Travel and Fire Safety
People who visit Esalen Institute may encounter two specific problems that affect their experience of the institute.
The most common problem is driving conditions. Highway 1, the principal gateway for visitors traveling to Esalen Institute, is an audacious and problematic engineering accomplishment. The road traverses the edge of cliffs overhanging the ocean. Often it is closed by landslides. Especially during periods of stormy weather, visitors are cautioned to check the status of the Highway 1 before departure.
A much less common problem is the risk of fire. Esalen is surrounded by large tracts of state forests and federal wilderness areas. For this reason, human habitations in Big Sur are periodically threatened by fire. The "Rat Creek" fire, in 1985, damaged some of Esalen's facilities. The "Basin Complex" fire, in 2008, threatened Esalen, but never came close enough to damage the grounds. However, there was a fire in October 2011 that destroyed housing at Esalen’s South Coast Center.
The Esalen community has learned to live with the physical challenges of life in Big Sur, although visitors who are used to different lifestyles may find these problems disconcerting.
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Famous quotes containing the words travel and, travel, fire and/or safety:
“To get away from one’s working environment is, in a sense, to get away from one’s self; and this is often the chief advantage of travel and change.”
—Charles Horton Cooley (1864–1929)
“When you travel to the Celestial City, carry no letter of introduction. When you knock, ask to see God,—none of the servants.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“And new Philosophy calls all in doubt,
The element of fire is quite put out;
The Sun is lost, and th’earth, and no mans wit
Can well direct him where to look for it.”
—John Donne (c. 1572–1631)
“Perhaps in a book review it is not out of place to note that the safety of the state depends on cultivating the imagination.”
—Stephen Vizinczey (b. 1933)