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Santa Rita Road (San Luis Obispo County)

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Santa Rita Road is approximately 15.4-mile rural highway located in the Santa Lucia Mountains of San Luis Obispo County.  This corridor begins in Templeton at Templeton Hills Road and becomes a dirt surfaced roadway upon departing the city westbound.  Santa Rita Road is carried over the Santa Lucia Mountains via an unnamed pass and terminates at Old Creek Road near Cayucos.

Historically what is now called Santa Rita Road was known as "Cayucos-Templeton Road."  Portions of the road connecting Cayucos directly to Templeton first began to appear on maps in the late 1890s.  Approximately 14 miles of Santa Rita Road remain unpaved but are easy to traverse in dry weather by any motorized vehicle.  




Part 1; the history of Santa Rita Road

Historically what is now called Santa Rita Road was known as Cayucos-Templeton Road.  As the original name implies it was once the primary highway across the Santa Lucia Mountains which linked Templeton in Salinas Valley west to Cayucos on the Pacific Ocean.  Much of the roadway is located directly above the courses of Santa Rita Creek and Old Creek.  

Cayucos was founded in 1867 along the coast by Captain James Cass.  Cass had obtained 320 acres of land from what had been Rancho Morro y Cayucos.  Originally overland access from Cayucos through the Santa Lucia Mountains was provided by a stage road following modern Old Creek Road, Apple Road, York Mountain Road, Jack Creek Road, Oakdale Road and California State Route 46 to the outskirts of what is now Paso Robles.  

The Cayucos-Paso Robles Road can be seen on the 1882 Bancroft's map of California. 


The origins of Templeton can be traced to 1886 when land on what had been Rancho de Paso Robles was purchased by the West Coast Land Company.  The West Coast Land Company sought to establish a town site and siding on the Southern Pacific Railroad south of nearby Paso Robles.  This community was intended to be called "Crocker" in honor to Southern Pacific Railroad President Charles F. Crocker.  Ultimately Charles F. Crocker requested the community be named "Templeton" in reference to his son.  

Templeton can be seen on the 1890 George F. Cram Railroad Map of California alongside the Southern Pacific Railroad.  

Portions of what became Cayucos-Templeton Road first appear on the 1897 United States Geological Survey map of Cayucos.  The portion of what is now Santa Rita Road east of Old Creek Road (Township 28 South, Range 11 East) can be seen branching east of Old Creek to where a series of switchbacks are now located.  It does not appear that during this era the road extended all the way east to Templeton.  

One of the first major highway maps to display the completed Cayucos-Templeton Road was the 1917 edition by the California State Automobile Association.  

The portions of Cayucos-Templeton Road from Old Creek east to Templeton can be seen in detail on the 1919 United States Geological Survey maps of Adelaida and Paso Robles.  The roadway is shown to crest at an unnamed pass located at approximately 1,200 feet above sea level. 


Cayucos-Templeton Road appears as a minor local highway on the 1935 Division of Highways map of San Luis Obispo County.  The bridge over Old Creek near Old Creek Road was replaced in 1940.  

The name "Cayucos-Templeton Road" appears on United States Geological Survey maps as late as the 1961 Adelaida edition.  It isn't clear when the roadway name was formally changed to Santa Rita Road. 

The bridge over Santa Rita Creek along Santa Rita Road in Templeton was replaced in 1971.  The segment in/around Templeton along with the portion near the Old Creek Bridge remain the only portions of Santa Rita Road ever to receive an asphalt surface.  


Part 2; a drive on Santa Rita Road

The easiest access to westbound Santa Rita Road from US Route 101 in Templeton is to use Exit 224 and follow Vineyard Drive west. 

Santa Rita Road winds through Templeton neighborhoods and departs the city limit at the Santa Rita Creek Bridge.  







Santa Rita Road continues as a surfaced roadway a short distance west of Templeton.  Yellow advisory signs warn traffic of the winding grade ahead in the Santa Lucia Mountains and that Santa Rita Road might be impassable in wet weather. 










Santa Rita Road descends into a gulch flanking the southern bank of Santa Rita Creek.  The asphalt gives way to a short dirt segment. 










A second asphalt section of Santa Rita Road is short lived and gives way to a much longer dirt segment. 



Westbound Santa Rita Road initially follows a gentle grade along Santa Rita Creek before making a rapid ascent to an unnamed summit above the forest line.  





















Santa Rita Road makes a sustained descent through switchbacks and picks up the course of Old Creek. 
















Santa Rita Road levels out and continues west through a residential area to a final asphalt segment.  

















Santa Rita Road crosses the Old Creek Bridge and reaches a western terminus at Old Creek Road.  




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