Juan Bautista de Anza and a band of 240 immigrants departed from the newly-established Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa and traveled north en route to establishing a pueblo and presidio where San Francisco now stands. Seventy years later, on a rainy, December day in 1846, John C. Fremont's California Battalion of 430 men, hundreds of horses and wheeled howitzers descended into San Luis Obispo en route to Los Angeles, seizing the city of San Luis Obispo along the way. For both men, the Cuesta Pass proved to be a vital route. Its importance as a highway linking northern and southern California has never diminished, even as its identity changed.
Few roads have such storied histories.
Imagine trudging with de Anza's men along a narrow, rocky path on an excursion from San Luis Obispo to Mission San Antonio, a full day's travel. From its roots as a humble path known as El Camino Real used by Spanish explorers and missionaries, the route over Cuesta Pass has evolved to meet changing transportation demands.