I planned my west coast road trip for the beauty. The area around Big Sur and Los Padres National Forrest is the most beautiful strip of road I have ever seen.
I was ready to rough it at the Pfeiffer State Park camp grounds. Erin had lent me her tent, sleeping pad, sleeping bag, and JetBoil stove. I had packed plenty of hiking and camping food, my headlamp, and a few other wilderness necessities. Most of the gear was completely unecessary. I had a private camp site, surrounded by dozens of other campers. Within a mile's walk was a lodge with a full restaurant and cafe. I set up my tent, placed everything in a place I'd be able to find it in the dark, changed into my hiking boots, and set off for adventure.
It turns out I should have planned out this adventuring a little better. I could not figure out where I should go and which hikes would require the packful of snacks and gear I had prepared. Within the park, I did a hour-ish hike to some waterfalls, which are more like water sprinkles thanks to the devastating drought we've been experiencing. It was beautiful, and I seemed to be followed by this blue woodpecker-type bird that I convinced myself was a mockingjay despite it's lack of voice.
One of the reasons I wanted to stop at Big Sur was because of this fantastic waterfall I'd seen photos of. However, I had completely neglected to look up the name of the falls or where they might be. I just assumed they were so incredible that I'd be able to find the information easily once I arrived. No one seemed to know what I was talking about. I searched through books on Big Sur in the gift shop, and finally found that it was called McWay Falls. I then saw that it was in Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, the entrance to which I had pulled into on my drive, thinking it was the Pfeiffer Campgrounds. I debated going in the morning, when I knew I'd have plenty of time, but then decided to at least do part of the hike, see how far it was, and I could just turn around if the sun started to go down.
I parked, tightened my hiking boots, and set off down the trail... about 20-30 yards, and then emerged at the cliffs above the falls. I seriously took about 5 minutes. Although I didn't have to work hard for it, McWay falls may be the most beautiful place I have ever seen in my life. The marine layer was still hanging, so at first, my pictures were foggy and the view wasn't as spectacular. But every few minutes, the fog would clear, and the colors of the scene were breathtaking. A white stream of water fell from the rocky, treed area onto the sandy beach, where the light blue waves lapped at the sand, rolling steadily in from the deeper blue cove, surrounded by trees and rocks.
A little further down the cliff trail were the remains of an old house, information about the falls and the house, and another view of rocky cliffs rising out of the ocean in the fog. The original owners built the house so that the bedroom window faced McWay falls. When the Pfeiffer family bought the property, they eventually decided it was selfish to keep such beauty private, and opened the area to the public. Eventually the state of California tore down the house and dedicated the state park to Julia Pfeiffer Burns.
The other interesting bit of information was that originally the falls fell directly into the ocean, but several years ago, down the coast from the area, a huge mudslide crumbled a cliff face into the ocean. All of the sand then washed up in the cove and created the beach at McWay Falls.
Since the hike didn't take nearly as long as anticipated, I drove slowly back up the coast and stopped for a glass of wine and a snack at Nepenthe, a quirky, naturally fit resaturant at the top of one of the mountains. The patio overlooks the coast and has incredible views. I ordered some wine and asparagus (way fancier than I had planned for dinner that night) and enjoyed the view. I realized it was almost a perfect scene, so asked the women beside me to watch my things and ran back down to my car to retrieve my second favorite book, Catcher in the Rye, from my car. However, when I returned, instead of reading, I struck up a conversation with the 2 women, who were visiting from Tahoe and chatted with them throughout our breathtaking happy hour.
I finally made it back to camp and prepared the camping dinner I had brought because, well, because I brought it and had spent a good deal of time pumping myself to camp "alone." It took me a little bit of time to figure out the JetBoil and to get it going. I sipped some wine, built a campfire, which my pops taught me to do back in 2011, and waited for the water to boil. The dried, packaged, camping pasta dish I'd bought was very simple to make and was fairly tasty. I sat by the campfire and read before retiring to my tent and realizing I had forgotten to pack a pillow. I had to settle for a towel rolled up in a stuff sack. It wasn't the most comfy night's sleep, but I was well rested enough for the next day.
The JetBoil process did not go as smoothly in the morning. I'm still not sure what I did wrong. So I went and bought myself some tea in the lodge cafe and paired it with some summer sausage, cheese, and crackers for a nice, hikers' breakfast. I packed up and then headed to the rangers' station to see if there were any other hikes I could do before driving to the bay area. I checked my map, and it looked like there were 2 on the way north.
I stopped at the first one and did a little walk through some meadows and woods to a beautiful beach. It was cold and windy, but it was quite lovely. There were these little driftwood houses. An 8 year old took my picture next to one. On the way to the beach, a woman told us that she and her friends had picked up some ticks when they sat to take their shoes on and off when crossing the creek, so on the way back, I just waded through with my Nike Frees, changed into flip flops and headed north.
National Park #2: Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park
Taking a trip to the Big Island wouldn't be complete without a trip to Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park. Nicole and I took the scenic south island roads around to the park while the rest of the Krones took the Saddle Road to the volcano. We must have traveled through 5-7 different climates and finally found ourselves on Kilauea Volcano, an active volcano and an eerie place. At the visitor's center we learned that air conditions were poor and that seeing actual lava would be tough. Nicole, my mom & dad, and I drove to the caldera overlook while Chris & Casey walked.
It was incredibly foggy, so it was tough to see anything in the caldera. Sometimes when the fog cleared, we could see steam vents in the caldera, but other than that, it was cooled lava, dirt, and some sparse vegetation. Oh, and a couple nenes.
On the way back towards the visitor's center, we stopped to see the steam vents, which have clearly been consistent in recent history as there is a turn out, and there are railings around the large holes where steam continuously escapes. The weirder part was that across the street there were 10-16 steam vents continuously belching steam into the air.
We had a picnic lunch where I realized I have clearly learned my Leave No Trace principles and my family made fun of me for about 15 minutes straight. Then we drove through the rainforest area of the park to walk through the Thurston Lava Tube. When lava flows, sometimes the outside cools, forming a solid tube that liquid lava continues to flow through. This particular tube is large enough to walk through easily, as long as you watch your head for one low-hanging da kine. (My dad has a scrape on the top of his head to prove that point.) It was weirdly wet inside.
Since seeing any actual lava would have taken planning for some long hikes and possibly a night in the park, we headed out for waterfall viewing and dinner in Hilo.
I parked, tightened my hiking boots, and set off down the trail... about 20-30 yards, and then emerged at the cliffs above the falls. I seriously took about 5 minutes. Although I didn't have to work hard for it, McWay falls may be the most beautiful place I have ever seen in my life. The marine layer was still hanging, so at first, my pictures were foggy and the view wasn't as spectacular. But every few minutes, the fog would clear, and the colors of the scene were breathtaking. A white stream of water fell from the rocky, treed area onto the sandy beach, where the light blue waves lapped at the sand, rolling steadily in from the deeper blue cove, surrounded by trees and rocks.A little further down the cliff trail were the remains of an old house, information about the falls and the house, and another view of rocky cliffs rising out of the ocean in the fog. The original owners built the house so that the bedroom window faced McWay falls. When the Pfeiffer family bought the property, they eventually decided it was selfish to keep such beauty private, and opened the area to the public. Eventually the state of California tore down the house and dedicated the state park to Julia Pfeiffer Burns.
The other interesting bit of information was that originally the falls fell directly into the ocean, but several years ago, down the coast from the area, a huge mudslide crumbled a cliff face into the ocean. All of the sand then washed up in the cove and created the beach at McWay Falls.
Since the hike didn't take nearly as long as anticipated, I drove slowly back up the coast and stopped for a glass of wine and a snack at Nepenthe, a quirky, naturally fit resaturant at the top of one of the mountains. The patio overlooks the coast and has incredible views. I ordered some wine and asparagus (way fancier than I had planned for dinner that night) and enjoyed the view. I realized it was almost a perfect scene, so asked the women beside me to watch my things and ran back down to my car to retrieve my second favorite book, Catcher in the Rye, from my car. However, when I returned, instead of reading, I struck up a conversation with the 2 women, who were visiting from Tahoe and chatted with them throughout our breathtaking happy hour.
I finally made it back to camp and prepared the camping dinner I had brought because, well, because I brought it and had spent a good deal of time pumping myself to camp "alone." It took me a little bit of time to figure out the JetBoil and to get it going. I sipped some wine, built a campfire, which my pops taught me to do back in 2011, and waited for the water to boil. The dried, packaged, camping pasta dish I'd bought was very simple to make and was fairly tasty. I sat by the campfire and read before retiring to my tent and realizing I had forgotten to pack a pillow. I had to settle for a towel rolled up in a stuff sack. It wasn't the most comfy night's sleep, but I was well rested enough for the next day.The JetBoil process did not go as smoothly in the morning. I'm still not sure what I did wrong. So I went and bought myself some tea in the lodge cafe and paired it with some summer sausage, cheese, and crackers for a nice, hikers' breakfast. I packed up and then headed to the rangers' station to see if there were any other hikes I could do before driving to the bay area. I checked my map, and it looked like there were 2 on the way north.
I stopped at the first one and did a little walk through some meadows and woods to a beautiful beach. It was cold and windy, but it was quite lovely. There were these little driftwood houses. An 8 year old took my picture next to one. On the way to the beach, a woman told us that she and her friends had picked up some ticks when they sat to take their shoes on and off when crossing the creek, so on the way back, I just waded through with my Nike Frees, changed into flip flops and headed north.
National Park #2: Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park
Taking a trip to the Big Island wouldn't be complete without a trip to Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park. Nicole and I took the scenic south island roads around to the park while the rest of the Krones took the Saddle Road to the volcano. We must have traveled through 5-7 different climates and finally found ourselves on Kilauea Volcano, an active volcano and an eerie place. At the visitor's center we learned that air conditions were poor and that seeing actual lava would be tough. Nicole, my mom & dad, and I drove to the caldera overlook while Chris & Casey walked. |
| The caldera |
 |
| Steam vents. Weird. |
On the way back towards the visitor's center, we stopped to see the steam vents, which have clearly been consistent in recent history as there is a turn out, and there are railings around the large holes where steam continuously escapes. The weirder part was that across the street there were 10-16 steam vents continuously belching steam into the air.
We had a picnic lunch where I realized I have clearly learned my Leave No Trace principles and my family made fun of me for about 15 minutes straight. Then we drove through the rainforest area of the park to walk through the Thurston Lava Tube. When lava flows, sometimes the outside cools, forming a solid tube that liquid lava continues to flow through. This particular tube is large enough to walk through easily, as long as you watch your head for one low-hanging da kine. (My dad has a scrape on the top of his head to prove that point.) It was weirdly wet inside.Since seeing any actual lava would have taken planning for some long hikes and possibly a night in the park, we headed out for waterfall viewing and dinner in Hilo.
 |
| Inside the Thurston Lava Tube |
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