McWay Falls, Big Sur California

I thought driving the Big Sur coastline from Monterey to Santa Barbara during Winter would allow us the place to ourselves mostly. Even though it was the New Year period, I still thought it wouldn’t be crowded and we could see the ‘hidden gems’ I had seen online and was eagerly awaiting the chance to explore.

However I was wrong. Ok so New Years Day probably wasn’t the best time to ensure ‘crowd free’ sightseeing, but it was unbelievable the amount of tourists on the Pacific Coast Drive that day. The car park for McWay falls was well overflowing, and cars lined the road for nearly half a mile in each direction. I guess seeing as this attraction is visible from the Highway it’s not missed by many, 99% of cars and tourists would be stopping here. I was already crowd forlorn by the time we joined the pilgrimage down to the boardwalk that snakes around the headland to see views of McWay falls, an 80 ft stream of water that flows right onto the sand. We didn’t even get into the road to see China Cove in Point Lobos National Park, and the road to Pfieiffer beach was closed so I had very high expectations of McWay Falls fulfilling my nature needs.

Luckily the beach and falls are very picturesque and a great vista to look out on from the boardwalk. The trillion visitors treading the planks got great photos of the view, like I did above. Not a very unique experience but a special place nonetheless.

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