Cruising the Pacific Coast Highway

The Pacific Coast Highway, also known as California State Route 1, runs 659 miles along the coast of the golden state. It's known as one of the most scenic drives in the world and it's easy to see why. Mike & I did not drive the entire length, but started near Los Angeles and then finished in San Francisco, covering approximately 350 miles of Route 1. We chose to take our time and spent about five days (including our night in the Channel Islands) covering the distance. Even still, we easily could have spent our entire trip doing things along the coast!

Our timeline:

Day 1 - LA to Ventura

Day 2 - Channel Islands

Day 3 - Ventura to Santa Barbara

Day 4 - SB to Julia Pefier State Park

Day 5 - JP to San Francisco 

 The land on the drive is a mix of public state land and privately owned areas. There are numerous state parks to explore and a few campgrounds and hotels scattered along parts of the drive. There is a stretch between San Simeon and Monterey that doesn't have much of anything, including gas stations, so make sure you have a full tank! The area also has very limited cell service, so I suggest taking a paper map or making sure everything you need is saved in your phone. The route is very easy to follow though - just head north or south!

The first stop we took was the Elephant Seal Rookery just north of San Simeon. We visited in March, so there were only female seals and young pups. During different months you can see the huge male seals (they weigh between 4,000-5,000lbs!) when they come in to mate. We still really enjoyed seeing these cute little guys!

   

 I lost track of how many times we stopped to admire different views along the drive. This particular spot was a favorite of mine, as it had a river feeding into the ocean and there was a short drive to go down to sea level. 

  

  

  

 There are multiple big, beautiful bridges along the drive. This is the Big Creek Bridge in the distance.

  

 One of the most famous spots along the PCH is McWay Falls, a gorgeous waterfall that falls straight into the ocean. You can't go down to the falls, but you can admire the scene from a walkway along the road. When we arrived the sun was behind the clouds, so I was able to take a few longer exposure shots to make this picture. Then right as we were about to leave, the sun peaked out and lit up the waterfall for a few minutes - it was amazing!

   

  We stayed overnight at Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park in their campground. It was a decent spot for just a night but nothing super great. We had planned to do a trail in the park to a waterfall, but it was closed for maintenance. We decided to drive the two miles back down the road to a different spot, Pfeiffer Beach, known for its hole-in-the-rock arch and purple sand. Yes - purple sand!

 The ocean brings waves pounding through this archway. It was pretty cool!

  

  

 We really enjoyed our stop here. It was a perfect spot to stretch our legs and take a nice long walk along the beach. The sun peaked out and we had a little time to play in the sand before getting back in the car and driving farther up the coast.   

Pfeiffer Beach is famous for the purple sand on parts of the beach. Normal sand is primarily made of quartz, but the sand here has concentrated garnet, causing the purple color. Overall, it was one of our favorite stops on the highway and was worth the time for the visit!

  

  

   

 It rained on and off for the rest of the drive, but we were still able to enjoy the views. It created a cloudy foggy atmosphere in the mountains that was beautiful. California also had an unusually large amount of rain over the winter, so all the grass and shrubs were lovely shades of green. We were told by a few people that normally California is very brown and that we lucked out!

Our last stop was the famous Bixby Creek Bridge, which offers gorgeous views of the coastline. From here we drove up Route 1 to Monterey, but then diverted from the coast to go to a real highway to drive the last 100 miles up to our next stop - San Francisco. Look for a post on our visit in San Fran next week!