Over a year ago during my last longer stay at my mom's house there was an issue of The Smithsonian in the bathroom with a long article about Big Sur. I probably read it at least 6 times and stared at the pictures for hours: Huge groves of old growth redwoods perched on cliffs above beautiful rocky beaches, pristine natural hot springs, wild and untouched.
Despite a bigger tourism industry than the article described, Big Sur has lived up to my expectations as being a truly magical place. Josh. Jon and I biked out of Carmel a few days ago and camped out on a beautiful beach in Garapata State Park. The next day, we continued on to Big Sur Station, where we started the Pine Ridge trail to Sykes hot springs. The hike covers 10 miles through the Ventana Wilderness, along (surprise, surprise) the ridges of the foothills of Ventana Peak. We finished the hike in that one day, although the last hour or so was in the dark. We camped on the bank of the Big Sur River. The river was so clean we drank out of it! The next day, we soaked in the beautiful natural hot springs there and wandered around the rocky banks of the river. It was a really relaxing day, which was called for after biking and hiking so far. Yesterday we hiked out and stayed on Pfiefer Beach, another beautiful spot with rugged rock formations jutting out of the water. This morning we stopped by Josh's friends house who hooked us up with tea and tons of apple pie!
Our trip is moving along as planned: we started in San Francisco, biked down to Santa Cruz and hung out for a few days, and now we are continuing through Big Sur. The last few days have been by far my favourite part, and definitely one of the best things I've done in California so far. Now I am at the Henry Miller Library, a rustic spot in the woods which is very traveller friendly. The weather is beautiful, my team is great, and I'm excited for the next adventure!
