Big Sur
Big Sur coast from Nepenthe. A million dollar view. We talk about Nepenthe further down.
We decided it was time to revisit Big Sur as it has been a couple of years since we took the scenic drive along Highway 1.
(Please click on the small images to see larger versions, the resolution is better. Sorry, but just about all browsers don’t do these photos justice. Most browsers aren’t color managed so much of the shadow and color are lost.)
As we approached Gilroy on 101 we saw signs for the Garlic Festival. This is a big event which thousands of people will attend. I have never been and maybe one day I should just go to see what it is like and to sample garlic ice cream. Encountering traffic on the way home though could be a problem.
We arrived in Pacific Grove at 6.45a.m. and as the cafe we planned to have breakfast in did not open until 7 am, we had a little bit of time to kill. We drove down to the end of Lighthouse Avenue to see if I could find the motel I stayed in on my first trip to California in 1997. On that occasion I was with my son and daughter and we were spending New Year in the area. We found the motel almost at the end of the road and it looks the same as I remembered it. As we still had a few minutes to spare we drove down to Lovers’ Point which is a nice little cove with a sandy beach. In the past I have spotted sea otters amongst the kelp beds not far from shore but not today.
After breakfast we found our way back to Highway 1. When we crossed Carmel; River Bridge we were officially on the Big Sur scenic drive.
We wanted to have a quick look around Point Lobos State Reserve. There is a car park but it has a day use charge. According to ‘A Guide to California’s Big Sur‘, walk-ins did not have to pay to enter the reserve and that there were parking places along the road. All we found were ‘No Parking’ signs posted.
Our first stop was at the 67.00 mile marker (for more information about mile markers see this) in a small gravel pull off and we were in for the
Blue or Gray Whale? We're not sure. Anyway they were very close to shore.
treat of our lives. There was an no official trail but there were signs warning of dangerous cliffs. We walked down a rough beaten path towards the ocean where we had a good view of the coastline. There was no access to the shore at all. Here the rocks meet the sea with not a beach in sight. I was gazing out to sea at the kelp beds, keeping my eyes open for sea otters but what I saw took my breath away. Just offshore, maybe no more than a quarter of a mile, I spotted a water spout. Could it have been made by a whale? No, it couldn’t be, not at this time of the year. The whale migration was over a couple of months ago. But I saw another one and then another. I called to Tom and we kept our eyes trained on that section of the ocean. There was one water spout after another and deduced there were more than two whales out there. All the activity seemed to be in one spot but after we had been watching for at least half an hour we realized they were slowly moving north. Every so often we saw a fin rise out of the water but none of them breached. We concluded that they were feeding. Tom took lots of photographs but it was very difficult to actually capture anything. Sure wished I knew what sort of whales they were. The next day I mentioned to someone what we had seen and was told there was something on the news about the number of whales spotted off the coast of California. Of course I had to check online and found this. Maybe it was blue whales we saw. Wow.
Big Sur coast line
Eventually we tore ourselves away an continued our drive. At the 65.32 mile marker we stopped to take some photos and again at the 62.5 marker. The latter is called the Abalone Cove Vista Point. It bet there are no abalone there now. Tom reflected that back in the day you could probably walk out at low tide and pluck them from the rocks (note from Tom: Wild Abalone is the best food I ever ate. It is rich but not overly so. Texture, taste and sweetness from the sea. Man, it doesn’t get any better). Just off the the right there was a line of trees which effectively blocked off a lot of the vista. They were screening somebody’s back lawn. At the end of the garden, on the edge of the cliff, was a bench. I expect that is the place to be when the sun goes down.
By this time is was 9.30 and the tourists were out. I guess we could be called tourists today. I expect all the small gravel pull offs at the side of the road will be packed later on as more and more people hit the road. Just past the Rocky Pit Restaurant we stopped again. A field, with half a dozen grazing cows, sloped down to the ocean. When we looked along the coastline to the south we spotted a rock archway in the cliffs.
The road becomes more and more scenic the further south we went but scary too. If you don’t have a head for heights, some of the bridges are
Wind blown cypress along the Big Sur coast
difficult to cross. I just take a deep breath and look straight ahead. Bixby Creek Bridge is the most photographed bridge on this road. Up close you don’t get a true appreciation of it. A little further south at Hurricane Point (58.3 marker) is the perfect place to take a picture. It was a little foggy up there so Tom did not attempt to photograph it today. To see one of Tom’s photos of the bridge just look at the top of the page. The history of why Highway 1 was constructed and who did the hard work can be found here.
About eight miles further on, the Point Sur Lightstation is located on a large rock. There are three hour guided walking tours led by volunteers at certain times – November to March on Saturdays and Sundays at 10 am and on Wednesdays 1 pm; April to October on Saturdays and Sundays at 10 am and 2 pm, Sundays at 10 am and Thursday during July and August at 10 am. Admission is $10. There are moonlight tours as well, admission $15. No advance booking is required but it is first come, first served. Must put that on our list of things to do in the future.
We stopped again just before the entrance to Andrew Molera State Park at the beginning of a trail. A sign just inside indicated that it led to a primitive camp site and this was the only access to it. While Tom took photographs from the road, I stretched my legs by walking a little way down the trail which cut through a field. Wildflowers grew profusely along the edge of the path. When it became a little chilly I turned back because I no longer had my sweatshirt on. A father and son passed me on their way into the campground carrying a surf board.
Back on the road again, we took a detour down Sycamore Canyon Road to Pfeiffer Beach in Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park. It was a steep 2.5 mile drive on a one lane road through woodland and past a few houses. We passed only one car coming up but there were two behind us and one in front. The fee for day use is $5. A sign displayed at the pay booth amused me – ‘Yes it is windy and no refunds’. There was short walk to the beach alongside a stream which was not in full spate. The beach was sandy and hemmed in by high cliffs and three huge rocks which were just offshore. At first sight it did not look very big but when we walked north a little way, around a small point, we saw that the beach extended some way. The surf surged through the gaps between the rocks and through a tunnel in one of them.
Archway at Pfeiffer Beach in Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park
There were quite a few people on the beach. Lots of family groups with picnics. One family were flying a kite and another building sandcastles. A couple of little girls in swimming costumes were walking a little way into the water and then running back again screaming in mock fright when the tide came in a covered their feet. I walked along the beach and spotted several cairns of balancing stones. The beach does not have larges pieces of driftwood but lots of little sticks which could be used to build small structures. I also noticed that a lot of seaweed had been washed up, most of it kelp.
I walked back to the northern end of the beach, leaving Tom busy with his tripod near the first big rock. Wading across a small creek I found a convenient rock to sit on in almost total seclusion. The sun, having burned off the fog, was shining brightly. There was a warm breeze which felt very pleasant so I used my sweatshirt as a cushion. Then I started writing. It was a glorious feeling to be sitting in the sun, listening to the surf and the happy sound of children at play and I was thoroughly content.
Heading down towards Nepenthe along the Big Sur coast
Our last stop was at Nepenthe. There is no way you can drive down Highway 1 and not stop here. Nepenthe was designed by Rowan Maiden, a student of Frank Lloyd Wright in the late forties. Nearby is a cabin, which was built in 1925 and at one time was owned by Orson Welles and, his wife at the time, Rita Hayworth. Nepenthe is on three levels with a restaurant on the top deck with a large outdoor terrace, Cafe Kevah on the middle deck with another large terrace and the Phoenix Gift Shop on the lowest level. From the top two decks are wonderful views down the coast. When we arrived we parked at the road level. Because there were a lot of cars around, most of them appeared to be Corvettes so assumed there was some sort of rally or meet going on, we thought it would be difficult to get anything to drink, never mind something to eat. We opted for the Cafe Kevah and were pleasantly surprised to find it almost empty.
We ordered a grilled Cheddar and Fontina Panini sandwich, served with a mixed green salad plus a beer for Tom and a hot chocolate for me. All the tables are outside underneath umbrellas. The sun is warm so the shade was welcoming. We had views over the ocean and inshore. Two years ago Nepenthe was threatened by the Basin Complex wildfire, which took over a month to contain, but we have not seen evidence of that fire anywhere today. As soon as our food hit the table, we were surrounded by a family of Stella Jays and a couple of crows. They sat waiting to snatch up the crumbs but they were out of luck. When we had finished eating, one of the jays hopped from the adjacent table onto ours, hoping I expect to glean any crumbs from our plates. One slight movement from me and he flew away.
After lunch we climbed to the top deck just to see what was going on. In stark contrast to the deck below, it was crowded. Obviously the Corvetters had congregated there. From this level you get a better view down the coast but it was a bit hazy so we could not see very far. On our way back to the car we stepped into the Pheonix Gift Shop and somehow managed to resist the temptation to buy anything.
Time to head home. We had a marvelous day exploring parts of Big Sur we had not visited before but there is still lots we have yet to see.
September 07 2010 05:38 am | Special Places
