California coast continued, Big Sur to Monterey

Our next stop up the coast was Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park, CA. To get there we had to get to the other side of the “closed Route 1”.  This involved traveling inland over the coastal mountains and then back out again.  I know I complained in the last post about the Coastal Highway, Route 1, but let me just say, it was way better than the teeny tiny little roads that cross up over the mountains (that is, if you happen to have issues with car sickness …).

Once there, it was stunning, of course. We explored the coast, toured a lighthouse, hiked around Point Lobos (a marine sanctuary), discovered amazing fields and valleys of wild flowers (for instance, did you know that Calla Lilies grow wild there?!?), tried to have a beach day (it was a bit chilly) and went to Monterey for an overnight stay at an inn so we could explore the haunts of John Steinbeck and spend an incredible day at the Monterey Aquarium. (Just sayin’, the aquarium was so fabulous, we joined, figured out how to go back at one of our future stops and it will get its own separate blog!)

Oh, and I can’t leave out visiting the mission in Carmel. This is one of the missions founded along the del Camino Real, the trail of missions created by the Spanish as they traveled from what is currently Mexico to San Francisco because they were concerned about the Russians who had come down the west coast from Alaska building forts, including one just north of San Francisco. We had visited several of these missions when we were spending our winter in the desert. (You know how I like to be able to follow through on a storyline.)  

And we met gophers. Now, I always thought gophers resembled woodchucks, but not these little guys. They looked more like squirrels or chipmunks except they live in these burrows underground. And they make lots of holes!  According to the research that I did, every gopher has to have their own hole.  They share the burrows but each needs their very own escape hole.  Now, either there are hundreds of them, they are extremely cautious or are very forgetful because some areas were just covered with these little gopher holes. Apparently they are a pest and it is legal to kill them in California anytime, but I thought they were adorable.  Of course, I also wasn’t trying to grow a garden, haha.

And now to the pics so you can see for yourself …

Beach finds

Sea lions “rafting”. They form these groups in the water, rafts, and use their fins, by holding them out of the water, as temperature controling devices. 

I thought they looked like they were in training for a synchronized swimming competition or at least as backup swimmers for an Esther Williams pic. Haha.

Point Sur lighthouse pics

The Point Sur lighthouse and buildings are on top of a rocky outcrop

Prisms were used to spread light from, literally “the light” at the top, to the working areas of the lighthouse below.

Tools in the carpentry shop, in homage to my grandfather and father, both fine craftsmen.  I loved the long level to the right. I thought it was beautiful.

The view to the north

Gopher pics!

The first two pics are from the lighthouse grounds. Check out the pudgy cheeks stuffed with dirt in the second pic. Haha!

These next pics are from our campsite. He had to work really hard to get that big stone out of the hole. Haha.

And then, when the hole is just perfect, they cover it up and put a little dirt plug in the top.

I not only thought they were very cute, but their behavior was fascinating as well. I watched this little guy for quite a while as he dug his hole, ejecte.d the stone and then protected his escape hatch by plugging it.  Our campsite alone had more than twenty holes in it

Many of these next pics were taken at Point Lobos, a wildlife refuge with great trails.

Otters floating in a kelp bed. We were fortunate enough to see probably 15 or more in multiple groupings.  It was incredible.

(If you zoom in, you can see their faces, front and or back feet and sometimes part of their tail amongst the kelp.  They float on their backs.)

A black oyster catcher

I love pelicans.

Something about their prehistoric look as they do their "fly by", either just skimming the waves, hunting, or cruising at a higher altitude just for the apparent joy of flying, but always, always in perfect formation. The ungainly disproportionality of their neck, head and especially their beak (if one could call the bucket they have a beak) compared to the rest of their body. But despite this seeming awkwardness, to watch them fly, sight a fish and dive for it is just amazing.  The adaptations of all the creatures we have seen, to say nothing of the ones we haven’t had the chance to see yet, are simply astounding, amazing, mind boggling. I am reminded again and again how fortunate we are, I am, to be able to experience this in person.

…Mr. DeMille, I’m ready…

(Brown pelicans: mature adults, juveniles and breeding adults)

A Stellar jay

And the flora, The Flora, THE FLORA!

This is the yellow coastal bush lupine. It grows all along the coast in these large bushes, some have to be 10’-15’ wide and are often 3’-4’ high, covered in these yellow lupine style blooms. It’s beautiful.

Varieties of paintbrush

California poppies

There were lots of these pretty little pink flowers but the bluffs and hillsides were also covered with poison oak, which you can see in this pic. Just remember, “leaves of three, leave it be”.  Fortunately Martin and I were just fine despite tramping about all over the place.

Ice Flower. Many bluffs were covered with this flower in pink, lavender and pale yellow.  Although not a native plant, it was introduced to try and help control erosion.

Lupines (the regular variety, not the coastal bush variety)

These next flowers are wild radishes. I’m not sure I’d ever heard of them, but these delicate blooms were both beautiful and ubiquitous in many fields and along the coast.

But wait, there’s still more!  There is a hidden valley (it is off a trail at Garrapata Beach) that is full of Calla Lilies. They’re just growing alongside a stream making its way down to the ocean and this valley is unbelievably gorgeous.There are no signs or markers. You can’t see it from the road.  You just gotta’ be in the know.

One morning we stopped for breakfast at Big Sur Inn. The owners had beautiful lush gardens (and the breakfast was really good too).

The Mission at Carmel had some pretty spectacular gardens as well.

The following pics are a small sampler of the spectacular Big Sur Coastline

Garrapata Beach

Partigen Cove

(Interesting aside: on our hike down we saw a garter snake eating a lizard!)

With crashing surf

McWay Falls

A waterfall with a stunning 80’ drop straight down onto the beach. Unfortunately the trail was closed beyond this point, but as you can see, it is magnificent.  This waterfall was and remains very spiritually significant to the indigenous people of the area

The Mission at Carmel

Our attempt at a beach day. Haha. (It was pretty windy and chilly.)

Next stop, as we travel north, is to head inland a bit (again over the mountains) to check out Pinnacles NP, before we head back out and continue up the coast.