A thousand-foot drop to a rocky shore where spires of rocks jut up out of the crashing waves…

The Santa Lucia Mountains tower above the Pacific Ocean and disgorge streams of water that cascade down the cliffs…

…to mingle with the largest body of water on the planet…

A narrow, winding road perches somewhere in-between the heavens and the depths, clinging to the side of the stony bluffs, like a snake slithering around a horseshoe bend in time…

It’s the coastline of the Big Sur – perhaps the most beautiful stretch of undeveloped shoreline in the continental United States.

If you haven’t taken a drive along California’s scenic Highway 1 between San Simeon and Monterrey, you absolutely must add it to your bucket list.  It’s 71 miles of breathtaking vistas that takes at least twice as long to drive as it should – because you can’t resist the lure of each new pullout that promises another glimpse into a mystical world of azure skies over an indigo sea, laced with pure white ocean spray hurled into the air by the winds and waves and rocky crags, when each contends which is the mightiest.  

Standing on the heights, you can get lost staring straight down at the churning turmoil below…

…or lift your gaze to the miles of mountainous coastline stretching into the distance for all eternity.

Though this land is rugged and forbidding, its mystique has drawn people to its shores for centuries.  Before the Spanish arrived by ship in the 1540’s, the native Esselen tribes had inhabited the coastal mountains and valleys for thousands of years.  Spanish mariners tended to bypass the steep, rocky banks, feeling that they were treacherous to their ships and that the lands beyond were virtually impassable. Only the Christian missionaries braved the many hazards in order to share their faith with the indigenous peoples. 

During the California gold rush, settlers bypassed the area, preferring the more hospitable terrain of the Monterrey Bay and ports farther north.  A few scattered ranches were started in narrow, grassy valleys by settlers whose primary contact with civilization was by means of boats that occasionally wove their way through precarious, rocky channels and came ashore at tiny inlets like Partington Cove, where goods had to be hoisted hundreds of feet up to the plateaus above.  

This vast, enchanting coastal region remained largely inaccessible until the roadway was completed in the early 1930’s.  Most of the majestic bridges that span the many canyons along the route, like the picturesque Bixby Creek Bridge, were constructed in 1932, during the depths of the Great Depression.

Today, we are benefactors of the vision and foresight of a generation of people who literally paved the way into a remote, impassible stretch of coastline and opened up a magical land of spectacular panoramas and breathtaking vistas.  Every day, hundreds of people find a lonely dirt pullout along the side of the road where they can escape from the endless fervor and turmoil of California cities.  They climb a little dirt berm, or saunter down a narrow trail to a perch along the cliffs, where they can sit amid a carpet of wildflowers and gaze into the distance to that almost imperceptible line where the sea reaches up to kiss the sky – and experience a long moment of peace.

Oops… I almost forgot to mention elephant seals.  No, they aren’t washed up on the beach, dead.  They’re just lazy.

Quick Summary

Site:  Big Sur Coastline – Stunning views of cliffs falling into a jagged, rocky shore

Location:  Central California, California State Highway 1 between San Simeon and Monterrey

Places to See: Bixby Bridge, McWay Falls, Point Sur Lighthouse, Partington Cove, Piedra Blancas elephant seal rookery

Cool Factor (1-5):  4.0 (I’m reserving 5’s for the most amazing places on the planet.)

Web Links

Big Sur Chamber of Commerce and Visitor’s Bureau:  https://www.bigsurcalifornia.org
VisitCalifornia.com: https://www.visitcalifornia.com/places-to-visit/big-sur/index.html
Wikipedia:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Sur
Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park:  https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=578:   
Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park: https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=570
The macOS by the same name:   https://www.apple.com/macos/big-sur-preview/