Pescadero, Pebble Beach, CA

Pescadero is the southeast edge of Pebble Beach, the side that faces Carmel-by-the-Sea. The land lies inland of the coastal bends of 17-Mile Drive and follows Pescadero Canyon, a wooded fold in the hills where houses sit among cypress, pine and oak. Of the Forest's neighborhoods, it feels the most like the village next door. Homes tend to be set back from the road at the ends of private lanes, with the trees closing in around them, and more of them face woods and canyon than fairway. Each year goats are brought into the upper canyon to graze the dry brush, an effort of the Del Monte Forest Conservancy, a nonprofit that looks after over 700 acres of the Forest, which shows how much open land is woven through the area. On the water side, Pescadero Point is a lookout on 17-Mile Drive. For a green stop, Forest Hill Park and Carmelita Park in Carmel-by-the-Sea are about half a mile from the line, and Carmel Beach City Park sits a little farther. The beach is the place to watch the light go down over Carmel Bay. Meals are across the border in Carmel-by-the-Sea. Hog's Breath Inn, founded by Clint Eastwood in 1970, serves dinner around fire-lit patios. Brophy's Tavern on Fourth Avenue pours eight taps and is known for its fish and chips. The Del Monte Forest trail network, which adds up to over 27 miles of marked routes, is a drive inland, and dozens of Carmel galleries sit a short distance from the line. Carmel's shops and the Carmel Gate onto Highway 1 are the daily anchors, and Monterey and Pacific Grove are a longer trip across the Forest. Nothing sells food or groceries inside the boundary, so even a morning coffee means heading into Carmel. The payoff is a part of the Forest where the trees feel older than the houses.