Summer Escape to Central California; No Really, Its Too Hot
Summertime—a time to escape that scalding 100-degrees of UV rays roasting your skin. Being a native California resident, I found it an ideal time to drive through the coast and get away from the heat. In the end, the six-hour drive through Big Sur on Highway 1 was all worth it.
Herd of Elephant Seals Chillin'
Usually that drive is four hours, but sightseers and inexperienced mountain drivers made sure of delays. No problem though; I still have sea animals and waves to check out. My intention was to look for sea lions, but would have to settle for its much larger and lazier marine mammal cousin, the elephant seal. Plenty were to be seen around this time, which I can only guess that they were recovering from their skin molting period. It looked more like they were out napping and sunbathing to me, but what do I know? Surely, lugging those three-tons of weight around in their bodies has to be tiring.
You can usually find them at a few secluded beach spots from Cambria to a park seven miles north of San Simeon called Piedras Blancas. Considering they were almost on the verge of extinction, I would say it’s worth one’s while to at least at one of the designated sites.
Due to the aforementioned delays in traffic, I only had time for one more stop at Garrapata State Park. Garrapata is sort of a hidden gem along the coast where finding it requires keeping track of these tiny little signs labeled “MON.” Once you find it, you will be treated to some undeveloped beauty. The undeveloped comes from the rough, but fair hiking trails where you can wade through iceplants and wildflowers. The beauty, however, comes from the beach. This beauty can be appreciated by simply standing about one-fourths distance towards the shoreline and between the mountains. To your left while facing the ocean is a grand view of a ledge and then a lighthouse beyond that. From what I saw, both looked like good marriage proposal spots.
Finally, in front of you is a view of nothing but shades of clear blue with the sea and hazy air. The sea separates itself once the snapshot-friendly waves break into the rocks. These are waves solid enough that backpedaling may be futile against getting soaked, or you might be so awed by the waves that you won’t even recognize how drenched your soles have become.
My two stops are just a speck of what Big Sur has to offer. Other spots I would recommend checking out are the redwood groves within Julia Pfeiffer State Park and the coastal wildlife from Point Lobos as you near Monterey. Whatever I missed out on mentioning, you’d be hard-pressed to not find photo-worthy landscapes throughout that central California coast region.
