Recently I read the travel magazine where 3 of 5 California resident named Big Sur as the best option for the road trip or camping. And I cannot say otherwise. We hardly have a year when we didn’t visit the ragged shores.
It so secluded and impressive that I always return with hundreds of shots. So when I started to plan camping for the year, the Big Sur was the first to be scheduled.

Riverside Campground and Cabins

To be fair, I’m not good with telephone calls. I hate to call. Especially, I hate to do it to schedule something. As a person who spends most of my time with program software, I’m really shocked how many excellent places still have no online booking.
Riverside Cabins were the one place that allowed me to reserve the cabin online. They required two nights stay, so I planned to arrive on Friday and check out on Sunday.
The inner happy kid was forced to grow on Thursday before the trip. The hotel called me to notify of the potentially powerful storm that could make the bridge to campground impassible. We discussed all possible options. And I decided to stick with the plan: we are going. I decided we will park the car on the other side of the river and will walk to it on Sunday.
On Friday we arrived at the campground before the dark. The euphoria of the first campfire of the season wasn’t long. I knew all along we cannot cook food under the pouring rain, and I will hate to sit in the cabin half Saturday and Sunday. It was the final moment we decided to leave before the rain.
On Saturday morning I made breakfast over the open fire. The bacon and eggs and coffee with warmed up croissants. Cleaned after ourselves. And then left.
The personnel were so nice and place so beautiful that it was hard to leave.

Pfeiffer Beach

In 2015 we hiked Pfeiffer State Park waterfall and after that visit the Pfeiffer Beach. The only National Forest beach on the west coast is pretty famous: purple sand, rocky structures, doorway alike arch. On our first visit the weather was warm (the warmest we ever expected in March), the beach was crowded, but no way I didn’t like it.
The gloomy rainy weather raised a hope in me to have the place only for ourselves. No, of course, it’s impossible 🙂
Under that moister filled air, I waited my turn to take photos of the arch. We walked the beach to another end. And then walked to the other rocks.
I didn’t remember those rocks from our first visit, and of course, I didn’t remember the cave in it.

Calla Lilies Valley

I don’t know how long I know about the place. Pretty long, I think. The canyon covered with white Calla Lilies is a very instagrammable place. Our friends visit it a few years ago and were hugely impressed. I saw no reason to drive all the way to Garrapata just to see the flowers.
But now we were in the area without any other firm plan. So why not? A short hike from the road pullout near the Garrapata Beach led us to the stairs down the canyon.
The flowers were mostly old but beautiful. I screwed up few shots to the photographer who tried to get the best angle possible. But except him, we saw no one. Was it because of the weather?
The small creek in the canyon was high, I didn’t want to take a risk crossing it. The rocks on both shores were green from moss and looked slippery.
The place is fantastic, it took us 20 mins total to walk and take photos. However, I still think no one should drive all the way to Big Sur to see it.