Wilderness Above
Finding solitude in Big Sur 5115’ feet up on Cone Peak
By Josiah Roe & Michael Mizono
The 89 miles of coastline where the Santa Lucia Mountains meet the Pacific Ocean tests the limits of human language. How does one describe the scale, scope, and color of a landscape so dramatic and mythic that it attracts as many annual visitors as Yosemite National Park and more than The Grand Canyon?
But its appeal has a cost, as suffocating Summer and holiday traffic both vehicular and pedestrian clogs lower elevation trails and attractions.
Most visitors never venture farther than a few hundred yards from the Pacific Coast Highway and never in the moody and rainy winter months when Big Sur transforms from gold to green, when the marine layer lifts and the and the tops of the Santa Lucia are laced with fog and snow.
Yet inland is an extensive trail system that leads in and up into a vast wilderness filled with redwoods, waterfalls, and incomparable vistas, and no crowds.
The rewards for visiting are all that is promised with nature and wilderness.
Learn more at See Monterey and The Big Sur Trail Map.
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