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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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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Blue Highways
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