Soledad, CA

Drive State Route 146 east out of Soledad and the valley floor gives way to a road that narrows to a single lane before it reaches the west entrance of Pinnacles National Park, roughly fourteen miles on. That road is the reason many visitors know the town at all. Soledad itself sits midway down the Salinas Valley, a farm city where the highway, the fields and the hills all arrive within a few minutes of each other. The town's roots run through the mission. Mission Nuestra Señora de la Soledad went up in 1791, and its chapel and small museum now stand on Fort Romie Road, with a shaded spot on the grounds where visitors sometimes eat lunch. The town proper came later, after Catalina Munras gave land for a church, a school, a cemetery and the railroad. Soledad became a city in March 1921. Farming still runs the local calendar. Dole built a fresh-salad processing plant here in the 1990s, and the fields around town keep crews busy through much of the year. Taste of the Pinnacles pours local wines at its tasting bar in town, a handy stop for anyone connecting the valley to the park. Pinnacles is the main outdoor draw, known for its talus caves, including the Balconies Caves, along with climbing routes and a condor recovery program. Many people pass through Soledad for gas and a meal on the way, which turns the highway exit into a small crossroads for the whole area. Visitors and valley traffic share the same few roads. Highway 101, State Route 146 and the main streets carry commuters, farm trucks and park traffic at once, and the bus line to Salinas and King City is the main public alternative. Living here means a mission, working fields and park-bound traffic all in one small place, with the nearby hills always in view.