I traveled south on Highway 1 after leaving Point Lobos. It is difficult to continue driving and not turn into every pullout. But I couldn’t resist stopping at every pullout. I had copied several tips from A Guide to Big Sur website. It is very useful because it lists exactly the highway marker to look for while driving south. I had wanted to go to the Pfeiffer Beach that I visited in the ’90s and McWay Falls.

But it was hard. I kept pulling out and snapping photos. Eventually I approached Big Sur and noticed the burned undersides of the trees. The eastern side of the highway was fenced off and closed.

It was tricky finding the turn off to Sycamore Canyon and Pfeiffer Beach. I had direction in relation to the post office which I never found because it was south of the road. I just kept looking for a road to the west after the main Big Sur area. It has a lot of warnings on it since it is one lane. I didn’t realize that it was not part of the state park but in fact part of the National Forest. So I had to pay another $5.00 to park. I was kinda bummed because I had a National Passport which would have allowed me to park for free if I had brought it along. I had thought about it but didn’t think I needed it.

The beach was nice but I was running out of time. It was already 2:30. So I decided to continue on with no more stops. Okay… just one or two. The hills sides around Lucia were scarred by the fire. This area of the highway is susceptible to slides. The road became more and more windy. I didn’t remember it this windy! I did make Cambria by about 4:00pm and I was able to stop at Peachy Canyon at 4:30 to pick up a couple of wines for our tasting. It seemed to take much longer but in reality it is about 3 hours straight.

Garrapata State Park

Garrapata State Park

Bixby Creek Bridge

Pfeiffer Beach – Big Sur

Pfeiffer Beach – Big Sur

South of Big Sur – Burns North Vista Point

Near San Simeon