Big Sur: Hiking to the Falls

Big Sur is famous for its coastline and for some waterfalls up at the northern end, near Carmel, where the redwoods great the sea.  Friday, we headed up that direction with our list of hikes in hand.  My foot had tolerated the two short hikes we did the day before just fine, so we had an ambitious list.  I hadn't been to Big Sur in over 20 years and didn't know when I'd be back.  I didn't want to have any regrets about missed waterfalls.

The first hike was not well marked - "park past a big sweeping inland turn and take the trail by the green cattle gate."  We found it  and started down a steep dirt road.  We could see a tunnel below us, where the trail went through to a cove.

We followed a stream for awhile.  We hiked along many streams that day.

Then we went through the tunnel.

On the other side, the trail continued until it reached the end of the outcropping shoreline.

We watched the surf crash into a small secluded cove for awhile before heading back up the hill.  Again, my foot was fine.

We traveled further north to Julia Pfeiffer State Park which is located at the site of the most famous waterfall on the coast.  Water spills from the bluff onto the sand below.  It is impossible to get down the side of the cliff to the beach so it's beauty is unspoiled.

(We did think that the waterfall looked liked some giant was standing in the trees on the bluff and peeing onto the beach.)

We hiked two more trails after that, up to smaller waterfalls.

We had lunch overlooking the ocean and the fog started to burn off.

It was almost sunny for our afternoon hikes.

When we got back to our yurt, my foot was done, cooked, fini.  I flopped onto my bed, exhausted but proud that I had hiked four trails (okay, okay, one of them was less than a mile total) and a grand total of six miles.  Camille poured me a glass of champagne and we declared the trip a success.

Big Sur: Elephant Seals and Hiking

Camille and I decided to spend time south of our yurt on Thursday and go up to the northern end of the Big Sur coast on Friday.  We started with a short hike, about a mile in total.  There was a fairly steep climb and then it leveled out high above the ocean.  The view would have been spectacular, we are sure, but we couldn't see the ocean through the fog.  Camille was disappointed.  She loves a good view.  I figured it was payback for the steep climb.  I took it slowly and carefully with my injured foot and did just fine.  But I did have to tease her about it anyway.

The second hike was not as steep and followed a busy stream up to a waterfall cascading into a deep pool.

This was my view

I couldn't clamber over the rocks to see the pool, but Camille didn't have any trouble at all.

This was Camille's view (and photo) after climbing over the rock mountainside.

My foot was doing pretty well on a nice flat trail with a few small boulders scattered here and there; climbing over massive boulders was not going to happen.

We continued south to San Simeon.  Across the highway from Hearst Castle is a beach where elephant seals hang out.  These guys are huge.  The males weigh 5,000 lbs.

The seals rest on the beach to gather strength after their long journeys at sea.

They spend 90% of their time in the water, fishing, up the coast of California into Alaska.  Their main predator is white sharks and many of the seals had scars from close encounters with the Great Whites.

The beach was full of sound; the bull seals bellowing and slamming into each other, chest to chest.  The moms dozed; occasionally flipping warm sand over themselves while the youngsters slept nearby.  Occasionally, one would flop itself into the surf.

We finished off the morning with lunch at Moonstone beach at a little place my mom loved.  She used to love walking on the beach there and then having lunch at the cafe.  It was a nice way to include her on our mother-daughter trip; even if it was only in spirit.

Big Sur: Living it up in a Yurt

Camille and I drove to Big Sur Wednesday.  I picked her up at the Sacramento airport and we headed southwest, past San Francisco then San Jose and Gilroy (where the main crop is garlic so the aroma was very strong).  From there, we turned inland and picked up the Pacific Coast Highway, passing through Monterey and Carmel before emerging onto the craggy cliffs which make this 50 mile stretch of highway through Big Sur so famous.  All the turnouts were jammed with cars and people taking photos - on cell phones or using GoPros or big fancy cameras with huge lenses.

We passed through this tunnel - or is it a bridge -- we ended up calling it a brunnel.  It was beautiful at any rate.  The road closes often for rock slides and repair.  The new bridges are beautiful.

Our destination was towards the southern end of the Big Sur coastline.  I had reserved us a yurt because I've been intrigued by them for as long as I can remember.  Think of it as a big round tent, with a wood floor and a real bed.  We checked-in early in the evening, before dark, and carried in our bags.  Staying in a yurt is glamping - camping with a bit of glamour - so we had to hike in our luggage (and champagne).  It also meant that we used the bathroom/shower up at the lodge.  We opened the door to our yurt and squealed.

It was amazing.  It was better than I envisioned; better than the pictures on the website (Treebones resort); and certainly bigger than I expected.

There was no cell phone service anywhere on the Big Sur coast, including at our resort.  There was wi-fi in the lodge and in the bathroom so I was able to text Brett a couple times each day.  There were chairs on our front deck but it was cold and foggy, with an icy wind blowing across the bluff, so we never used them.

We were sure we had an awesome view beyond the fog.

After leaving the 95F heat of home, the 52F foggy weather didn't dampen our spirits one little bit.  We turned on the heater, wrapped ourselves in blankets, poured a glass of champagne and celebrated our arrival.  We finished off the evening at the sushi bar -- some of the best sushi I've ever had; incredibly fresh with a talented sushi chef.

It was an excellent start to our annual mother-daughter girly get-away.  (Most of the photos in this series on Big Sur were taken by Camille).