Favorite secrets hidden in plain sight
High Tides Swirling seafoam, gentle mist. The waves are big today exploding on the beach. Wet sand on my feet. This time, high tides. — Elinor Koning, age 10
My favorite kind of secret is the one “hidden” in plain sight that I miss. Such is the case with a series of trails along the coast south of Carmel. I’ve driven that stretch of Highway 1 and beyond countless times beginning when I was in high school. My friends and I would make various excuses to our parents, head down to Esalen for a late-night locals’ hot springs visit and return early the next morning in time for school. But never, not in my decades as a Californian, until recently, did I know about the existence of the series of trails that line the ocean side of the highway and are a part of Garrapata State Park. When I think of Garrapata, I think of Soberanes, and when I think of Soberanes, I think of the deep-set redwood forest canyon and the steep ocean-view climb and, sadly, but of course, I think of the destructive 2016 Soberanes Fire, and then I think of nature’s remarkable restorative ability, and I get filled with hope.
Thanks to my friends, longterm park volunteers Helen Ogden and Rick McGarrity, I’m no longer blind to this particular secret. This series of trails, 19 in total, called “Gates” for entry gates that once existed at the beginning of each trailhead, parallel the ocean beginning about 5 miles south of Rio Road and continuing south to Garrapata Beach. Each one opens to a short walk, the longest walk being about a mile that concludes at the next gate. Then you have to walk along the highway or drive to the next trailhead.
The day my husband and I went to see what there was to see, the day was clear, cold, and blustery — my favorite kind of weather. And as my former poetry student Elinor Koning wrote, the waves were “exploding on the beach.” After spending so much time at home or very close to it, going down the coast felt nearly like a visit to another country, just by driving a few miles toward Big Sur! (Sometimes, it doesn’t take much.)
The series of entryway gates are listed on the Garrapata State Park map but before the clearing work that’s being done by Helen and Rick, many of these paths were pretty well unpassable, and some aren’t yet clear — there’s a lot of work to be done. In addition to nature’s native growth, the overgrown bramble, bushes and trees that have impeded the trails, invasive plants have to be removed.
Sadly, it’s not only plant life — native or non — that has to be cleared, but an abundance of garbage “from plastic bags, bottles, tops and containers, as well as used, unburied toilet tissue,” and cigarette butts clutter the environment. As all locals know, this is a high fire danger area, so nothing flammable should ever (didn’t we learn this long ago?) be thrown from a car. Helen said, “The usage of these trails has increased during the pandemic because people are getting outdoors. A number of them are people who don’t have a history of using nature so don’t have the important awareness of ‘You pack it in; you pack it out.’ We’ve found a lot of alcohol containers.” Some people are clearly drinking and driving the highway. Additionally, Rick and Helen’s weekly work also includes “closing off ‘social trails,’ shortcuts that people
have made by trampling native plants.”
Rick and Helen told me that, so far, they’ve only had time to clean up and clear Gates 1-8. I wonder just what is meant by “long-term volunteer,” and how long it will take my friends and others to revive these walkways? Gates 1-6 are north of Soberanes Point; 7-11 are at the point; and 12-19 are to the south. Gate 8 is on both sides of the highway and where the barn is and where Soberanes Canyon Trail begins. Rick said, “Gate 6 is difficult to see and maybe a bit dangerous to get to. Our favorites are numbers 2 and 4 where the overlooks are classic Big Sur at its best.”
Pacific Grove residents, Rick and Helen, are retired teachers and frequent world travelers. The couple annually travel as volunteers to assist in offering dental care to those in need. Being unable to travel, Helen told me, “opened up a new world closer to home.” Rick said, “The whole idea during the COVID crises was to keep busy, and that, compounded by the election year, has kept us doing something positive. It clears my brain, this physical tiredness, does.”
My husband Michael and I walked Gates 2—6. Just seeing the open land west of the highway — big sky, blowing grasses, a scattering of various coastal plants allowed me to feel broad and expansive, open and possible. The trails themselves are mostly narrow strips reminding me of holloways, centuries-old sunken pathways prevalent in Europe but elsewhere too,
I’m sure, routes that existed long before roads that were traveled upon by people and animals. This is land that hosted the Ohlone and Rumsien tribes in the past. What a rich life it must have been.
Some trails stay quite near the highway while others turn west to the bluffs above the Pacific. Standing above the ocean and carefully walking down trails toward it, we were greeted by force and wildness and ocean spray. I especially loved Gate 5, a little hard to find but so worth it for the cypress grove — trees with vast branches beginning close to the ground reaching out widely, as I tend to reach, on the best of days.
All that morning, I went back and forth between feeling like the girl from “Island of the Blue Dolphins” who was left alone on an island and had to fend for herself or I became a long-ago explorer who had happened upon one of the greatest secrets of all!
Anybody wishing detailed instructions for finding some of the gates is welcome to get in touch with me: patrice@ patricevecchione.com. For more information and to find out about volunteer opportunities, contact California State Parkes: www.parks.ca.gov or Garrapata State Park, Monterey Sector, 831-6492866.