Bixby Ranch Gate, California

Point Conception lies south of this locked gate, on private property, where the coastline makes a nearly right angle turn, heading east and transitioning from Northern California to the urban Southland. This remote peninsula just south of Vandenberg Air Force Base is inaccessible to the public (except by the Amtrak train), on a massive, privately owned ranch. The lonely lighthouse and the ruins of some oil infrastructure are exposed on a treeless plain. Below the cliffs is what some claim to be the best surfing spot on the coast, but there is nowhere to park for miles. The road at the gate loops over the railway tracks.