It has been a couple decades since we’ve been to Big Sur. I had forgotten how breathtaking the ride along Highway 1 is. But first we had to get through Santa Cruz (OMG and Ugh!) where the freeway simply becomes a road from hell. Right through the middle of the city with stop and go traffic. Blech! And then south through Monterey Bay but at least the freeway stays as a freeway there! And then the beauty of Carmel and on to Big Sur. Since the road has been closed almost a year now by mudslides on the south side, Big Sur is sort of the end of Highway 1 from the north.
We started off by missing the entrance to the campground because maps doesn’t know where the campground is. And the sign says nothing about a campground only the lodge. So we missed it. Turning around is nuts when we are dragging Li’l TG. Especially on a winding two lane road. Luckily we found a construction area and parked, took TG off and Dave did a six point turn around turn. Our campsite was along the river and decently isolated. There were few people in the campground so it was nice. Only problem with the site is that is was so heavily shaded we couldn’t use the solar panels and had to run the generator for about 30 minutes each night. That was ok- gave us some electric heat too.
We enjoyed traveling around on Highway 1- we went to see the old beautiful bridges from the 1930s and enjoyed the views. We also went to Big Sur Bakery and had a WONDERFUL maple bacon bar that Matt had told us about. It is pricey in this area but yummy! I have to say we got 2 more before we left the area! There is quite a bit of road damage, slide damage really all around the area.
I think I have found a top five nature preserve in Point Lobos State Reserve. We ended up going there two different days. The first we walked out to the bird area at the end of the road. It was an accessible trail (yay!) with a slight slope and gorgeous views. Not so many birds this time of year and Dave did not appreciate the Guano smell. I didn’t think it was so bad! It was a little over cast so the pictures are not the greatest or true to the actual colors. We had a great lunch in one of the parking areas looking out at the ocean. Sigh. It was getting pretty windy so we determined we would come back a second day to walk the trails around there.
The following day we went to Julia Peiffer Burns State Park and tried to get to the McWay waterfall that dumps right on the beach. No such luck as they have had a lot of damage from these past two years of crazy storms. Then we tried Andrew Molera State Beach but those trails have to cross the Big Sur river. It is a seasonal river and was running very high this time of year with all the wet weather. We did walk down the road and tried a couple trail spurs but they all ended at the river. Beautiful but sort of sad for us!
Then our best day was the day we went back to Point Lobos State Reserve. It was a beautiful sunny day and we did two hikes. We went on the Monterey Cypress Trail which winds along a point and saw sea otters in a small protected cove. Then we went to see the sea lion trail and you could hear them the whole time. We saw our first 2024 whales – a cow and calf pair, probably Gray Whales. So happy! Then we went back to our lunch spot from our prior trip here and saw at least 3 more pairs. I think one pair were Humpbacks by the behavior (deep diving) and the tail in Dave’s picture. Happy, happy me! Then we stopped on our way back to the campground at an overlook to have our Bakery snacks, and saw 3 more pairs. They are definitely on the move up north!!
So all in all an amazing trip to Big Sur and we will most likely come back next winter to see the whale migration. A little tough with the wet conditions, lots of mud etc, but we just decided to be in Big Sur time mode and go with the flow! We did end up coming home a day early because a big, WINDY storm was coming and that is so hard to drive through in King Tut. But overall a fun journey to Big Sur.