A Shady Tunnel of Trees Leads the Highway Down To the Beach.
“Where the road drops down from the high cliffs to the beach …. “(Cont.Next)
Approach Beach access, 5 mi South of Westport, CA. The Narrator’s above words “drops down from the high cliffs “ apparently refers to places where there is a steep incline to the ocean edge caused by erosion. For example, the place the Narrator pulled Chris back from the edge. Remember the Narrator’s meaning. It will be needed ahead.
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View From the Roadside Parking Pull-Off.
“ [ Where the road drops down from the high cliffs] to the beach we stop to rest. When I turn the engine off Chris says, "What are we stopping here for?" .. "I’m tired." .. "Well, I’m not. Let’s keep going." He’s angry still. I’m angry too.“(Cont.Next)
Beach access, 5 mi South of Westport, CA.
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The Wide Sandy Beach Gives Plenty Of Room For Running and Games.
“"Just go over on the beach there and run around in circles until I’m done resting," I say. .. “(Cont.Next)
Beach access, 5 mi South of Westport, CA.
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Ocean Smells In Rotting Beach Detritus.
“"Let’s keep going," he says, but I walk away and ignore it. He sits on the curb by the motorcycle. .. The ocean smell of rotting organic matter is heavy here and the cold wind doesn’t allow much rest.“(Cont.Next)
Beach access, 5 mi South of Westport, CA.
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This House Sized Rock Would Indeed Have Heat From the Sun and Provide Shelter From the Wind.
“But I find a large cluster of grey rocks where the wind is still and the heat of the sun can still be felt and enjoyed. I concentrate on the warmth of the sunlight and am grateful for what little there is.“
Beach access, ~7 mi South of Westport, CA. The rocks I found were brown and nothing close to what I would call a cluster. I don’t recall finding “grey rocks“ at any beach which had easy roadside access.
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There Are Flowers At Every Turn of the Road.
“We ride again and what comes to me now is the realization that he's [Chris is] another Phædrus, thinking the way he used to and acting the same way he used to, looking for trouble, being driven by forces he’s only dimly aware of and doesn’t understand. The questions . . the same questions . . he’s got to know everything. .. And if he doesn’t get the answer he just drives and drives until he gets one and that leads to another question and he drives and drives for the answer to that—endlessly pursuing questions, never seeing, never understanding that the questions will never end. Something is missing and he knows it and will kill himself trying to find it.“(Cont.Next)
Somewhere near Cleone, CA.
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Does Anyone Know the Location of the Narrator’s “Sharp Turn“? Or Have Highway Improvements Eliminated Such Hazards?
“We round a sharp turn up an overhanging cliff.“(Cont.Next)
Just South of Westport, CA. Does any one know probable locations of the above passage? Originally, I assumed the Narrator meant the road goes on top of a high “wall of rocks” that has a practically vertical drop. In the kind of soil that forms these hills, only 45 degree inclines (hill slopes) are generally found. Steeper slopes, deserving the name “cliff”, would be found only where there is a ~70 degree incline caused by active ocean edge erosion, undercutting the sloping cliff at the bottom. From this consideration, the Narrator’s “cliff“could be in the center of this picture, just after the first break where the highway can not be seen. This is where the highway, at its lowest elevation, again curves out toward the ocean It then proceeds up and along the top edge where the earth is sliding in a smooth incline, relatively free of vegetation, to the beach. In fact, all the steep slopes from the place I was standing all the way to the place where the road turns left and goes steadily upward and out of view, could qualify as the Narrator’s “cliff. “Note the very short segment of road at the far horizon. Four miles beyond that peninsula the road, after two towns, descends to the ocean edge at the town of Caspar and Caspar Anchorage, a small cove.
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For Chris, This Ride Is Pure Punishment. But For the Narrator, This Famed Northern California Coast Is an Accomplished Goal!
“The ocean stretches forever, cold and blue out there, and produces a strange sense of despair. Coastal people never really know what the ocean symbolizes to landlocked inland people—what a great distant dream it is, present but unseen in the deepest levels of subconsciousness, and when they arrive at the ocean and the conscious images are compared with the subconscious dream there is a sense of defeat at having come so far to be so stopped by a mystery that can never be fathomed. The source of it all.“(Cont.Next)
Just South of Westport, CA.
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Look closely at the line of white guard posts center of photo. The curve just beyond those guard posts may well be the "best fit location" for the Narrator's “We round a sharp turn up an overhanging cliff.“ If you are familiar with this coast highway, please let me know your thoughts on the probable location of this ZMM passage. (Photo = 116-1694cz2.0...... ZMM Page = 364 ...... WayPt = WayPt = 461i2 ~300ft. Photo at 458w 0305ft)

A Church, An Inn Plus Restaurant, and a Print Shop Are the Town’s Business District.
“A long time later we come to a town where a luminous haze which has seemed so natural over the ocean is now seen in the streets of the town, giving them a certain aura, a hazy sunny radiance that makes everything look nostalgic, as if remembered from years before.“(Cont.Next)
Business area, Caspar, CA. Excerpts from http://www.co.mendocino.ca.us/planning/CoastPlan/Chap4-6.htm follows:
DESCRIPTIONS AND POLICIES FOR THIRTEEN PLANNING AREAS SOUTH CENTRAL CAC PLANNING AREA. Sec 4.6: JUG HANDLE CREEK TO RUSSIAN GULCH PLANNING AREA (Includes Caspar).
“Caspar is a former lumber town, situated on a coastal terrace that at one time was also planted in some vegetable crops. The land slopes gently to sharp bluffs, interrupted only at the creek mouths. The planning area's vegetation includes the southernmost Sitka Spruce forest, windbreak planting, mixed fir and redwood forest, pygmy forest, scrub, Scotch Broom and gorse. After operating from 1861 until 1955, the lumber mill is now gone, its former location marked only by the mill pond weir, a few remaining workers' cottages, and buildings in the village. However, the Caspar Lumber Company still owns 300 acres on both sides of Caspar Creek, the future use of which will be the single most important determinant of community character.”
Highway 1 is a two-lane expressway through Caspar and offers views of grazing lands fronting the old town and occasional distant views of the ocean. Old Highway 1, renamed Point Cabrillo Drive between Caspar Creek and Russian Gulch, provides one of the coast's rare alternatives to Highway 1 for intra-community travel. A gap in Point Cabrillo Drive at Caspar Creek, where all vehicular traffic must use the expressway, limits the sense of community and the potential for commercial development in Caspar.
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This Is Very Likely the ZMM Restaurant.
“We stop in a crowded restaurant and find the last remaining empty table by a window overlooking the radiant street. Chris looks down and doesn’t talk. Maybe, in some way, he senses that we haven’t much farther to go. [The Narrator has finished, in one page, the stand off between Chris and himself at the restraint. Chris gets to crying. A lady at a neighboring table looks like she will intervene. The narrative continues:] "Let’s go for a walk," I say, and get up without waiting for the check. .. At the cash register the waitress says, "I’m sorry the boy isn’t feeling good." I nod, pay, and we’re outside. .. I look for a bench somewhere in the luminous haze but there is none. “(Cont.Next)
Business area, Caspar, CA. Later sections of the document in the previous caption mention how to locate various trails/drives plus scenic attractions, including a lighthouse. Later passages say “Old Highway 1 through Caspar to Doyle Creek: Characteristics: Trail follows existing road (County Road 569), then unimproved trail along headlands to beach”. … “Point Cabrillo Alternative Coastal TrailLocation: Point Cabrillo Drive (Old Highway 1 now County Road 564) from Caspar Creek to Russian Gulch.” ….“Existing Development: Pedestrian, bicycle, and equestrian use; connects with alternative coastal trail along Point Cabrillo Drive (Old Highway 1) to west; and also connects to Little Lake-Sherwood Inland Trail; designated by County Trails Plan.” …. “Point Cabrillo Alternative Coastal Trail: Location: Point Cabrillo Drive (Old Highway 1 now County Road 564) from Caspar Creek to Russian Gulch. …. (End excerpts.)
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The Old Road Goes Down To and Along A Public Beach Located at the Back of Caspar Anchorage (a small bay).
“Instead we climb on the cycle and go slowly south looking for a restful place to pull off. .. The road leads out to the ocean again …. “(Cont.Next)
Back-bay Beach Park, one mi South of Caspar, CA. Most likely in 1968 the old road (main coastal highway Rt1.) would have gone thru the Caspar business district, then descended down a cliff-side to practically ocean level. It would first cross Caspar Creek followed by Doyle Creek, then go along the back of small anchorage (cove) and up the opposite cliff-side to the level land beyond. I believe this is the road most likely used by the Narrator since it would well fit his statement “The road leads out to the ocean again“. This also leads to a map location sent to me by Mr. Pirsig.
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Looking Across the Public Beach & Bay, We See Where The Road Climbs the Slope of a High Cliff To Reach the Cliff Top.
“[The road leads out to the ocean again] where it climbs to a high point that apparently juts out into the ocean but now is surrounded by banks of fog.“(Cont.Next)
Back-bay Beach Park, one mi South of Caspar, CA. I was unable to find the old road down the cliff on the North side of the Cove. (To Find it, study TopoZone map of link below. I believe the old road is the short dead-end-angle-down-segment above the letters “BM”. Where the old road crossed the back-bay is no longer marked on this map. It would have between the “BM” and the “41” on the TopoZone Map) Most certainly the roads I had to use did not fit the Narrator’s description. From Caspar, I had to go: East to the four lane present day Rt1, turn South, and then turn back West on the Point Cabrillo Road. (Study TopoZone map, link below.) The older Rt1 is the pavement seen in my previous pictures of the Caspar business area as well as the road seen in my next photos of the “climax scene” Detour in new browser frame for http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?lat=39.360077&lon=-123.81744
An aerial photo of Professor Wegner shows the old Rt1 around the back-bay clearly, although the new Rt1 is not so evident: Detour in new browser frame for http://home.att.net/~wagtail2/Caspar-17-10.htm
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Just As the Narrator Stated! There It Is,the Bay & the Beach!! Note Road at Right of Beach. This Is Road From Caspar, CA Which Brought Me To This High Cliff. More Photos of the Road and the Cliff Are Shown In Various of the Next Photos.
“ …. [but now is surrounded by banks of fog.] For a moment I see a distant break in the fog where some people rest in the sand, but soon the fog rolls in and the people are obscured.“(Cont.Next)
Point Cabrillo, one mi South of Caspar, CA. Note the “brief opening” symbolized by the fog. We as readers hope new possibilities may open up, but right away these possibilities “close up”.
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This Area Was Probably Once Covered With Coastal Shrubs, But Is Now a Cliff Side Housing Tract.
“I look at Chris and see a puzzled, empty look in his eyes, but as soon as I ask him to sit down some of the anger and hatred of this morning reappear. .. "Why?" he asks. .. "I think it’s time we should talk." .. "Well, talk," he says. All the old belligerence is back. It’s the "kind father" image he can’t stand. He knows the "niceness" is false. .. "What about the future?" I say. Stupid thing to ask. .. "What about it?" he says. .. "I was going to ask what you planned to do about the future." .. "I’m going to let it be." Contempt shows now.“(Cont.Next)
Point Cabrillo, one mi South of Caspar, CA. I have purposely avoided showing all the homes that have been built here since 1968. You will see these homes when I, eventually post my 360 degree full circle panorama for this location. The eight photos for this panorama have been extensively used for this series of photos for the ZMM Narrative.
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The Cliff We Are On Looks Just Like the Cliff on the Other Side of the Bay.
“The fog opens for a moment, revealing the cliff we are on, then closes again, and a sense of inevitability about what is happening comes over me. I’m being pushed toward something and the objects in the corner of the eye and the objects in the center of the vision are all of equal intensity now, all together in one, and I say, "Chris, I think it’s time to talk about some things you don’t know about.“
Point Cabrillo Paninsula, one mi South of Caspar, CA.
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In 1968 These Coastal Shrubs Probably Completely Covered the Surrounding Land. This Probably Forced Chris and Narrator To Be On the Mowed Grass Immediately At the Pavement Edge.
[In the preceding page the Narrator tries to explain to Chris, why he is about to experience another breakdown, and that Chris may never see him again. They try to decide on someone who will take care of Chris, but even this has no solution. The Narrator continues:] “"It’s not your fault, Chris. It never has been. Please understand that." .. His gaze fails in a sudden inward flash. Then his eyes close and a strange cry comes from his mouth, a wail like the sound of something far away. He turns and stumbles on the ground then falls, doubles up and kneels and rocks back and forth, head on the ground. A faint misty wind blows in the grass around him.“(Cont.Next)
Point Cabrillo, one mi South of Caspar, CA. Mr. Pirsig sent me a printed map of this curved road. It was similar to that of MapQuest at max magnification. In his accompanying letter he stated the "X" on this map was the location of the "climax scene". My photos of this area were all taken from the approximate physical location of where the map showed the "X" (In fact, my photos together form a 360 degree panorama that will be posted on this Gallery of Photos as soon as possible). Although I have been stating that the Narrator and Chris were at the immediate pavement edge at this curve, the actual "climax scene" could have happened anywhere along this road, and any distance from it.
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The Arrival of the Wind and the Gull, Are Good Omens, Bringing Hope.
“[A faint misty wind blows in the grass around him.] A seagull alights nearby.“(Cont.Next)
Point Cabrillo, one mi South of Caspar, CA. As is my practice, Narrator’s words in photo captions are in italics. This is also my practice in other places later in the caption, such as my commentary and/or caption title.
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In This Telephoto, the Road Is Seen As the Upward Sloping Cut Near Top Of Cliff. The Tiny Advertising Sign (Rectangle), and the Even Smaller Street Sign (On Post) Mark the Location of the Road Switch Back Seen In My Other Point Cabrillo “Climax Scene” Photos.
“Through the fog I hear the whine of gears of a truck and am terrified by it. .. "You have to get up, Chris." .. The wail is high-pitched and inhuman, like a siren in the distance. .. "You must get up!" .. He continues to rock and wail on the ground. .. I don’t know what to do now. I have no idea what to do. It’s all over. I want to run for the cliff, but fight that. I have to get him on the bus, and then the cliff will be all right. .. “(Cont.Next)
Point Cabrillo, one mi South of Caspar, CA. As mentioned in previous photo, Mr. Pirsig himself sent me a map of this road and marked this location at the road’s double-back as the location of the “Climax Scene”. The “whine of gears“ from the truck, must have been most particularly loud and persistent if this were a large, heavily loaded truck climbing the long, steep hill at left. The Trucker would have the truck in low gear, with the engine ‘just a roaring” at high RPM, as the truck labored up the hill. Very frightening because it would be unseen. It would be looming at any moment from the fog immediately beside them!
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