Tours, which take 2 to 3 hours and involve a steep half-mile hike each way, are scheduled on weekends year-round and Wednesday and Thursday during the summer. The lighthouse, which sits 361 feet above the surf on a volcanic rock promontory, was built in 1889, when only a horse trail provided access to this part of the world. The Bixby Bridge, one of the world's highest single-span concrete bridges, towers nearly 270 feet above Bixby Creek Canyon, with canyon and ocean views from observation alcoves at intervals along the bridge. 805/434-1996 Continuing south, about 13 miles from Carmel, you'll cross the Bixby Bridge and see the Point Sur Lighthouse off in the distance. From here, Palo Colorado Road leads back into the wilderness to the first of the Forest Service camping areas at Bottchers Gap ($12 to camp, $5 to park overnight tel. Ten miles south of Carmel, you'll find North Abalone Cove. To explore them, park at one of the turnouts on Hwy. It's unmarked and undeveloped, but the trails are maintained. Note that parking is limited on weekends especially, you need to arrive early to secure a place.įrom here, cross the Soberanes Creek, passing Garrapata State Park (tel. Trails follow the shoreline and lead to hidden coves. Between December and May, you can also spot migrating California gray whales offshore, and in late April I've spotted numerous mama seals with their newly born pups. Sea lions, harbor seals, sea otters, and thousands of seabirds reside in this 1,276-acre reserve. One of the easiest trails to access is the Pine Ridge Trail at Big Sur station (tel. The wilderness offers 237 miles of hiking trails that lead to 55 designated trail camps - a backpacker's paradise. The streams throughout the area have waterfalls, deep pools, and thermal springs.
Steep ridges separated by V-shaped valleys characterize it.
Forest Service, has 167,323 acres straddling the Santa Lucia Mountains. The inland Ventana Wilderness, run by the U.S. The region affords bountiful wilderness adventure opportunities. Even the tourist bureau bills the area as a place in which "to catch up with your soul." (Electricity followed in the 1950s, but it's still not available in the remote inland mountains.) Big Sur's mysterious, misty beauty has inspired several modern spiritual movements (the Esalen Institute was the birthplace of the human potential movement). The first settlers arrived only a century ago, and the present highway, built in 1937, first made the area accessible by car. Big Sur's tranquillity and natural beauty are ideal for hiking, picnicking, camping, fishing, and beachcombing.
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