Home to 300-foot (90 m) redwoods which are over 2,500 years old. A main feature of the park is McWay Falls, which drops over a cliff of 80 feet (24 m) into the Pacific Ocean

How to Get There

From Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA (37 mi): Take CA-1 south for approximately 37 miles along the scenic Big Sur coast to reach Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park.

Overview

Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park is a state park in California, 12 miles south of Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park on California's Pacific coast. A main feature of the park is McWay Falls, which drops over a cliff of 80 feet (24 m) into the Pacific Ocean. The park is also home to 300-foot (90 m) redwoods which are over 2,500 years old. The park is named after Julia Pfeiffer Burns, a respected resident and rancher in the Big Sur region in the early 20th century, who lived in the area for much of her life until her death in 1928. The 3,762-acre (1,522 ha) park was established in 1962.

Recreation

Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park has two environmental hike-in camping areas. Both sites have exceptional views of the Pacific Coast, but access is restricted to those with camping reservations.

There are two ways to hike to the Tin House. The Tanbark Trail, located on the south side of the highway bridge, is a 7 miles (11 km) round trip hike with a total 2,000 feet (610 m) elevation gain. The second route is the road used to bring construction materials to the site from Highway 1. It is one mile shorter, but much steeper and less scenic.

Marine protected areas

Big Creek State Marine Reserve and Big Creek State Marine Conservation Area are marine protected areas offshore from Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park. Like underwater parks, these marine protected areas help conserve ocean wildlife and marine ecosystems.

McWay Falls

McWay Falls is an 80-foot-tall (24 m) waterfall on the coast of Big Sur in central California that flows year-round from McWay Creek in Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, about 37 miles (60 km) south of Carmel, into the Pacific Ocean. During high tide, it is a tidefall, a waterfall that empties directly into the ocean. The only other tidefall in California is Alamere Falls.

Current use

Due to the high cliffs surrounding the cove, the beach is inaccessible except by boat, and may be covered by surf at high tide. The outlet of McWay Creek at the top of McWay Falls is accessible by a 0.5-mile-long trail that starts at a parking area just east of Highway 1. From the parking lot, visitors can walk down a dirt path toward the ocean, through a short tunnel under the highway to the overlook. The Waterfall Overlook of McWay Falls was built on the site formerly occupied by the Browns' mansion. Visitors to the site today can view remnants of the home's foundation, landscaping (including palm trees), and the funicular railway. Ewoldsen's original Pelton wheel is displayed in a small building.

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park", and "McWay Falls", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0