Monterey Bay To Big Sur, CA

After not doing much other than beach walking in Pismo, followed by a workweek at Wine Country RV Resort (it really was a resort) in Paso Robles which we never left (hence, no blog), we hustled to do as much as possible around Monterey.

Somewhere along the way, I read the following advice for planning full-time RV travel. First, chose pillar destinations for the winter and summer. These are places that you really want to visit that are also predicated on the weather. Once you have those destinations in mind, you can create the route based on places that look interesting along the way. Besides visiting our friends in the SF Bay Area, the Big Sur Coast in Central California was our pillar destination for this winter.

There aren’t any campgrounds for us near Big Sur because of our size and cell service requirement, so we stayed at the Laguna Seca Racetrack just outside Monterey. We liked the campground, our site was large and had a state park-like feel. We were in the Chaparral Loop, electric hookups only, and had a view of the track, which provided daily entertainment.

The first weekend we headed for a little road trip down Highway 1 towards Big Sur (cover photo), stopping for views and hiking. There is a little town named Big Sur with a couple of inns/restaurants but the name also refers to the mountainous undeveloped coastline between Carmel and San Simeon. The highway goes through multiple state parks as it winds along the sides of cliffs and over bridges that cross creeks that empty into the ocean. There are a few beaches but they are mostly small and not reachable.

Our first stop was Garrapata State Park. We walked along the Bluff Trail and then along Garrapata State Beach and into Calla Lily Valley.

We continued south, stopping again for photos at the iconic Bixby Creek Bridge.

The landscape changes a little as the highway enters Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, which is the most popular state park along Big Sur. The cliffs are higher and there are some redwoods.

We pulled over near an overlook called “Seal Beach”. We heard and saw sea lions barking and jumping into the water and stayed for a couple of minutes watching them. And then we saw the source of the commotion. A gray whale! And a second gray whale! And a pod of 5 orcas!!! The photo doesn’t look like much because the water was 500ft below, but it was incredible to watch them all through binoculars and we stayed until they were all out of view. I doubt we will ever forget this day.

Next, we stopped for our longest hike of the day, 2 miles roundtrip, to Partington Cove.

And then continued on to a few more overlooks before turning around to head back.

We had planned to watch the sunset at the tiny Pfieffer Beach but the parking lot was full. Instead of waiting we just decided to go to the beach back in Carmel.

The next day we went to Point Lobos State Reserve just south of Carmel. A lot of people include this as a stop on their drive along Big Sur but we were glad we spent the entire day there. There is a lot of hiking and the colors of the water are varied and stunning.

During the week we went walking and biking around the towns. Carmel-by-the-Sea is probably one of the cutest towns we’ve ever seen. Unfortunately, everyone knows it. The sidewalks were so crowded, even on a Monday afternoon, that I couldn’t stop for photos.

Carmel’s larger neighbor, Monterey, started out as a sardine-canning town. By the 1960s the sardines had disappeared and all the companies closed down. John Steinbeck, a Monterey County native, memorialized the area in several novels.

Today, Monterey is best known as a marine sanctuary and has a world-famous aquarium. Since we’ve been having good luck with sea life since we’ve been on the Central Coast we decided to skip it this time around.

These photos are from the touristy spots of Cannery Row, Steinbeck Plaza, and Fisherman’s Wharf.

On our second weekend, we kayaked the Elkhorn Slough, tidal wetlands in the center of Monterey Bay. We saw dozens of sea otters and seals. It was all from quite a distance so I don’t have many good photos. I was really hoping a curious sea otter might come close to our kayaks but unfortunately that didn’t happen.

We timed the paddle so that we could ride in with the tide, eat lunch, and then ride back out with the tide. Come to find out, it doesn’t work like that. The afternoon wind was so strong that it completely overrode the tide and we had a choppy and difficult paddle back to our truck.

Last, we drove an hour inland to hike in Pinnacles National Park, since winter/spring is a good time to visit temperature-wise. Pinnacles, created mainly as a refuge for California Condors and other raptors, isn’t the kind of National Park that will blow you away. We still feel like all National Parks are worth a visit and were happy to get to check another off the list.

We did two good hikes. First, was the High Peaks Loop up and around the rock formations that the park was named for.

Next, was the Balconies Cave. This hike goes through a short Talus Cave which is a cave created by fallen boulders. Sometimes the light would come through the top but most of it was pitch black and required a headlamp.

Next up, we take a short break from RVing and stay at our friends’ house in Montara Beach!