Day 2 of June 2022 Trip to California, Pacific Coast Highway from Monterey to Cambria

The second day of my June 2022 trip to California, we drove from Monterey to Cambria, through the most scenic section of California's Pacific Coast Highway.

The Big Sur region, between Carmel Highlands and San Simeon, was arguably the most scenic of California's coastline, where the Santa Lucia Mountains rise abruptly from the Pacific Ocean, resulting in some dramatic views.
Apart from sprinkles of hotels and restaurants, the ~90-mile road between Carmel Highlands and San Simeon followed a pristine and largely undeveloped coastline. With no appropriate overnight lodging along the way, we decided to spend the night in the town of Cambria (a few miles south of San Simeon), which meant we had a relatively long day ahead of us.

Monterey Peninsula

Given the delays we experienced the previous day, our day began with (the free portions of) Monterey's coastline.

First, we checked out Lover's Point (p3-5 below). Frankly, I couldn't find anything romantic about the place to match its name. (It's not like the rest of 17-Mile drive where "lovers" could sit and watch the ocean extending to infinity, just like how they envision their "love" would be.) Since it's located in a denser, more populated part of Monterey, I even guessed it's so named because the average "lovers" didn't have the means to access the wealthy and exclusive (and arguably better) part of Monterey coastline (the private properties of 17-Mile Drive), and had to settle for here (something like a Cinderella story).
It turned out the place was first called "Lovers of Jesus Point" back when the area was a Methodist retreat camp. Well, I would say it's a rather misleading abbreviation.

After that, we continued driving around Monterey Peninsula, with its low-lying and rugged coastline, just like the previous day through the (fee part of) 17-Mile Drive.

Point Lobos

After leaving Monterey, our first stop was Point Lobos. To me it's a bit of everything, a rugged peninsula, a marine habitat, and some historic relics. To summarize, it's like a miniature version of Big Sur.

Inside Point Lobos State Natural Reserve, we first checked out Whalers Cove, one of the larger coves in the vicinity. Whaling was conducted in the region in the late 19th century, with a cabin/museum nearby (which we didn't visit) showcasing the history.
It felt to me that the cove was covered in sea weeds (p1-3 below) and not suitable for navigation, at least, without whalers actively cleaning them up.
It also offered us the final sights of Carmel Bay before we headed south.

Unfortunately, after that, we only found parking at Weston Beach inside the Natural Reserve, so we checked it out. The seas were relatively calm here, so my friends went searching for marine life, and they were quite fruitful (p3-6 below).

China Lookout

This was one of the roadside turnouts after leaving Point Lobos. The wild colors of grass complemented the palette in sight.
Unfortunately, the wind was strong and as a result, I lost my camera's lens cap here. 🫨

Soberanes Point

This was on a small hill, accessed by a 300m one-way trail with about 30m elevation gain. Parking was limited at its two trailheads, but this wasn't as popular as some of the other turnouts as we had no trouble parking. At its top, it properly overlooked the coastline to the north, and I was fond of the yellow flowers that decorated the landscape (p1 below). Wind was very strong on top of the hill, so we didn't linger there for long.

After that, I tried mounting a GoPro on the side window of the car, facing the ocean. Here's a clip that it captured from approximately Bixby Bridge to Big Sur.

Bixby Bridge

Next we made a stop before crossing Bixby Bridge, arguably the most iconic bridge of California's Pacific Coast Highway. When completed in 1932, it was the highest single-span arch bridge in the world. There was a turnout at its northern end, where people could admire its majesty against the soaring cliffs in its background.

Not long after leaving Bixby Bridge, the road briefly headed inlands as we approached the town of Big Sur. This was the most developed area between Carmel and San Simeon, featuring "a few" restaurants and hotels, so we decided to have lunch here.

Pfeiffer Beach

After lunch, we decided to check out Pfeiffer Beach, which was known for its unique pink/purple-colored sands and arches in the sea.

The 2-mile-long access road to Pfeiffer Beach was paved but in poor condition, it was also narrow that required frequency stopping to accommodate oncoming traffic.

In the end, this was probably the least memorable part of the day. My friends and I identified an opening in one boulder closest to the parking lot (p1 below), not knowing that we needed to head a few more steps north to see the opening/arch that Pfeiffer Beach was known for (that one was completely in the ocean, with no other boulders in front of it obstructing the view). Furthermore, I wouldn’t describe the sand here as “pink” (p4 below), not under the bright midday sun.

Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park

After leaving Pfeiffer Beach, there were a few notable roadside turnouts in Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park. This time, the rugged coastline was accompanied by layers of mountains rising above it, with thin fogs adding to the allure of the scene.

A highlight of the park was McWay Falls, a 24m-tall waterfall along the coast. Depending on the tide, it falls either onto the beach or the ocean. Its viewpoint was accessed from the parking lot via a short 500m trail. During our visit, the last part of the trail was closed for maintenance, but that did not affect us viewing the waterfall.

It's already 5pm and on the map, we weren't even halfway between Monterey and Cambria. With the best of Big Sur behind us, we hastened our pace with fewer stops along the way.

Between McWay Cove and Cambria, I used a windshield-mounted GoPro to capture the views along the way. Here's a timelapse video:

• 0:00 The video starts shortly after leaving McWay Cove.
• 3:37 Big Creek Bridge
• 7:03 Tunnel before Limekiln State Park
• 10:05 A roadside turnout between Wild Cattle Creek and Prewitt Creek where we stopped and appreciated the views.
• 10:55 Plaskett. A small town along CA-1.
• 12:13 Willow Creek Vista Point. View of Cape San Martin.
• 20:32 Ragged Point. A small town along CA-1.
• 24:52 Elephant Seal Vista Point outside San Simeon.
• 26:14 Moonstone Beach Dr of Cambria. This video ends soon after that as we arrived at our hotel.

Elephant Seal Vista Point

Before San Simeon, a beach served as a native habitat for a large group of elephant seals. Their numbers were so large that a boardwalk/vista was constructed so people could view them at relatively close range.

During our visit, I found most of the elephant seals sunbathing on the beach (at least I didn't find any in the ocean). It could be that this was their molting season when they shed their fur, which could only happen on land.

In particular, I found this pair of elephant seals were rather interested in body contact with each other. I didn't know whether they were hugging or fighting each other.

We reached our overnight hotel (Sea Otter Inn) just past 7pm. This one was located in Cambria's coastal area, along Moonstone Beach Dr. The road had ocean on one side and an array of hotels on the other, where the hotels weren't too different from each other, as if created by the "duplicate" tool in city building simulation games.

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