Posts, California
17 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1948 and the latest in 1995. It stands in the Big Sur census division. It lies in ZIP code area 93920. It stands on Mule Canyon Creek. The Survey maps it on the Pfeiffer Point quadrangle. It stands 945 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1948 to 1995The same ground, surveyed 47 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Compare 1948 against another survey:
On record in Posts
Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.
On the National Register within a mile 1 record
The National Register names another town for these. They stand within one mile of this settlement's coordinate.
Post, Joseph W., Houselisted 1985 · 0.0 miles away
Topographic sheets covering this place
9 surveys from 17 printed sheetsMatched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.
- 1948 USGS Santa Cruz quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1955 USGS Santa Cruz quadrangle1:250000
- 1956 USGS Pfeiffer Point quadrangle1:24000, 5 printings
- 1957 USGS Santa Cruz quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Santa Cruz quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1965 USGS Santa Cruz quadrangle1:250000
- 1974 USGS Monterey quadrangle1:250000
- 1982 USGS Point Sur quadrangle1:100000, 3 printings
- 1995 USGS Pfeiffer Point quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
98 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 98 fires within 5 miles of Posts between 1992 and 2020, burning about 5,001 acres in total. 4 started naturally. 3 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 28 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 16 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 16 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 15 |
| Debris and open burning | 8 |
| Other causes | 4 |
| Natural | 4 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 3 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 2 |
| Firearms and explosives use | 1 |
| Smoking | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 September 1999 | Natural | under an acre | Los Padres National Forest | TORRE |
| 8 September 1999 | Natural | under an acre | Los Padres National Forest | TOP |
| 8 September 1999 | Natural | under an acre | Los Padres National Forest | FREED |
| 8 September 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | Los Padres National Forest | FLORY |
| 6 September 2013 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1.0 acres | Los Padres National Forest | LIBRARY |
| 6 September 2006 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | under an acre | Los Padres National Forest | COOPER |
| 6 September 1997 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Los Padres National Forest | GRIMES |
| 5 September 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Los Padres National Forest | BARLOW |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
2 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Posts: 1 prospect, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Silver. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Molera Ranch | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Prospect | Sedimentary | |
| Reported Location | Silver | Producer |
Storms near this place
14 since 2009Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Posts in 14 storm reports between 2009 and 2026: 6 flash flood, 5 debris flow, 2 flood, 1 thunderstorm wind. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| December 2012 | Debris Flow | Posts | $50,000 | A massive rock and mud slide near Partinigton Creek blocked US Highway 1 and a private road leading into a Partington Ridge neighborhood. 32 homes were isolated due to the rocks and mud blocking the roadway. Highway 1 was closed for 5 days due to the slide until one lane could be opened again. More than 40 stranded tourists slept in their cars Saturday night December 22nd as they had no way to get out of the area. Repairs took several weeks. |
| October 2009 | Flash Flood | Posts | $20,000 | A debris flow closed both lanes of Highway 1 at mile marker 37 around 4:15 p.m. PDT. Also, some flooding occurred along the Big Sur River. |
| February 2014 | Debris Flow | Posts | $5,000 | Active slide reported from the Pfieffer Burn Scar at Sycamore Canyon Road. |
| December 2012 | Flash Flood | Posts | $500 | The water level on the Big Sur River near Big Sur reached 10.42 feet. Flooding begins with levels above 10.0 feet with minor flash flooding in the Big Sur area. |
| December 2022 | Debris Flow | Posts | $10 | California Highway 1 was closed from Big Sur to Ragged Point due to rockslides across the highway in multiple places. As of April 2023, portions of the highway are still closed for repairs with no estimated time to reopen. |
| February 2026 | Flood | Posts | - | Flooding was reported along the northbound side of Highway 1 just south of Pardington Lane with rocks in the roadway. Additional rockslides were reported on the highway between Lucia and the Monterey-SLO county line. The cumulative impact of all the rockslides forced the closure of Highway 1 from Pardington Lane to Ragged Point at 11 PM on February 10, reopening at 8:45 AM the next day. |
| December 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Posts | - | An Ambient Weather station on North Coast Ridge Road reported a gust of 58 mph. |
| November 2025 | Flood | Posts | - | A slide was reported on California highway 1 at Nepenthe. |
| January 2017 | Flash Flood | Posts | - | Heavy rain over the Soberanes Burn Scar resulted in flooding on the Big Sur River. The Big Sur River stream gauge near Big Sur rose above flood stage at 7:00 pm PST on January 10 and continued above flood stage until 6:30 am PST on January 11. |
| January 2017 | Debris Flow | Posts | - | Slide just south of the Big Sur Inn. |
| February 2017 | Flash Flood | Posts | - | Big Sur River near Big Sur gauge above flood stage. |
| February 2017 | Flash Flood | Posts | - | Big Sur River at Big Sur gauge above flood stage. |
| February 2017 | Flash Flood | Posts | - | Mesonet reported 1.37 in/hr from 5:30AM to 6:30AM PST. |
| February 2017 | Debris Flow | Posts | - | Slide resulted in closed road SR1 at mm 44 jso Nepenthe. |
Nearest settlements
The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Big Sur | 3.7 miles | 25 | |
| Slates Hot Springs | 9.9 miles | 19 | |
| Tassajara Hot Springs | 11.4 miles | 23 | |
| Jamesburg | 13.4 miles | 28 | |
| Notleys Landing | 13.9 miles | 23 | |
| Mascorini Place | 15.5 miles | 28 | |
| Arroyo Center | 15.5 miles | 26 | |
| Robles Del Rio | 16.8 miles | 30 |
Elsewhere
Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.
| Wikipedia article on Posts | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q7234492 | The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0). |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1661256. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.








