I need help finding a low elevation route from San Diego to San Francisco!

[garanda1988]

Due to my girlfriend's health issues she can't be in high elevation, we have taken the Grapevine before and it was horrendous for her, he have gone around through the east through the desert and it still got pretty high. I've taken the 1 but that just takes too long. Does anyone know of a better route or a website that can figure out the lowest elevation route to get somewhere? We have a wedding to go to Friday May 6th and we are leaving San Diego Thursday night and driving all the way there starting at about 8pm. The wedding is at 5pm on a boat that is coming out of Alameda so maybe leaving early Friday morning is possible if need be. Please help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you!

[Southwest Dave]

Hello and welcome to RTA !

Others might come up with better suggestions but to avoid elevation of just 4000ft, then I think the 101 from I-405 is your best bet. Driving all night is probably not the best thing to do as you will have trouble resting in the day when you arrive and will then be exhausted for the wedding, particularly if you have been working all day Thursday, which would then also make the drive unsafe. I would either leave at 8 pm as planned [earlier if possible] and drive for 2 or 3 hours and stop for the night, or just leave around 3-4 am after a few hours sleep which again, isn't ideal.

In the tool bar above you will see 'Advanced maps' where you can create a route and see elevation changes by selecting the option below the map.

[garanda1988]

Thank you, I think that is the same route we took one time already but the pass through the 154 was very painful as well, I just saw a map and it seems like I can just stay on the 101 and go around a little further, (we make this trip once a month minimum) now I'm worried about the cross from San Luis Obispo to Atascadero, then from Salinas to Gilroy. Also, thank you for the advice! I definitely will spend the night somewhere if I don't feel safe driving, so far the last 6 trips to SF have been similarly leaving San Diego at 7-8pm and driving through the night, I feel like I fall asleep during the day when the sun is hitting me and at night I feel awake and ready to go! Strange, I know lol. I tried the advance maps but my computer must not be working correctly because nothing happens when I press go. I'll try from another computer.

[garanda1988]

I think I found a way! Here is the link below to my saved route

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/3965...m3!1i0!2i6!3i0

[Midwest Michael]

That to me looks exactly like what Dave recommended, except you're taking CA-1 through Malibu instead of US-101 from the 405 to Oxnard. You're also using CA-73, which is a toll road, instead of just using I-5 to I-405.

[garanda1988]

You are absolutely right thank you for catching that!

[glc]

Taking CA-1 from Santa Monica to Oxnard will avoid the Sepulveda Pass, and staying on US-101 through Gaviota will avoid the San Marcos Pass on CA-154.

Why are you not staying on US-101 out of Salinas?