Can you spot the waterfall here? Look carefully!
Imagine walking up a gently sloping trail, breathing in the salty fresh ocean air, brilliant sunshine blinding you as you make a turn around the corner. Shading your eyes with your hand, you look across onto the horizon and catch a stunning view, it could be straight out of some tropical paradise. Only, it’s not Hawaii or the Bahamas. McWay Falls in Big Sur, California is one of the area’s most popular spots, throbbing with tourists at any given point of the day. To miss this gem when doing the iconic Big Sur drive would be unimaginable.
Big Sur Coastline – takes your breath away
There are lots of great vista points along the rugged Big Sur coastline, each one more gorgeous than the last, making Big Sur one of California’s most endearing drives. When you’ve had your fill of the spectacularly blue Pacific ocean and endless miles of mountainous scenery, you can stop at Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park to stretch your legs. Located in this park, McWay Falls is an unassuming waterfall whose claim to fame is that it happens to be right on the beach, literally tumbling into the Pacific ocean.
McWay Falls in Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, California
The hike: It’s a short, easy walk to this spectacular view. Take the path towards Overlook trail from the parking lot. You will spot plenty of lush flowering plants and greenery along McWay Creek. After walking through a tunnel, the views open up to the coast, eventually leading to a hidden cove, where you will catch sight of McWay Falls from several overlooks along the trail. A landslide from many years ago has reshaped the panoramic landscape by forming an extremely tempting but inaccessible beach onto which tumbles 80-foot high McWay Falls.
Hummingbirds, bees and pelicans are out in full numbers on any given sunny day.
The McWay creek area was homesteaded in the 1800’s and there are remnants of a Waterfall House built on the cliff overlooking the canyon where McWay Falls is. Apparently one of the bedroom windows looked over directly onto McWay Cove and had a wonderful view of the waterfall. Imagine waking up to this view of the Pacific Ocean every day! Wow. The house and the area was donated to the state to be preserved as a park and the Waterfall House is no more, but there are plenty of educational signs providing interesting tidbits about the previous owners and the area.
A pelican fly-by overhead as we stop along the trail to admire vistas of rugged Big Sur in contrast to fragile McWay Falls.
McWay Falls
As we stood there admiring this scene in front of us, we spied two hikers loaded down with backpacks making their way around the rocky shore onto the seemingly inaccessible beach. Looks like our friends had found a way down there! It is not advisable to try hiking to the beach though, many signs warn about the fragility of the surrounding area and recommend that people stick to designated paths.
Turning around from McWay falls, one is greeted with another equally gorgeous view of Big Sur. This is why I love Big Sur. It’s so convenient to get to from the city – within a couple hours one feels like they are far away from civilization. Whenever we visit Big Sur, we always come back feeling completely refreshed! Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park is a great place to visit when driving along Big Sur, hope you hike up to McWay Falls the next time you are in the area.
Happy Hiking!
~ Trupti