McWay Falls just might be the the prettiest spot on the California coast. But it is definitely one of our favorite places in our home state!
Update: As of July 2017, McWay Falls is still inaccessible by car due to the PCH landslide in May. Road is anticipated to reopen in September 2017, check here for Big Sur area updates.
McWay Falls is so gorgeous that we visited it twice during our central California coast road trip. Once at sunset and once at sunrise. If you want this beauty all to yourself, sunrise is the way to go. Sunrise may not have the same color show of a California sunset, but it has it has its own unique light and maybe even better: no crowds.
We should also mention that we visited Big Sur during “off season” at the end of December, which may have played a factor in the low crowds. However coastal California winters are very mild, so the weather was still beautiful!
The falls are a short half-mile walk from the parking lot on Highway 1 in Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park. It’s the only year-round waterfall in California that cascades into the ocean. Before a large mudslide in the 1980’s, the falls actually dropped into the water and not onto the beach as you can see in this photo from the State Parks archives.
It was amazing to finally cross this beauty off our bucket list!
