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Virtual Guidebook to
"El Camino Real"
through Central California
Santa Clara, San Benito, Monterey, San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties, California

(see also the Fullscreen versions)
Spring wildflowers on the Carrizo Plain.

Table of Contents
(listed from northwest to southeast)

Henry Coe State Park (11)
Pacheco Pass (1)
San Juan Bautista (5)
Mission San Juan Bautista (5)
Salinas (3)
Salinas Valley (8)
The Arroyo Seco (7)
Arroyo Seco-Indians Road (7)
Mission San Antonio (9)
Hearst Hacienda (3)
San Antonio / Nacimiento Valleys (7)
Gabilan Range (3)
Pinnacles - West (6)
Pinnacles - High Peaks (5)
Along the San Andreas Rift (5)
Northeast Carrizo Plain (5)
Soda Lake and Painted Rock (6)
Central Carrizo Plain (5)
South Carrizo Plain (4)
Cuyama Valley (1)
Cuesta Pass (7)
San Luis Obispo (2)
La Purisima Mission (6)

(see also the Fullscreen versions)
Next Guidebook: High Sierra

Complete Listing (see also the Fullscreen versions)
listed from northwest to southeast
Henry Coe State Park
Anderson Lake, full to overflowing in a wet spring.
The Henry Coe State Park visitor center at Pine Ridge Ranch.
View to the Santa Clara Valley from Pine Ridge Ranch.
On the trail to Sadah's Pine.
At the foot of Sadah's Pine, named for Henry Coe's daughter.
A huge old oak used as an acorn granary by woodpeckers.
A classic oak parkland at Arnold Field in Henry Coe State Park.
A fallen valley oak at Arnold Field.
Oak woodland on Manzanita Point.
Prescribed burn in chemise, Manzanita Point.
Riparian vegatation along Coyote Creek, near Poverty Flat.
Pacheco Pass
Casa de Fruta fruit stand, on the Pacheco Pass Road.
San Juan Bautista
A remnant of El Camino Real, below Mission San Juan Bautista.
Indian statue on the plaza.
The Mission Plaza in San Juan Bautista.
A classic Chevy on the plaza in San Juan Bautista.
Third Street in San Juan.
Mission San Juan Bautista
In the mission courtyard garden.
The baptistry in the mission church.
The east aisle of the Mission Church of San Juan.
The nave of the Mission Church, San Juan Bautista.
The Indian cemetery at San Juan Bautista.
Salinas
The National Sterinbeck Center in Salinas.
John Steinbeck's family home in Salinas.
Urban limit on the southwest edge of Salinas.
The Salinas Valley
A museum wing and church have been reconstructed at Mission Soledad.
Adobe walls and stone foundations are all that remain of Mission Soldedad.
Lettuce field near Gonzales.
Freight train near Gonzales in the Salinas Valley.
Vineyards in the Salinas Valley, near Greenfield.
San Miguel Mission, closed for stabilization after an earthquake.
Inside the church at Mission San Miguel.
The old railroad town of Santa Margarita, north of Cuesta Pass.
The Arroyo Seco
On the Elm Avenue bridge over the Arroyo Seco, west of Greenfield.
The Arroyo Seco River valley.
Vineyards on the terraces above the Arroyo Seco River.
On the bluffs above the Arroyo Seco at Arroyo Center.
Recreation area at the Arroyo Seco River bridge.
Southernmost of "The Lakes" at Arroyo Seco.
Westernmost of "The Lakes" at Arroyo Seco.
The Arroyo Seco-Indians Road
The narrowest place in the Arroyo Seco Gorge.
Above a swimming hole on the Arroyo Seco River.
Horse Bridge over the Arroyo Seco River at Willow Creek.
Santa Lucia Creek from the Arroyo-Seco-Indians Road.
High above Santa Lucia Creek on the Arroyo Seco-Indians Road.
Across from Willow Creek on the Arroyo Seco-Indians Road.
The wild interior of the Santa Lucia Mountains,from the Arroyo Seco-Indians Road.
Mission San Antonio
South front of Mission San Antonio.
Cloistered courtyard of Mission San Antonio.
Archeological work in progress at Mission San Antonio.
Interior of Mission San Antonio.
Poppies and lupines in the walled cemetery at Mission San Antonio.
Springtime display of wildflowers at Mission San Antonio.
The historic mill at Mission San Antonio.
Spring flowers at the old reservoir, Mission San Antonio.
Along the aqueduct at Mission San Antonio.
The Hearst Hacienda
Spring wildflowers near the Hearst Ranch Hacienda.
In the courtyard of the old Hearst Ranch "Hacienda".
Just below the Hearst Hacienda, spring wildflowers.
The San Antonio and Nacimiento Valleys
Oak parkland in summer, Nacimiento-Fergusson Road, Fort Hunter Liggett.
A grassy hillside in springtime, Nacimiento River Canyon.
Lupines in the oak parkland, San Antonio Valley (one).
Lupines in the oak parkland, San Antonio Valley (two).
Lupines in the oak parkland, San Antonio Valley (three).
In a grove of valley oaks, springtime.
Goldfields on Del Venturi Road, Fort Hunter Liggett.
The Gabilan Range
Summit of La Gloria Road east of Gonzales.
La Gloria Road in the Gabilan Range.
Springtime in the northern addition to Pinnacles National Monument.
Pinnacles National Monument - West Side
Distant view of the Pinnacles from the west side road.
Near the Chaparral ranger station on the west side of Pinnacles.
A grassy knoll west of the Pinnacles.
Spring meadow on Chalone Creek, west side of the Pinnacles.
Giant boulders along Chalone Creek.
On the Balconies trail, next to Machete Ridge.
Under the Balconies cliffs.
Pinnacles National Monument - High Peaks
Stone steps on the High Peaks trail.
On the High Peaks trail, east side of the Pinnacles.
The saddle at the junction of the Sycamore Canyon and High Peaks trails.
High on the Sycamore Canyon trail, west side of the Pinnacles.
Gray pine on the Sycamore Canyon trail.
Above the tunnel on the Tunnel Trail.
Spring wildflowers at Pinnacles National Monument.
Along the San Andreas Rift Zone
A washout on the Panoche Road.
Inner coast ranges near Parkfield.
Oak grove on the Parkfield Grade.
Downtown Parkfield, self-proclaimed earthquake capital of the world.
The James Dean Memorial at Cholame.
Carrizo Plain - Northern and Eastern
Spring flowers along Highway 58 near McKittrick Summit.
Spring widlflowers from a hilltop in the northern Carrizo Plain.
Wildflowers near California Valley.
Wallace Creek offset stream channel on the San Andreas Fault.
Above the Elkhorn Scarp, east of the Carrizo Plain.
Soda Lake and Painted Rock
Soda Lake overlook at the north end of the Carrizo Plain.
Boardwalk at the edge of the Soda Lake, Carrizo Plain.
Spring flowers south of the Soda Lake.
The old Selby Ranch, Carrizo Plain.
Camping at the KCL Ranch on the Carrizo Plain.
Painted Rock, a major Chumash pictograph site.
Central Carrizo Plain
Spring wildflowers in the central Carrizo Plain (one).
Spring wildflowers in the central Carrizo Plain (two).
Hilltop on the west edge of the Carrizo Plain.
Sheep grazing on the Carrizo Plain.
Sheep grazing on the Carrizo Plain (partial panorama).
Southern Carrizo Plain
South end of the Carrizo Plain, near Padrone Canyon.
Badlands in Padrone Canyon, base of the Caliente Range.
The Elkhorn Scarp at the south end of the Carrizo Plain.
Looking north across the Elkhorn Plain.
Midway up the Elkhorn Grade, between Maricopa and the Carrizo Plain.
Sag pond on the San Andreas Fault, south end of the Carrizo Plain.
Grasslands high on the east side of the Temblor Range.
Cuyama Valley
Twin Rock in the Cuyama River Canyon.
Cottonwood Canyon Road at the southwest corner of Cuyama Valley.
Bates Canyon in the Sierra Madre Mountains.
Spring wildflowers on Aliso Canyon Road, south edge of the Cuyama Valley.
Cuesta Pass and Cuesta Ridge
The Cuesta Grade on Highway 101 north of San Luis Obispo.
Cuesta Ridge west of Highway 101.
Parasailers launched from Cuesta Ridge.
Sargent cypress in the Cuesta Ridge Botanical Area.
Old growth Sargent cypress forest.
Sargent cypress forest regrowth after fire.
Cuesta Ridge, near Cerro Alto.
San Luis Obispo
Mission San Luis Obispo, next to the statue of Father Serra.
On the creekside path, downtown San Luis Obispo.
La Purisima Mission
Aqueduct and corral, Mission la Purisima.
Lavanderia and cistern in the garden at La Purisima.
Beehive oven behind the workshops, Mission la Purisima.
Collonade by the chapel, La Purisima.
Inside the padre's chapel at La Purisima.
Inside the mission church, La Purisima.
(see also the Fullscreen versions)

Next Guidebook: High Sierra