I took several other long-range trips through a group called the Metropolitan New York Council of American Youth Hostels. It doesn't look like it exists anymore. But I remember we would run into other organizations on the road like one called Outward Bound, which was kind of the yuppy version. They had sag wagons and cooks. We had our wits and Vienna sausage.
I've lived in a few PCH-adjacent neighborhoods over the years in the bay area, and I always had neighbors affected by bad accidents on hwy 1.
Bike-packing is the lighter-weight, mixed-terrain version of traditional on-road bicycle touring.
It's quite accessible. Just need a bike, a map, and a backpack with camping kit. Of course, some of us get crazy with counting grams and trying to mix in gnarly terrain.
I do a few trips each year, usually 3-day weekends within a few hours drive of home. Some are mellow on groomed gravel with my wife. Some are more extreme with friends on mountain bikes.