This Hotspot provides limited access to riparian habitat along Paloma Creek and Piney Creek from two paved roads: Carmel Valley Road and Arroyo Seco Road. There is about 2.5 miles of Carmel Valley Road that more or less follows the winding turns of (mostly) Piney Creek but also parts of Paloma Creek. Alas, this stretch of road has several "one-lane" sign-posted spots, produced by erosion, that are quite dangerous to drivers and pedestrians. Local drivers run these spots much-too-fast, so excessive caution is required at all times, and especially on weekends when traffic can be heavy. Unfortunately, it is the dangerous, curved roadways that give birders a view down into Piney Creek. Birding is certainly best early in the morning, as this dry, open country can be very hot in spring or summer. At all times, bird cautiously off the roadway. There are just a few pull-outs, typically placed some distance from the spots one can look down into the creek.

The other access is from a bridge on Arroyo Seco Road over Piney Creek. One crosses that bridge almost immediately after turning west on Arroyo Seco Road from the intersection with Carmel Valley Road (see adjacent map. There is a wide turn-out on the left-hand side just across the bridge for parking. So this "L-shaped" Hotspot (see map) includes 2.5 miles of Carmel Valley Road plus a half-mile of Arroyo Seco Road.

All the land on either side of each road is privately owned (including a trailer park at about Paloma Road), so this Hotspot provides only roadside birding, done with caution, with only a few pull-outs for parking. One purpose of the Hotspot, though, is access to habitat for riparian birds in a rather dry, arid habitat. Also, throughout the Hotspot, watch for steep, mostly barren, cliffs. There are several such spots along Carmel Valley Road, and another very large cliff-face just downhill from the Piney Creek bridge on Arroyo Seco Road. These cliffs have resident Rufous-crowned Sparrows, and small populations of both Rock Wren and Canyon Wren.

This is mostly a spot for local Monterey County birders, both because of the dangerous nature of birding from narrow and windy roadways on narrow road-edges, and for the fact that the key birds here are widspread and much easier to see in southern California and Arizona: Black-chinned Hummingbird, Yellow-breasted Chat, and Phainopepla are the important local species here. Each is present in rather small numbers and the Phainopepla can be quite erratic (but look for huge clumps of mistletoe in large oaks, including oaks away from the creek). Other species in spring/summer include Bullock's and Hooded Orioles, and rocky hillsides have resident Rufous-crowned Sparrow populations. The rocky walls of the Paloma/Piney Creek canyons have a few Rock and/or Canyon Wrens, but these are not typically heard, and almost never seen, from Carmel Valley Road. There have been times when these wrens could be heard along the first half-mile of Arroyo Seco Road.

If you are driving from Highway 1 along the coast, Carmel Valley Road runs east from Highway 1 in Carmel for almost 40 miles, topping a watershed summit at milepost 30, and descending into the Arroyo Seco watershed. Most of the road is a wide two-lane road, heavily trafficked around Carmel Valley Village and eastwards into the oak savanna, but becomes narrow and winding both west and east of the watershed summit. After that summit the road widens for a few miles, but becomes very narrow and eroded along the stretch next to Paloma Creek starting at milepost 38, and then where Paloma Creek enters Piney Creek at about milepost 38.5. This Hotspot begins at milepost 38 and runs for 2.5 miles to intersection with Arroyo Seco Road at ~milepost 40.5 (no milepost present). From the intersection of Arroyo Seco Road, you can turn right and immediately cross over Piney Creek, which provides another view of the riparian habitat. 

If you are driving from Highway 101 through the Salinas Valley, you would reach this Hotspot by following Arroyo Seco Road west from its exit south of Soledad, or via Elm Ave (County Rd G16) west from Greenfield. These are both two-lane paved roads. From that direction, the Hotspot begins at the intersection of Arroyo Seco Road and Carmel Valley Road.

If one turns west on Arroyo Seco Road, one quickly crosses Piney Creek and goes downhill to wide turn-outs below high cliffs on the right side of the road. On the opposite (left) side of Arroyo Seco Road, one encounters cottonwood and willow habitat in the Arroyo Seco River floodplain. This land is managed as a wildlife reserve but there is no public access. One can, however, bird along Arroyo Seco Road as far as the now-abandoned "Miller Ranch" (often shown on maps, but now fenced off), for the first half mile of Arroyo Seco Road beyond the Carmel Valley Road intersection.

Take care to park off the road throughout the Hot Spot, be very cautious where the roads have eroded into "one-lane" curves, and watch out for cars driving too fast on both roads. In addition, this is rattlesnake country, which may use the road edges to warm up in summer. Watch where you step.