Historic Highways
RVing America's Historic Highways: Many faces of the El Camino Real
Jerry (RiverGuy) Brown

US 101 red, our track green

Driving north from the beach at San Diego's Torrey Pines State Reserve, we had a couple of historic highway options. From what I've been able to learn, US 101 never followed the original El Camino Real northward from that point; rather it stayed near the coast, connecting the several beach towns on the way to Oceanside. The El Camino, on the other hand, followed a winding route through the coastal hills just to the east. I decided to go with the old road.

The first section of road bearing the El Camino Real sign now seems to start at Carmel Valley Road in the south end of Del Mar. Turning there, we headed up a modest hill through a very upscale commercial district leading into Del Mar Heights, where high tech businesses soon gave way to expensive residential properties. I couldn't help thinking that those early Spanish missionaries would be dumbfounded if they somehow found themselves transported onto the modern El Camino.

El Camino Real in Rancho Santa Fe, CA, by jkbrown

At Via de Leval I had to jog briefly to pick up the next section of the old highway. Again it curved gently into the hills, this time through the rural residential community of Rancho Santa Fe. This is a lovely stretch of road, wending its way among elegant estates, lined by tall eucalyptus trees, white rail fences, and citrus orchards. La Jolla, Del Mar, Rancho Santa Fe: I think you would be hard pressed to find a section of historic highway anywhere in the country that would rival the real estate values of this 10-mile stretch of San Diego County.

Oddly though and with no warning, the road changed name. I had to double back to find the point where the El Camino ended. I think the original road must have turned westward here, but at that point today, there is no trace of it. Soon I located it again a mile or so away in the eastern end of the coastal town of Encinitas. Here the El Camino Real is a bustling 6-lane commercial boulevard. Interspersed with residential developments, it retains an urban character through La Costa and Carlsbad, all the way to San Luis Rey, northeast of Oceanside.

Mission San Luis Rey, by permission of the Franciscan Friars of the Old Mission San Luis Rey

Mission San Luis Rey de Francia was established here in 1798, the last of the 21 original Spanish missions. It's also the southern-most California mission, with only the Presidio of San Diego farther south on the El Camino.

I haven't located any historical records showing the route of old El Camino Real beyond San Luis Rey, but the next mission to the north was San Juan Capistrano, near the beaches of southern Orange County. So it's probable that it ran along the coast and in time became US 101. I-5 now traverses this strip between the Pacific Ocean and the large Marine base, Camp Pendleton.

It was getting late in the afternoon. I had hoped to return to our RV camp east of San Diego by following yet another old road, historic US 395. My research indicated that at one time it ran through Vista and San Marcos southwest toward Escondido. But I got lost in Vista and never found that segment. A couple of days later, I took a different approach and got to know this old road too. Follow along with us next time.

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