Big Sur

Julia Pfeiffer Burns State park on Big Sur

“Big Sur is the California that men dreamed of years ago, this is the Pacific that Balboa looked at from the Peak of Darien, this is the face of the earth as the

Creator intended it to look” (Henry Miller 1891-1980)

We had not seen enough of the Sea Otters and we met with a pair feeding on muscles and crustacea under the commercial pier at Monterey harbour. They captivated us for some time before we realised that we had in the words of Robert Frost, “miles to go before we rest”!

Sea otters at Monterey Harbour

There are 2 ways to leave Monterey. Either you take Route 1 and burn off to the Big Sur or you take the tourist route called the “17 Miles Drive” (and pay $10!). This takes you along a manicured coast with golf courses on the other side of the road and magnificent houses snuggled under the sculptured Monterey Pines. It leads to the smart town of “Carmel on Sea”, renowned for its famous past mayor Clint Eastwood. What makes us fascinated to spy on houses that we cant afford which are lived in by people that we don’t know (and probably wouldn’t want to know).

Liz misread a sign saying that we would be able to see wonderful houses, beautiful beaches and fascinating vegetarians. She spent some time looking for these reclusive vegetarians until she realised that it should have read vegetation.

Martin doesn’t play or like golf. He stated that golf courses were “an attack on wilderness” I must admit that these serene, highly preened lawns are the complete antithesis of what we have been looking at all the way down the coast. You can see that he is desperate to get onto those hills and start walking again.

Manicured golf courses leading down to the "17 mile" sea

The traffic has started to build up as we drive down towards the Big Sur. This is a stretch of the West Coast that many people try to take in. Sadly we are loosing our solitude as we merge into the metropolitan culture of Southern California.

On to Big Sur

At last its time to tackle the Big Sur. I have heard talk of this drive for many years but one is still not prepared to the scale and majesty of this lump of land that falls precipitously into the sea. The Big Sur stretches for 90 miles from Carmel to Hearst Castle. The mountains that form it rise to over 5000 ft. and fall directly into the Pacific. The Spanish called it El Pais Grande del Sur (the Big Country of the South) The Highway was built finally in 1937 and it took 20 years to build. Much of the funding came out of Roosevelt’s New Deal programme. It has some of the most magnificent bridges, vistas and seascapes in the USA. The road is narrow, it twists and turns and is liable to regular rockslides. Every corner brings yet another breathtaking view of the Pacific Ocean, hundreds of feet down below. It’s very difficult to avoid stopping at all the vista points, in order to take yet one extra picture. Its wild, romantic, barren and much more. Yet one more spectacular stretch of this wonderful coastline.

Big Sur

Martin was keen to fulfil his urge to get out and walk a trail. People tell you that if you can only stop once on the Big Sur, that you should visit the Julia Pfeiffer Burns State park and the wonderful graceful waterfall that plunges into the blue waters of the bay below. The park is named after Julia Pfeifer who with her husband John Burns were pioneers on a ranch originally known as the Saddle Rock Ranch. They leased the land from a family called Mc Way. Ownership of the land passed to a Helen and Lathrop Brown (Lanthrop was a wealthy US Congressman) who built a house overlooking the waterfall. Apparently the house contained many paintings by Gauguin, Dufy and Degas. Helen Brown and Julia Pfeiffer became great friends and Helen Brown left the land as a state park in honour of her friend Julia. The house was demolished in the 1960s

 Julia Pfeiffer Beach and the McWay Waterfall

Our intrepid travellers on Big Sur

We took a trail that led us into a deep canyon full of redwoods and oaks. The trail wound up along the sides of the canyon until we appeared exhausted but excited above the tree line, looking down on the Pacific Ocean glowing in the late afternoon light. A memorable walk, especially as the trail was officially closed! I was fascinated by the fact that the forest had suffered a massive fire in the recent past and it was interesting to see how fire resilient the redwoods were and how the forest floor rejuvenates itself so quickly.

Walking with Giants again

A memorial found on our hike

 The forrest quickly rejuvenates after a fire

Our tally of mammals seen on the trip, rose when we came across large colonies of Elephant Seals on some of the beaches at the Southern end of the Big Sur.

Elephant Seals on Big Sur

Our final destination for the day was the small town of San Simeon, which is situated just below Hearst Castle. We aim to visit the castle tomorrow. The story of Hearst and the building of this fantasy retreat was immortalised in Orson’s Wells famous film, Citizen Kane.

Citizen Kane's Xanadu

More on this tomorrow!