This is a narrow winding road with views of the interior expansive grasslands and ranches. The safest pull outs are near driveways. Drive to the end of the road where there is roadside parking. One can walk on this road to survey the grasslands, the nearby houses, and telephone wires.

Historically this was the closest area to the Monterey Peninsula to find Yellow-billed Magpie. Currently their population is in decline and it’s not always guaranteed to find one. Listen for the flat trill of Chipping Sparrow inside the branches of an oak tree.

The beautiful valley between Monterey and Salinas, granted by Governor Guiterrez to Francisco Figueroa in 1836, inspired Steinbeck’s short stories and California-based novels. John Steinbeck’s The Pastures of Heaven, a short story cycle published in 1932, is set in the valley. In their youth, Steinbeck and his sister, Mary, played at the base of Castle Rock, the “fence of earth” giving Corral de Tierra its Spanish name.

The community of Corral de Tierra lies along Highway 68 midway between Salinas and the Monterey Peninsula. State Route (SR) 68 stretches 20 miles between Salinas and Pacific Grove. It is part of the DeAnza Trail, a route that once linked all of California’s mission settlements during the Spanish Colonial era. In the last half century, small neighborhoods have been built in the valleys running off the Monterey-Salinas Highway, and a sense of independent identity and community has formed among the residents in the community of Corral de Tierra, California 93908.

CalTrans had plans to turn SR 68 into a freeway in the 1950s and 1960s, but environmental concerns stopped the expansion.The corner of Corral de Tierra and Highway 68 is 10 miles from the City of Monterey, 7 miles from the City of Salinas, 9.8 miles from the City of Seaside, and 8 miles from the town of Del Rey Oaks. It is in close proximity to many coastal and inland cities.