Chapter 4 & 5 Summary

The forth chapter is a record of Kerouac's first morning and his exploration of the area surrounding his summer retreat. He describes the incredible height of the cliffs and the narrowness and height of the bridge he had walked the night before. Having slept on the sand, he was just below the bridge, and now can see a car that had come off that bridge a decade ago and wondered at the idea that people could consider Big Sur beautiful instead of just terrifying.

Exploring further in the fifth chapter, Kerouac finds reasons for fearfulness in several more details. He describes the goat he would later name Alf the Sacred Burro standing still in the water, far from the place he had seen him earlier, and says he looks like an ancient character of myth. He likens the landscape to one from his...