Big Sur, CA, Day Trip Along the Coast

Thursday, May 22, we woke up to fog and drizzle.  This was to be our beautiful drive down Big Sur for a 90 mile view of cliffs and the Pacific Ocean.  We listened to the weather man on TV and should have know better!  They just can’t seem to get it right.  All the weather we looked at on the internet said the day was supposed to be clear.  But since our time was limited, we decided we were going one way or the other.  We packed our picnic bag, as we always do on day trips, and headed to Big Sur.  It was chilly and we needed a light jacket.  The high was only about 60 degrees.  This is the second time we have taken the drive.  In 2004, we drove down to Hearst Castle, but decided not to go that far again.  Even though it was an overcast day, it is still an awesome scenic drive no matter what the weather.  Plus, even though it such a chilly wet day, the road was very busy!  I could only imagine what it would be like on a sunny day or a weekend!  Since this weekend is the Memorial Day holiday, I’ll bet the traffic will be bumper to bumper and you wouldn’t be able to find a spot to park at any of the overlooks.
Big Sur is a sparsely populated region of the Central Coast of CA where the Santa Lucia Mountains rise abruptly from the Pacific Ocean.   The name "Big Sur" is derived from the original Spanish-language "el sur grande", meaning "the big south",  referring to its location south of the Monterey Peninsula. The terrain offers stunning views, making Big Sur a popular tourist destination. Big Sur's Cone Peak is the highest coastal mountain in the contiguous 48 states, ascending nearly a mile (5,155 feet) above sea level only 4.5 miles from the coast.  Portions of the route had several names and numbers over the years as more segments opened. It was not until 1964 that the entire route was officially designated as Highway 1. The picture below is what it should look like and the second is more like what we saw later in the afternoon.  
 
We stopped at just about every overlook as we headed south.  I don’t think we missed many of them!  Of course, I HAD to check out every view I could!  My camera never got a break! Doug had marked some of the more popular ‘must see’ areas of the drive.  The first stop was at Rocky Point and we hiked down from the road to the point below to get a better look.  The hiking all along the route is very popular.  You can see that is was foggy in the background.  At many of the overlooks, you can hear the sea lions even before you see them on the rocks! It was just past low tide and it is funny to see the sea lions stay on the rocks until the very last inch of rock is underwater.  They will nap on any spot they can find, even if it is a bed of seaweed!  
  

The Bixby Bridge is one of the most scenic and most photographed icons in Big Sur.  There is a huge parking area and you get an excellent view of the bridge and the road above the water.  In the 3rd picture you can see more of a dramatic view of the bridge and the mountains from another overlook.    


One of the most unique places we stopped at was Pfeiffer Beach.  We took a 2 mile one lane road through the woods and down the side of the mountain to the parking area and then hiked about 1/4 mile to the beach.  We must have spent at least an hour there fascinated by the rock formations formed by the furry of the ocean waves.   One young lady was kind enough to ask if we would like her to take a picture of us.  Aren’t we cute sitting on the log together?!? Yep, I wrote the date in the sand! You can see Doug decided to rest while I took LOTS & LOTS of pictures!
   
 

Further along the route you get a pretty view of McWay Falls.  You can hike down the side of the cliff on a wooden catwalk but it just looked to steep for us and we had other places we wanted to see.   You can see falls just a little tot eh left of the center.  The water in that area is just a beautiful color! 

Well, time for lunch!  We were a little disappointed that there were not hardly any picnic areas.  We found this one at an information area.  You can also see the guests that came to share our picnic lunch! The Steller’s Jay even liked our lemon cake! We even saw a few deer that afternoon. 
 
 
It was getting to be late afternoon and the sun FINALLY decided to come out for just a bit as we headed on back to Monterey and it gave me the opportunity to take better pictures from some of the same overlooks.
  
 
Just great scenery and a great drive!  So glad we decided to take the drive again after so many years.