Travelling the Pacific Coast Highway PCH-1

Pacific Coast Highway- Los Angeles to Monterey, California
For Wed. January 7th, 2026 

https://www.roadtripusa.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Header-PacificCoast-1300x400.jpg

Background
The Pacific Coast Highway (PCH), primarily California's State Route 1, is a legendary 650+ mile scenic drive famous for dramatic ocean views, rugged cliffs (especially in Big Sur), historic landmarks like Bixby Bridge, redwood forests, and charming coastal towns, offering iconic California experiences from San Francisco to Southern California, ideal for road trips with stops at beaches, aquariums, and state parks for unforgettable sunsets and natural beauty. This is US Highway 101, which stretches on the west coast of the US from California to Washington (state) and is referred to as CA-1 in California. (https://www.roadtripusa.com/pacific-coast/)

Popular Stops & Sights -  We’ll visit a few locations as we fly the Pacific Coast Highway in the California Section. 

    Big Sur: The most iconic stretch with towering cliffs, crashing waves, and the famous Bixby Bridge (engineering marvel). 
    Monterey Bay Aquarium: World-class marine life exhibits.
    Central Coast: Features Monterey Bay, Carmel-by-the-Sea, Hearst Castle: A historic mansion with opulent architecture.
    Elephant Seal Rookery (San Simeon): Witness hundreds of seals on the beach.
    McWay Falls: A waterfall dropping onto the beach in Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park.  
    Redwood National Park, California – Stretch your legs with a walk through Lady Bird Johnson Grove 
    Mendocino, California – One of the prettiest towns on the California coast, and extra fun for fans of the TV show Murder, She Wrote 
    San Francisco, California – Easily one of the most enjoyable cities in the US and a great place to start, end, or spend a weekend along the Pacific Coast Highway 
    Monterey, California – Home to the excellent Monterey Bay Aquarium and the internationally famous Monterey Jazz Festival 
    San Simeon, California (Hearst Castle) – One of the truly unique attractions to see on a classic Highway 1 road trip 
    San Luis Obispo, California – A lively college town with a beautiful 18th-century Spanish mission to tour, and the Madonna Inn, one of the quirkiest places to spend a night 
    Los Angeles, California – Hollywood, Sunset Boulevard, and an intersection with another storied road trip: Route 66 

Our Trip

This is part one of the Pacific Coast Highway. In this trip we’ll cover the segment between Los Angeles and Monterey, California travelling northward and for the most part we are following the Pacific Coast Highway US-101 or CA-1. (In our final Route 66 trip we covered the southernmost section of Pacific Coast Highway which is between San Diego and Los Angeles. This first segment is 338 nm of the PCH departing from Los Angeles and heading northward to Monterey, California and we’ll continue the excursions until we have completed the entire route of US101-the Pacific Coast Highway all the way to Washington. We’ll make stops at KBUR KSZP KOXR KSBA KSMX KSBP CN66 plus our final stop at Monterey KMRY.

Aircraft: 

Any GA aircraft that can travel at least 150 nm which has an open/wide cockpit view to be able to take in the sites. (I might just use the non-turbo Bonanza for this trip). 

Add-on Scenery:  All airports are in the default sim but there are a few scenery adds: that is if you want some eye candy!!

(KLAX) Los Angeles Intl Airport: KLAX is a 2024 default handcrafted airport. (There is a Payware-KLAX by Inbuilds for 2024). 
MASH Film Set: https://flightsim.to/file/20953/m-a-s-h-the-film-set by Photosbykev
(KBUR) Hollywood Burbank Airport (Bob Hope): https://flightsim.to/file/22909/kbur-hollywood-burbank-airport by ianthehippo *
*There is also a KBUR payware by Orbx.
Six Flags Magic Mountain: https://flightsim.to/file/28228/six-flags-magic-mountain-theme-park-los-angeles-ca-hand-made-photogrammetry-replacements by TheWhite Arcades
(KSZP) Santa Paula: https://flightsim.to/file/24026/santa-paula-airport-kszp by timot75 (There is also a payware version by justflight).
(KOXR) Oxnard: https://flightsim.to/file/48180/oxnard-ca-koxr by Mountainair
(KSBA) Santa Barbara Muni: https://flightsim.to/file/30461/ksba-santa-barbara by danielsjam (There is also a payware version by Orbx).
(KSBP) San Luis Obispo: https://flightsim.to/file/28485/ksbp-san-luis-obispo-reginal-airport by BullfrogSim. 
*There is also a KSBP payware by justflight.
(CN66) Hearst San Simean: https://flightsim.to/file/48956/hearst-san-simeon-airstrip-cn66 by fatpossum32.
KMRY Monterey (Payware by bmw if you have it, if not, the default is perfectly is fine!)
KMRY Monterey Wharf: https://flightsim.to/file/100218/monterey-bay-california-harbor-and-piers by GoneFlyin.
(You sure don’t need to go out and buy payware but feel free to use it if you have it!)

FP, itinerary, etc can be found here. 

Time and Weather
Prefer to fly real weather if possible but if not, the few clouds or high clouds might make a nice choice.  For takeoff: set the simulator time to @0630 (ish) local.  (This time simulates a dawn flight and so that the sun will rise and be on your right side as we travel northward!) 

Multiplayer Particulars
Date and time: Wednesday, January 07, 2026 - 1900 UTC, (1400 Eastern, 1300 Central, 1200 Mountain, 1100 Pacific) 
AVSIM Discord Server: https://discord.gg/K5Vy6UxWNm  - AVSIM GROUP EVENTS-WED. COM1
Microsoft Flight Simulator Multiplayer: EAST-USA Server

If you want to help others enjoy the multiplayer experience, don't forget to enter your aircraft details on the multiplayer spreadsheet (linked here). Your courtesy will save others a lot of time and effort. Thanks! 

Norm Richards