In 1769 Gasper de Portolá led a group of Spanish soldiers on a thousand-mile march from Baja California to San Francisco to locate the ports of San Diego and Monterey and establish a series of churches and military posts. His route wandered north along the coast from San Diego, connected the sites of the Missions San Luis Ray, San Juan Capistrano, and San Gabriel, turned west to Los Angeles, then went north through the Salinas Valley inland from Monterey, and at last reached the site of Mission San Francisco de Asís, popularly called Mission Dolores. With no roads in those days, travelers could easily lose their way, and according to legend the Spaniards sowed wild mustard seeds as they walked so the plant’s yellow flowers would mark the trail for their return and for others to follow. This thoroughfare linking California's presidios and missions was called El Camino Reál, meaning The Royal Road or The Kings Highway, a designation given to roads that were public rather than private. It was used extensively by adventurers and traders, explorers and settlers, soldiers and priests, and today light poles bearing mission bells and spring yellow blossoms still recall the reason the road was established.
