer Square), contemplating the amount of food and entertainment I should stock up on. I didn’t find crosswords like I wanted. Guess I’ll have to kill 26 hours on a train in other ways. 

Boarding coach, I got a window seat and was sat next to Matt, a lifelong Los Angeles resident who was up in Seattle to sell merch outside the Seahawks vs 49ers game. He sold Jerry Rice bling and showed my samples of all of it. He was a social guy for sure, he talked about pretty much everything with me throughout the ride. I was at the start of a big adventure and in good spirits to handle the yapping, we overall got along pretty well. 

The train had no observation car which meant no cafe car. I had planned to spend MOST of the 26 hours in the observation car, where it’s easier to lay down and sleep. Time went by quick anyway that day, eating my snacks and reading and listening to Matt. The sun went down just after Eugene, Oregon stop. I had a steak for dinner in the dining cart and sat with a grandpa and grandson who were exploring USA by train because they both like trains. They were awkward. Matt was seated with us too but weirdly enough he put in headphones and didn’t say a word. No idea where that new silence came from. Eating steak on a train feels very cool. 

I didn’t sleep much the first night. I remember realizing it was midnight and I wasn’t sleepy. I got a good hour nap in around 1 am and then some 30-45 min stretches between then. I’ve never been good at sleeping sitting up. Matt snored and got a good 3-4 hours in. He also escaped to a couch he knew about in a breastfeeding room next to the bathrooms and napped there. He proudly told me about his secret spot afterwards. I’ll never forget Matt

Day 2: 

I woke up from my fourth pathetic little nap at maybe 7:30am, and got up and brushed my teeth in the tiny train bathroom and got a breakfast reservation in the dining car. At noon, I would be in Salinas, the beginning of my California bike adventure. Time slowed that morning and dragged on as I eargely watched the rolling green hills pass by. It was sunny and I wanted to be out there.

When I got off in Salinas, the sun shone bright and I was hot right away in my sweats. I started rigging up my bike on the platform and pumping up my deflated tire (they had to deflate it for my tire to fit on the Amtrak rack). First time rigging on the trip was way slower and sloppier then the next coming days.

I really wanted to get going out of Salinas right away, but decided I needed a sandwich. The I had troubles finding one, and waited about 30 min for a brisket sandwich at a little Italian feeling cafe. Much needed fuel for the first ride. 

Finally, I headed to the west end of Salinas, where there’s a harsh cut off to farmland at the edge of the subdivision. Then it was time for fast country highway road surrounded by farms with a big shoulder and a sign that said “bike lane”, but it was apparent there was no bike lane. It was safe enough though, and I really pushed through it fast. I had no idea at the time, but it was the only flat riding I would do for the next 3 or 4 days. Blanco road ended with a hill at mile 4, before turning to head to the town of Marina, California. 

There was a Private bike lane from the town of Marina to Monterey, and because of construction I could not get on it. I spent a few miles up and down hills in a subdivision going south to the town of Sand Point, before finally getting on that trial I wanted. It was a perfect trail, sand dunes to my right, huge California-y trees to my left. Happy people enjoying the sun. I stopped at the beach and on the bluffs happily. I felt the first of many accomplishing emotions there looking at the California coastline. The pace of my brain really started to slow and enjoy the bike vacation.

The beautiful bike path took me to the old Fisherman’s wharf in Monterey, California, bring me now to 15 miles for the day, where a nice old man wanted to chat about his hometown. After learning all the tourist destination points and some of his life story, I biked the most direct route to Carmel by the Sea, California on a bike path over a huuuuge hill that followed Highway 1. A sign of what’s to come. I had to do about 0.5 miles of busy highway riding to get to Carmel, and immediately checked into my planned hotel. 24 miles of riding for the day on almost no sleep hurt a little more than it should’ve. 

So I checked into the historical old resort hotel, grabbed a tall boy beer as a reward for that giant hill, and biked downhill to the famous white sand beach for sunset. Enjoyed a smoke and my beer at a gorgeousbeach. After that, I biked up the hill and found a pub near the hotel. Ate fish and chips at the bar and biked home to the old resort and slept. I was really tired and probably not in good enough shape for the trip. But I finished the first biking goal. It was going to get much more remote in the coming days.

Day 3: 

Waking up in Carmel, I went to the same community store round 8am for tea and sandwich and snacks. I ate the breakfast sandwich wit a wake n’ bake on a beach a couple miles down the highway, my first miles of the day, and then turned into point Lobos state park. I took a bad single track trail there and worked harder than I should’ve at the beginning of a long day, but eventually made it to some really nice cliff views and rock formations in the tide. A few California poppy flowers were blooming early against the cliffs. I sat and enjoyed the spot for a while. 

Moving on, the hills kept rolling and kept getting bigger as I made my way south towards Andrew Molera state park area. According to my photos, I hit Bixby bridge at about 12:30pm. Stopped for a smoke, I was really feeling blissful in this moment. The view of the bridge, the blue water below, the sun shining through thin clouds… all of it was a culmination of the exact feeling I was probably chasing when I designed this trip. Definitely beats rainy Seattle in January. And this is just the start!

After Bixby bridge, the hills got more intense then less intense, all causing me to move slow on the shoulder of the road. As I took a slight downhill straight away past Andrew smokers state park, I coasted into Big Sur for real now. With green mountains now on my left, there was a cafe with WiFi where I stopped. They tried to charge $10 for 15 minutes of WiFi… I was able to convince the nice front desk girl to give it to me for free. There wouldn’t be service for the next couple days at least. 

After an hour of checking in with loved ones and rehydrating, I finished the last few hilly miles to Julia Pfieffer Burns state park – my campsite for the night. The hiker biker site was huge, the biggest I’ve ever seen. (Hiker biker site is a term used for campsites reserved for people showing up without a car. Most state parks on the west coast have them, and they make bikepacking that much more awesome). I imagine it gets busy in the summer time with a lot of bikers. 

At my camp I could hear the Big Sur River nearby and I was looking up at massive redwood trees. Great spot to enjoy my joints for the evening. I listened for a while and recovered from a 30ish mile hilly day. 

Feeling triumphant albeit gassed, I biked out of the state park, through the redwroods, one mile north to a bar and grill for dinner. Here I made friends with a few tourists from South Carolina, chatted with a few locals whom all had strong opinions on tourists, and got to brag about my day. As I write this, the trip is about a month past, but I’ll never forget finishing my first dinner, shrimp tacos, and still being hungry for another full meal. That was reminiscent of being an active 16 year old boy, not something that usually happens at my ripe age of 31. As I mentioned earlier, I probably wasn’t in good enough shape at the time for this adventure. Beef stew and half a sandwich for second dinner, followed by a pitch black ride on the southbound shoulder of Highway 1 back to camp. It was more than nice to have an extra strong flashlight and multiple bike lights for that one. 

In the tent I slept like a baby, a rare occurance in a tent on the ground. I slept for maybe 10 hours while the white noise of the river cradled me. I remember leaving my tent at 3am to pee and seeing bright, thick shining stars between the redwood peaks. I made myself take a long exposure despite my tiredness. 

Day 4

Awoke at about 7:00am. Immediately started hydrating and stretching. Big day ahead of me, maybe the biggest. I refilled all my bottles at the old metal spigot near my camp, and rigged up my bike. By 8am, I was saying goodbye to the redwoods and pulling out of the park with sore legs. Taking a left turn to continue south, the day immediately began with a long, long hill. Three miles of hill nonstop in my lowest gear. 1.5 miles into the hill, I passed a deli where I got a HUGE Italian sub and some snacks and extra water for the day. The deli owner was encouraging, telling me about all the downhill I would get to enjoy after reaching the peak. I hoped so. Back on the bike for more uphill.

The views of the San Lucia mountains coming up this hill were beaukiful. Classic Big Sur mountains. I finally reached the top after another 20-30 minutes of heavy breathing and slow moving. The views were incredible as the morning marine layer washed off and made way for some sun. I enjoyed my 2 miles of downhill, where the road reconnects with the coast. From here, it was tough up and down, but so beautiful that I couldn’t even care. 10 miles down the road I hit Mcway Falls, a thin waterfall falling right onto a pristine beach cove. Being on a bike allowed me to stop and see if from all the angles that a car couldn’t. It was a top bucket list item, and it did not disappoint. I was able to sneak in some puffs between tourists, which was a real treat. I ate my HUGE Italian sub. 

From Mcway Falls I hit the infamous Regent’s landslide, where the road had been closed for 3 years but had quite literally just reopened. I was extremely lucky to be one of the first bikepackers through the new re-opened route. Past the landslide to the most remote parts of Highway 1, where it was mostly just rugged mountains and cliffs down to the ocean. The grey skies came back as I finished up the final 3 hills of the day, which rode me into Kirk Creek Campground.

This campground is highly sought after, on a cliff with ocean views at every site. People book it as far in advance as possible and fight over it. As a biker, I got to claim one of the hiker biker sites, also with a pristine ocean view. After setting up camp, I followed a trail down to the beach and enjoyed the tall boy IPA I brought. I watched surfers hit crazy waves between jagged rocks for the afternoon. Seemed like expert level surfing to the layman. 

At about 5pm, another bikepacker named Owen pulled up. He was a social guy and hung out with me at camp. Owen’s plan was to take some dirt roads up into the wilderness in the morning. We got along great and laughed and shared stories. He shared more beer, I kept the fire going with the logs I purchased. For some reason, we never exchanged information. We split at about 8pm for our tents. I was exhausted but so fulfilled and happy. 

Day 5

The morning biking out of Kirk creek was encouraging because I was finally not dead tired when I woke up. Endurance was finally building after a few days of long bikes. The morning started with soft rolling hills, they didn’t bother me as much as the earlier days. I got rained on during one of the longer uphills. It was beautiful. I lost my hoodie somewhere around here. One of my few mishaps on this trip. I’ll probably get over it. I continued on in the rain, the only time I had to bust out my rain jacket the whole week. Thank you big time for that, California.  

I finally hit “ragged point” around 11am. This is considered the south end of Big Sur. There’s a huge fancy lodge and a restaurant and store and parking lot. It was nice to feel back on society after the remote stretches. What I didn’t know, is that Ragged Point was pretty much the end of the hills, too. After an hour chilling and eating and enjoying the views at Ragged point Inn, I biked up the final hill and the  down a final, long, ongoing descent. I don’t think I pedaled for 20 minutes. The sun broke out, blue sky everywhere. It smelled like the beach. All of a sudden there were sea lions on the beach next to me. It was all flat ahead of me. I had biked through all of Big Sur and the San Lucia mountain range. Glory.

It was about 2pm and I took long breaks to watch the sea lions and be in the sun. I had phone service again for the first time since leaving Carmel. Legs were super gassed after the ragged point hills, and I went pretty damn slowly for these last 9 miles to my destination. I arrived in San Simeon, CA around 3:30pm and got one of the cheapest hotels of my life. It was still really nice somehow. 

Having a hotel after the nights of camping and long rides was real luxury. I sat in the hot tub and drank beer and smoked joints, I sat by the fireplaces on the beach, I went to a seafood place and chatted with the locals, and I went for a night bike on the beach. Overall a euphoric end to day 5. I was having a blast, but at this point, I was also craving a buddy. This was a lot of time alone on a bike, which is a beautiful and meditative thing, but we are social creatures, afterall. I crashed around 11pm with some random hotel tv slop in the background. 

Day 6

I woke up with a lack of a plan. I slept late in the hotel bed until 9am or so. Packed up slowly, enjoyed all the amenities, and eventually got moving south. Dehydrated, brain felt sticky, not super motivated. The road here was much more of a highway than the previous days. I didn’t enjoy it. I made it to the next town, Cambria, and decided on taking transit to San Luis Obispo to skip out on unsafe not fun riding. The bus ride was smooth with good views. I heard Cambria is beautiful and I should’ve spent more time there.. next time I guess. 

San Luis Obispo had excellent and safe bike riding everywhere. Really good food too. I checked into the hostel Obispo for the night for $35 and met my hostel mates. I got along great with one in particular, Raul. We decided to hit the town together in search of a celebration for me finishing my ride. We had a great time and I have since stayed connected with my new buddy Raul. The people you meet on these trips are the memories that last the longest. Even in my most introverted moments I try to remember that it’s the point. Raul and I stayed out late drinking beer at an Irish pub. I went to bed around 1am that night. I was happy to have a buddy.

Day 7

I’m skipping day 6 because my original train home was cancelled and I was delayed 24 hours until the next train. I was frustrate, but there was nothing I could do. Emma and I were sad on the phone together, we missed each other. The rest of the day, I mostly chatted with the friends I made at the hostel and took it easy. I wanted to go home. 

Back to day 7, I had a 30 hour amtrak trip home ahead of me, but this time in a first class Roommette. These mini rooms give you privacy and a bed, and all your meals in the dining cart. It was a perfect way to end the trip. The train left at 3pm, so I hit a mini mountain on the edge of town to bike up and ride trails down. This trip had been so much fun (in a type 2 way), but I remember feeling that certain loneliness layered within the happiness on this day. While I love adventuring and especially love bikepacking, I was feeling called back home to be with Emma and our cat, Hank. I called my parents on top of the mountain. The feeling overall was just a stark reminder that the nomadic adventurous lifestyle that gets glamourized all over the Internet can become isolating or full of short-lived relationships. Still, it was the adventure of a lifetime and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. 

On the train, I read books and watched the views and ate steak in the dining cart for dinner. I hit a Greenline vape I got in SLO. I had to go to the edge of town on my bike to find a dispensary, but the bike lanes were fantastic across town. I slept a LOT on the train.

Day 8

I woke up on a train at 6:45am. I didn’t want to fall back asleep because after pulling back the curtains, Mt. Shasta was right in front of me, showing off. I watched the mountain as we wrapped around it for the next hour. I ate hot cakes for breakfast and took a nap through lunch. I read books and edited photos. I even started writing this before falling asleep, now here I am finishing it a month later. 

I did a lot of reflecting on the train ride home. I was alone in my roommette which offers a lot more time for thought than sitting coach. I thought about each day in detail and scrolled through all my photos and videos. I thought about Matt my first friend of the trip, my extra talkative seat-mate. I thought about Owen my bikepacking buddy from Kirk creek campground. He was pretty unprepared if you ask me, but also seemed hardy. I hoped he had a successful trip. I thought about the couple from South Carolina whom I drank with on night 3 in Big Sur and how they tried to talk me out of continuing my ride due to danger from cars. I thought about my new friend Raul from the night before and wondered if I’d ever see him again. I mapped out the elevation gain of the trip. I looked forward to seeing Emma and Hank. The ride home served as a reminder why I love to do this. There is glory in doing hard things, and there is personal fulfillment in doing hard things just because you want to. I saw views of Big Sur that car drivers will never get to experience. I took longer to get through Big Sur and the San Lucia mountains than 99% of travelers passing through will take. I was out in the elements the whole time, just me and my bike. I thought I’d be sick of it by the end, and especially sick of hills. But, like always, I sat on the way home beginning to plot my next Bikepack trip.