Palo Colorado Canyon, California#Palo Colorado Road

File:Palo Colorado diseno closeup.jpg

Arroyo de Palo Colorado was first named on a diseño, a hand-drawn descriptive map of Rancho San Jose y Sur Chiquito, that was submitted by José Castro to the Land Claims Commission in 1853 to prove his title to the rancho.{{Cite web|url=http://ci.carmel.ca.us/carmel/index.cfm/linkservid/A836D277-3048-7B3D-C52E40C677DF9680/showMeta/0/|title=Historic Context Statement Carmel-by-the-Sea|first1=Teresa|last1=Grimes|first2=Leslie|last2=Heumann|date=January 7, 1997|website=ci.carmel.ca.us|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150921213703/http://ci.carmel.ca.us/carmel/index.cfm/linkservid/A836D277-3048-7B3D-C52E40C677DF9680/showMeta/0/|archive-date=2015-09-21|url-status=live|access-date=30 December 2017}}{{Cite book|title=California Place Names: The Origin and Etymology of Current Geographical Names 1889-1969|first1=Erwin |last1=Gustav|date=1998|publisher=University of California Press|others=Bright, William|isbn=9780520266193|edition=fourth, rev. and enl.|location=Berkeley|oclc=37854320 |page=279}}

File:Palo Colorado Canyon Hoist.jpg

The entrance to the Palo Colorado Road is at the former settlement at Notley's Landing and its intersection with the Big Sur Coast Highway. The first {{convert|3|mile}} of road winds through a Redwood tree-lined canyon alongside Palo Colorado Creek. It then climbs sharply up the Murray Grade to the top of Green Ridge and the Mid Coast Fire Brigade fire station and into the Rocky Creek watershed. It then climbs again up Long Ridge to a point known locally as The Hoist and into the Bixby Creek watershed. The name for "The Hoist" came about because during the turn of the century sleds (nicknamed "Go-Devils") or wagon-loads of tanbark and lumber were lowered by block and tackle down the steep Murray Grade portion of the road.{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070210022848/http://www.mprpd.org/parks/millcreek.htm|archive-date=February 10, 2007|title= Mill Creek Redwood Preserve|year=2009|publisher=Monterey Peninsula Regional Park District |access-date=October 27, 2009|url=http://www.mprpd.org/parks/millcreek.htm}} The old pulley is still chained to a long wooden beam labeled "The Hoist" that supports mailboxes.{{cite web|url=http://adventuresportsjournal.com/content/?p=522|title=Five Great Winter Hikes in Big Sur|last=Fischer|first=Meade|access-date=November 14, 2009|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120710210718/http://adventuresportsjournal.com/content/?p=522|archive-date=July 10, 2012|url-status=live}} The road ended at this point until 1950, when the US Army Corps of Engineers began a construction project to extend the road to the North fork of the Little Sur River and future site of Camp Pico Blanco.

The road connects to several private roads to the north. Garrapatos Road connects to the Big Sur Land Trust's Glen Deven Ranch.{{cite web|url=http://www.bigsurlandtrust.org/glen-deven-ranch.htm|title=Landscapes - Glen Deven Ranch (Big Sur Land Trust)|first=Big Sur Land|last=Trust|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180101135519/http://www.bigsurlandtrust.org/glen-deven-ranch.htm|archive-date=2018-01-01}} From the top of Murray Grade, an unpaved road follows Green Ridge and at "The Hoist", another follows Long Ridge. Both are used to access private residences and as fire emergency routes.

When fully open, the road ends after {{convert|7.4|mile|km}} at Bottchers Gap, at {{convert|2050|ft}} altitude, the site of former homesteader John Bottcher's cabin in 1885–90. It is currently a primitive campsite and trail head into the Ventana Wilderness and the Los Padres National Forest. A locked gate provides access to a {{convert|3.3|mi}} long private unpaved road leading to Camp Pico Blanco.{{cite web|url=http://www.ventanawild.org/news/fe01/comings.html|title=The Story of Comings Cabin|last=Wood|first=Lea|date=Fall 2001|work=Double Cone Quarterly, Volume IV, Number 3|access-date=November 15, 2009|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100124211149/http://www.ventanawild.org/news/fe01/comings.html|archive-date=January 24, 2010|df=mdy-all}}{{cite web|title=John Bottcher, Patent #CACAAA-090676|url=https://thelandpatents.com/patents/cacaaa-090676|publisher=The Land Patent|access-date=12 August 2016|date=September 25, 1888}}

The last five-mile segment of Palo Colorado Road was heavily damaged in January 2017. Heavy rains caused debris to block a culvert under the road and Rocky Creek overflowed Palo Colorado Road at mile marker 3.3.{{cite web|url=http://www.montereycountyweekly.com/news/local_news/county-explores-taking-over-palo-colorado-road-from-the-feds/article_05044f5a-6cd4-11e7-9a00-a3bc62750597.html|title=County explores taking over Palo Colorado Road from the feds, braces for $13.5 million in repairs.|first=Nic|last=Coury|date=July 20, 2017 |access-date=2018-01-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170720095000/http://www.montereycountyweekly.com/news/local_news/county-explores-taking-over-palo-colorado-road-from-the-feds/article_05044f5a-6cd4-11e7-9a00-a3bc62750597.html|archive-date=2017-07-20|url-status=live}} The floods resulted from runoff from lands burnt by the Soberanes Fire. Monterey County installed a temporary bridge at Rocky Creek.{{cite web|url=https://www.fostertravel.com/californias-big-sur-coast-a-scenic-drive/|title=California's Big Sur Coast: A Scenic Drive - Foster Travel Publishing|date=19 July 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180101083729/https://www.fostertravel.com/californias-big-sur-coast-a-scenic-drive/|archive-date=1 January 2018}}{{cite web|last1=Wright|first1=Tom|title=Palo Colorado Road to close for months as crews repair culverts|url=http://www.montereyherald.com/article/NF/20180501/NEWS/180509967|website=Monterey Herald|access-date=3 May 2018|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180503180457/http://www.montereyherald.com/article/NF/20180501/NEWS/180509967|archive-date=3 May 2018|url-status=live}}

The county repaired the road where it crosses Rocky Creek in 2018, but slipouts farther east on the road remain and the road {{as of|2020|06|lc=on}} remains closed.{{cite web |url=http://www.co.monterey.ca.us/government/departments-i-z/resource-management-agency-rma-/public-works-facilities/faq-s/palo-colorado-road-repair-projects |title=Palo Colorado Road Repair Projects |access-date=2018-01-07 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180108004706/http://www.co.monterey.ca.us/government/departments-i-z/resource-management-agency-rma-/public-works-facilities/faq-s/palo-colorado-road-repair-projects |archive-date=2018-01-08 }}{{cite web |url=http://www.montereyherald.com/article/NF/20170113/NEWS/170119874 |title=Monterey County closes part of Palo Colorado Road due to storm damage |access-date=2018-01-07 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180108004706/http://www.montereyherald.com/article/NF/20170113/NEWS/170119874 |archive-date=2018-01-08 }}{{cite web|url=http://www.weareharris.com/work/projects/california/palo-colorado-road-repair-project|title=Palo Colorado Road Repair Project - Harris & Associates|website=Harris & Associates|access-date=2018-01-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180108062922/http://www.weareharris.com/work/projects/california/palo-colorado-road-repair-project|archive-date=2018-01-08|url-status=live}} The rains caused considerable additional damage to the road between The Hoist at milepost 4.0 and Bottcher's Gap at milepost 7.4. In August, 2018, the county installed a security gate at The Hoist to prevent non-residents from proceeding further. Camp Pico Blanco, Mill Creek Redwood Preserve, the Little Sur River trailhead on the Old Coast Road, and the Bottchers Gap campground and trail head are closed. About 60 homes are in the area beyond the closure.

The county estimates the four projects in that area will cost about $11 million. The county does not have sufficient funds to repair the entire road and is applying for federal grants. The cost for all of all repairs along the road from milepost 1.0 to 7.4 at Bottcher's Gap is about $20 million.{{Cite web |url=https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/11/08/palo-colorados-long-road-to-repair/ |title=Palo Colorado's long road to repair |date=November 8, 2019 |access-date=2020-05-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191111005057/https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/11/08/palo-colorados-long-road-to-repair/ |archive-date=2019-11-11 |url-status=live }}

File:Roy Bixby Palo Colorado Canyon 1932.jpg

Before the arrival of Europeans, the land was occupied by the Esselen people. They had a number of seasonal villages located along the Big Sur coast from near present-day Hurricane Point to the vicinity of Vicente Creek in the south, inland to the upper Carmel and Arroyo Seco Rivers. A large boulder with a dozen or more deep mortar bowls worn into it, known as a bedrock mortar, is located in Apple Tree Camp on the southwest slope of Devil's Peak, northeast of Palo Colorado Road.{{cite web|last=Breschini|first=Gary S.|title=A Brief Overview of the Esselen Indians of Monterey County|url=http://www.mchsmuseum.com/esselen.html|publisher=Montery County Historical Society|access-date=November 3, 2011|author2=Trudy Haversat|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111122003607/http://www.mchsmuseum.com/esselen.html|archive-date=November 22, 2011|df=mdy-all}}

During the Spanish mission era from 1769 to 1833, the native people were heavily affected by the establishment of three missions (Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo, Mission Nuestra Señora de la Soledad, and Mission San Antonio de Padua) near them from 1770 to 1791. The native population was decimated by disease, including measles, smallpox, and syphilis, which wiped out 90 percent of the native population,{{cite book|last1=Kripal|first1=Jeffrey J.|title=America and the Religion of No Religion|date=April 2007|publisher=The University of Chicago Press|location=Chicago|isbn=9780226453712|pages=594}}{{rp||31}} and by conscript labor, poor food, and forced assimilation. Virtually all of the Esselen people's villages within the current Los Padres National Forest were left largely uninhabited.{{cite web|last1=Blakley|first1=E.R. "Jim"|title=Historical Overview of the Los Padres National Forest|url=http://lpfw.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/19850700_Blakley_HistoricalOverviewLPNF.pdf|publisher=ForestWatch|first2=Karen|last2=Barnette|date=July 1985|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160207165451/http://lpfw.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/19850700_Blakley_HistoricalOverviewLPNF.pdf|archive-date=February 7, 2016|df=mdy-all}}

{{further|Ranchos of California}}

Rancho San Jose y Sur Chiquito was first granted in 1835 to Teodoro Gonzalez and re-granted by Governor Juan Alvarado the same year to Marcelino Escobar. It bordered the first mile of Palo Colorado Canyon to the north. It was later owned by Jose Castro and was used for farming and ranching.{{Cite web|url=http://ci.carmel.ca.us/carmel/index.cfm/linkservid/A836D277-3048-7B3D-C52E40C677DF9680/showMeta/0/|title=Historic Context Statement Carmel-by-the-Sea|first1=Teresa|last1=Grimes|first2=Leslie|last2=Heumann|date=January 7, 1997|website=ci.carmel.ca.us|access-date=30 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140510211601/http://ci.carmel.ca.us/carmel/index.cfm/linkservid/A836D277-3048-7B3D-C52E40C677DF9680/showMeta/0/|archive-date=10 May 2014|url-status=live}}Ogden Hoffman, 1862, Reports of Land Cases Determined in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, Numa Hubert, San Francisco

Yankee businessman Charles Henry Bixby obtained a patent on April 10, 1889 for {{convert|160|acre}} south of Bixby Creek,{{cite web |url=http://www.thelandpatents.com/patents/cacaaa-090682 |title=Charles H Bixby, Patent #CACAAA-090682 |publisher=The Land Patents |access-date=20 August 2016}} and later bought additional tracts of land on the north side of the creek, between it and Palo Colorado Canyon. In the 20th century, Axel Adler built a cabin on the former Bixby Ranch and gradually acquired more land. In 2013, descendants of the Adler family who lived in Sweden put {{convert|1312|acre}} of the Adler Ranch on the market for $15 million. It is located at the end and south of Palo Colorado Road. The ranch is located along the Little Sur River at the northwestern edge of the Ventana Wilderness adjacent to the Monterey Peninsula Regional Park District's Mill Creek Redwood Preserve, Los Padres National Forest, and includes the peak of Bixby Mountain and the upper portions of Mescal Ridge. The El Sur Ranch and Pico Blanco Mountain are to the south.

The nonprofit Western Rivers Conservancy secured a purchase agreement for the land. It initially wanted to sell the land to the US Forest Service, which would make it possible for hikers to travel from Bottchers Gap to the sea. But some local residents thought the federal agency lacked funding required to maintain a critical fire break on the land.{{cite web|last1=Counts|first1=Chris|title=Big Sur mountain is on the market: $15M|url=http://www.pineconearchive.com/100326-3.htm|website=www.pineconearchive.com|date=March 26, 2010}}{{cite web|last1=Schmalz|first1=David|title=A proposition to create more public land in Big Sur has some residents seeing red.|url=http://www.montereycountyweekly.com/news/local_news/a-proposition-to-create-more-public-land-in-big-sur/article_f88ce988-98b3-11e7-b5ce-53423dc1d1c3.html|website=Monterey County Weekly|date=September 14, 2017 |access-date=19 March 2018|language=en}}

On October 2, 2019, the California Natural Resources Agency announced it was seeking funding to obtain the land for the Esselen tribe. The Adler family agreed to sell {{convert|1199|acre}} of the Adler Ranch.{{cite web |last1=Shalev |first1=Asaf |title=The Esselen of Big Sur are landless no more, thanks to a $4.5 million state grant. |url=http://www.montereycountyweekly.com/news/local_news/the-esselen-of-big-sur-are-landless-no-more-thanks-to-a-4-5-million/article_9f38e302-eaee-11e9-8580-c3c35066718c.html |website=Monterey County Weekly |date=October 10, 2019 |access-date=4 June 2020 |language=en}} In late July 2020 the purchase of the {{convert|1199|acre}} portion of the Adler Ranch successfully closed and the property was transferred to the Esselen tribe. The land acquisition could help facilitate federal recognition of the tribe.{{Cite web|last=Rogers|first=Paul|date=2020-07-27|title=Big Sur tribe regains land 250 years after being removed|url=https://www.mercurynews.com/big-sur-tribe-regains-land-350-years-after-being-removed|access-date=2020-07-28|website=The Mercury News|language=en-US}}

Early homesteaders in the Palo Colorado Canyon region included Samuel L. Trotter (January 23, 1914),{{cite web| title=Samuel M Trotter, Patent #CASF--0005429|url=http://thelandpatents.com/patents/casf--0005429|publisher=The Land Patents|access-date=28 July 2016}} George Notley (March 21, 1896),{{cite web| title=George A Notley, Patent #CACAAA-090763|url=http://thelandpatents.com/patents/cacaaa-092695|publisher=The Land Patents|access-date=28 July 2016}} and his brother William F. Notley (May 8, 1901),{{cite web| title=William F Notley, Patent #CACAAA-092695|url=http://thelandpatents.com/patents/cacaaa-092695|publisher=The Land Patents|access-date=28 July 2016}} and Andre Cushing who bought a 40-acre patent just east of the mouth of the canyon.{{cite web| title=William F Notley, Patent #CACAAA-092695|url=http://thelandpatents.com/patents/cacaaa-090688|publisher=The Land Patents|access-date=28 September 2017}} After filing a patent for a homestead, the settler had complete ownership after residing on the property for five years or after six months with payment of $1.50 per acre.Blakley, E.R. “Jim” and Karen Barnette [https://lpfw.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/19850700_Blakley_HistoricalOverviewLPNF.pdf Historical Overview of the Los Padres National Forest] July 1985

File:Tanbark Oak harvesting in Big Sur c1900.tif trees. The bark, high in tannic acid, was used to cure leather. After the trees were felled, the bark was stripped from the trunks, dried, and then packed out via mule or sleds, called "go-devils" or on wagons.]]

Notley began harvesting tanoak bark from the canyon, a lucrative source of income at the time. The bark was used to manufacture tannic acid, necessary to the growing leather tanning industry located in Santa Cruz, about 40 miles to the north. Notley constructed a landing at the mouth of the Palo Colorado River like that at Bixby Landing to the south. The tanbark was harvested from the isolated trees inland, corded, brought out by mule back or using wooden sleds, and loaded by cable onto waiting vessels anchored offshore at Notley's Landing.

Swetnam and Trotter worked for the Notley brothers, who harvested Redwood in the Santa Cruz area and expanded operations to include tanbark in the mountains around Palo Colorado Canyon. Swetnam married Adelaide Pfeiffer and bought the Notley home at the mouth of Palo Colorado Canyon for their residence. He also constructed two cabins and a small barn on his patent along the Little Sur River at the site of the future Pico Blanco camp.

Road construction and logging left many steep canyons denuded. The resulting erosion clogged stream with sediment and woody debris for decades after loggers cleared the

land and moved their timber to mills and coastal landings.{{cite web |url=http://www.bigsurwatersheds.org/plan/appendices/G_nikki%20veg%20final_phase1.pdf |title=Garrapata Creek Watershed Assessment and Restoration Plan Riparian Element |first1=Nicole |last1=Nedeff |date=December 1, 2004 |access-date=14 August 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160523015748/http://bigsurwatersheds.org/plan/appendices/G_nikki%20veg%20final_phase1.pdf |archive-date=23 May 2016 }}

{{main|Mill Creek Redwood Preserve}}

A portion of land to the south of Palo Colorado Canyon formerly owned by Charles Henry Bixby was sold to a lumber company in 1986. Their plan to harvest over a million board feet of redwood was only derailed by the savings and loan crisis, when the land was seized by federal financial regulators. They sold the property to the Big Sur Land Trust, which in turn sold it to the Monterey Peninsula Regional Park District in 1988. The district joined it with three adjacent properties to form the Mill Creek Redwood Preserve.{{cite web|url=http://www.mprpd.org/mill-creek-redwood-preserve/|title=Mill Creek Redwood Preserve|publisher=Monterey Peninsula Regional Park District|access-date=5 September 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160919145905/http://www.mprpd.org/mill-creek-redwood-preserve/|archive-date=September 19, 2016|df=mdy-all}} {{PD-notice}} The county hired a crew to build a {{convert|2.7|mi}} trail from Palo Colorado Road to an overlook, which was completed over ten years. Responding to concerns of canyon residents about traffic on narrow Palo Colorado Road, the county agreed to limit access to six permits per day. Visitors are required to obtain a permit in advance from the Monterey Peninsula Regional Park District. The trail head is located {{convert|6|mi}} inland on Palo Colorado Road.{{cite web|url=http://www.montereycountyweekly.com/news/cover/mill-creek-redwood-preserve-trail-taps-the-serenity-of-palo/article_e7bc733c-5723-52dc-95fb-68eb82e9460b.html|title=Mill Creek Redwood Preserve Trail taps the serenity of Palo Colorado Canyon.|first=Corby|last=Anderson|date=May 21, 2009 |publisher=Monterey County Weekly|access-date=August 12, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181030081724/http://www.montereycountyweekly.com/news/cover/mill-creek-redwood-preserve-trail-taps-the-serenity-of-palo/article_e7bc733c-5723-52dc-95fb-68eb82e9460b.html|archive-date=October 30, 2018|url-status=live}}

The Palo Colorado Association was formed in 1917 and legally organized in 1928. Its purposes are to provide social and recreational opportunities to its members, manage real and personal property belonging to members, provide upkeep of the association property, and to hire a caretaker to manage their properties. It includes the owners of eleven cabins that are more than 100 years old. The cabins are built of whole logs alongside Palo Colorado Creek and within the first three-tenths of a mile near the entrance to the canyon.{{Cite news |url=http://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/Weekend-storm-batters-resilient-remote-Big-Sur-10843668.php |title=Weekend storm batters resilient, remote Big Sur communities |work=San Francisco Chronicle |first1=Evan |last1=Sernoffsky |date=January 8, 2017 |access-date=2018-01-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180108174804/http://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/Weekend-storm-batters-resilient-remote-Big-Sur-10843668.php |archive-date=January 8, 2018 |url-status=live }}{{Citation|title=Articles of Incorporation Palo Colorado Association|date=November 29, 2007|work=California Secretary of State}}

In 1906, a fire that began in Palo Colorado Canyon from the embers of a campfire burned for 35 days, scorching an estimated {{convert|150000|acres}}, and was finally extinguished by the first rainfall of the season.{{cite web|last1=Rogers|first1=David|title=The Big Sur Fire of 1906|url=https://www.ventanawild.org/news/se04/pasttime.html|publisher=Double Cone Quarterly|access-date=22 August 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160628064947/http://www.ventanawild.org/news/se04/pasttime.html|archive-date=28 June 2016}}

On August 26, 1924, a fire started in Danish Creek in the Carmel River watershed. It burned {{convert|49,400|acre}} until it was extinguished by rainfall on October 4. This was the largest fire for more than 50 years, until the Marble Cone Fire in 1977.{{Cite web|url=http://www.midcoastfirebrigade.org/about.asp?id=history|title=Mid-Coast Fire Brigade|website=www.midcoastfirebrigade.org|access-date=2018-01-01|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180101135838/http://www.midcoastfirebrigade.org/about.asp?id=history|archive-date=2018-01-01}}

In October, 2007, a fire broke out in a residence in the canyon and spread to nearby brush. About {{convert|50|acre}} were burned. While fighting the fire, Matthew Will, a bulldozer operator with CalFire, was killed when his bulldozer rolled down a steep slope.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nks-p-ASe9YC&pg=PA45|title=Congressional Record Proceeding and Debates of the 110th Congress First Session Volume 153-Part 20|publisher=Government Printing Office|language=en}}

{{Main|Soberanes fire}}

The July 2016 Soberanes Fire was caused by unknown individuals who started and lost control of an illegal campfire in the Garrapata Creek watershed. During the first few days of the fire, it destroyed 57 homes and 11 outbuildings in the Garrapata and Palo Colorado Canyon areas. Fire fighters were able to build lines around parts of the Big Sur community. Robert Oliver Reagan, a bulldozer operator, was killed when his equipment overturned during night operations in Palo Colorado Canyon.{{cite web|last1=Murphy|first1=Mike|title=Wildfire cripples tourism in California's scenic Big Sur|url=http://www.marketwatch.com/story/wildfire-cripples-tourism-in-californias-scenic-big-sur-2016-07-31|website=MarketWatch|access-date=August 22, 2016|date=August 1, 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160829112604/http://www.marketwatch.com/story/wildfire-cripples-tourism-in-californias-scenic-big-sur-2016-07-31|archive-date=August 29, 2016}}{{cite web|url=http://www.montereyherald.com/article/NF/20161008/NEWS/161009692|title=Soberanes Fire: A survivor's story in Palo Colorado|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180101195654/http://www.montereyherald.com/article/NF/20161008/NEWS/161009692|archive-date=2018-01-01}}{{cite web |url=http://www.ksbw.com/article/homes-in-palo-colorado-canyon-destroyed-by-wildfire-2/1399492 |title=Homes in Palo Colorado Canyon destroyed by wildfire |publisher=KWBW |access-date=September 6, 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160905094220/http://www.ksbw.com/article/homes-in-palo-colorado-canyon-destroyed-by-wildfire-2/1399492 |archive-date=September 5, 2016 }}{{cite web|first1=Ryan Maye|last1=Handy|first2=Bill|last2=Gabbert|title=Damage assessment teams document 57 homes destroyed in Soberanes Fire|url=http://wildfiretoday.com/2016/07/29/soberanes-fire-spreads-destroys-more-homes/|website=WildFireToday.com|date=July 29, 2016 |access-date=7 September 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160917070812/http://wildfiretoday.com/2016/07/29/soberanes-fire-spreads-destroys-more-homes/|archive-date=17 September 2016}}

The United States does not define a census-designated place called Palo Colorado Canyon, but it does define a ZIP Code Tabulation Area (ZCTA), 93923 which extends north to include parts of Carmel Valley and Carmel-by-the-Sea, so it is not possible to obtain census data for the canyon itself.{{cite web|title=Carmel-by-the-Sea city, California|url=https://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/cf/1.0/en/place/Carmel-by-the-Sea city, California/POPULATION/DECENNIAL_CNT|website=American Fact Finder|publisher=U.S. Census Bureau|access-date=7 September 2016}}{{Dead link|date=March 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

{{as of|2004}}, there were about 300 households in the Palo Colorado Canyon area. The residents raised $300,000 to build a firehouse to house the Mid-Coast Fire Brigade, an all-volunteer unit that offers fire protection to the area.{{cite web|last1=Howe|first1=Kevin|title=Palo Colorado Canyon, California Station To Go Up|url=http://www.firehouse.com/news/10515277/palo-colorado-canyon-california-station-to-go-up|website=Firehouse.com|date=August 9, 2004 |access-date=7 September 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161012140306/http://www.firehouse.com/news/10515277/palo-colorado-canyon-california-station-to-go-up|archive-date=12 October 2016}}

At the county level, Palo Colorado Canyon is represented on the Monterey County Board of Supervisors by Supervisor Dave Potter.{{cite web|title=Monterey County Supervisorial District 5 Map (North District 5)|url=http://www.co.monterey.ca.us/cob/sup_maps/district5-1.pdf|publisher=County of Monterey|access-date=21 September 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120701050525/http://www.co.monterey.ca.us/cob/sup_maps/district5-1.pdf|archive-date=1 July 2012}}

In the California State Legislature, Palo Colorado Canyon is in {{Representative|casd|17|fmt=sdistrict}}, and in {{Representative|caad|30|fmt=adistrict}}.{{Cite web |url=http://statewidedatabase.org/gis/gis2011/index_2011.html |title=Statewide Database |publisher=UC Regents |access-date=February 11, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150201113744/http://statewidedatabase.org/gis/gis2011/index_2011.html |archive-date=February 1, 2015 |url-status=dead }}

In the United States House of Representatives, Palo Colorado Canyon is in {{Representative|cacd|20|fmt=district}}{{Cite GovTrack|CA|20|access-date=September 24, 2014}}

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{{Big Sur|state=collapsed}}

{{Monterey County, California}}

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Category:Unincorporated communities in California

Category:Unincorporated communities in Monterey County, California

Category:Populated coastal places in California

Category:Big Sur