The Lost Highway 58

The Lost Highway 58

November 14-17, 2019

Another out of Dodge rides. Go find some fun rides and return home cured. The first road I selected is Highway 58 in California. This is a “Top 100 Ride, #95.” Beginning about a dozen miles west of Bakersfield, Hwy 58 is a roller-coaster all the way to the coast.

Giant sweepers with giddying changes in elevation run through pastoral farmland for more than an hour. Then suddenly the road tightens down into twisting loops as you dive into canyon country. Just as suddenly, it all stops, and you find you've arrived at San Luis Obispo's back door.

The second road choice is the Nacimiento-Fergusson Road is a stunning drive across the Santa Lucia Range in the Central Coast of California. The road is regarded as one of the best motorcycling roads in central California.

Nacimiento-Fergusson Road is 24.2 miles long. It links Highway 1 and Fort Hunter Liggett. The drive is definitely worth it. Don’t forget your camera due to the premier ocean views and forest setting. Spectacular road all the way. The first part of the road has more than 100 turns. The road is occasionally closed for brief periods during tank, artillery, and other firing exercises. Though Nacimiento-Fergusson road is quiet and mostly unused, you might still encounter cars. On the ascent, take note of potential blind corners.

A long weekend awaits and ride we must! After planning this ride, almost a year ago and not finding time to do it until now was a big mistake…it’s an awesome ride. The goal was not an Iron Butt pace but a sightseeing ride. With a lot to see and the short days, we will be riding some in the dark, unfortunately.

The Lost Highway 58 runs west of Bakersfield and starts in the flat land and quickly morphs into the ups and downs, sweeping curves, and then climbs into tight twisties. The clouds dropped on us and a misty rain commence in the twisties, slowing us down and limiting the view of the country and the drop-offs that had no guard rails! When we dropped in elevation the clouds went away with the rain and the sweeping curves resumed. We stopped in a small town, Santa Margarita, for a diet coke. Then it was a quick run on Highway 101 to San Louis Obispo. We walked around a few blocks by the old mission, got something to eat, then took a nice tour of the old mission. There is a statue in front of the mission of the priest who was assigned to get the mission going in the 1770s. It’s life-size and he is about 4 foot nothing tall! The mission is well worth seeing.

Running late we head up the coast, Highway 1, past Morro Bay, Cayucos, San Simeon, and others. Just beyond Plaskett, the Nacimiento-Fergusson Road takes off headed east and/or up? The switchbacks and views of the ocean are absolutely amazing and curves fun, some of which were really blind from the sun and the tightness of the curve. The main road is a two-way road but passing cars and especially house trailers is very close quarters. There are more than 100 turns just in the first part of this road until you leave the base there are plenty of curves to enjoy. We had to watch some of the curves for leaves and gravel, but most are so tight there really wasn’t much of a problem. Once on the flat, we noticed cement sections of road where the tanks cross the roadway, I doubt we would be allowed through if the tanks were out playing.

When it got dark, it cooled down a lot, about an hour later we stopped in Coalinga, CA for some hot chocolate and a burger. We were lucky, they had a big screen TV with the Jazz NBA game on and got to watch the fourth quarter, too bad the Jazz lost by one point. For some reason, people were staring at us cheering the Jazz on. We headed on and stayed in Visalia, CA.

Day three brought some freeway, it sucked. Finally, we got to Highway 155 to Lake Isabella and Highway 178 over to Highway 395 is always a good ride with plenty of curves and sweepers. From highway 395 we took Highway 190 again over to Death Valley. We arrived at Furnace Creek just at dusk, 4:00 pm, going off daylight savings time sucks in California, it gets dark way too early. Anyhow, we had ice cream on the deck by the fire and enjoyed the 88 degrees. We burned it over the hill to downtown Pahrump, NV…well, it was a place to stay.

Our last day was as good as it gets riding on the freeway. The temps were perfect, and the traffic was light. We were back home in St. George, UT by 1:00 pm just in time to watch the boring NASCAR final race. Maybe next year they will fix that…unlikely…but that’s another story. Great trip, great roads, great scenery, and great friends.