Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
CHAPTER eleven
Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park
J ULIA P FEIFFER B URNS S TATE P ARK epitomizes Big Sur's natural scenic grandeur.
This exquisite 3.75-square-mile parcel preserves a dramatic convergence of coastal and
mountain features. Rocky points rise thousands of feet above rich underwater canyons,
streams flow down steep gorges shaded by ancient redwoods, and a ribbony waterfall
plunges over a granite lip to the sand of a pristine cove.
In addition to its 10 miles of coastline and 1860 acres of mountains, meadows,
and valleys, the park also contains a 1680-acre underwater reserve that hosts diverse
marine life. Scan the thick nearshore kelp beds to spot foraging seals, sea lions, and sea
otters. You may also witness the annual winter migration of California gray whales,
which journey south to breeding and calving grounds in Baja between November and
January, then migrate north to Alaskan feeding grounds between February and April. In
spring, females steer their calves close to shore for protection from predators. McWay
Cove is an excellent vantage point.
The park is named for Julia Pfeiffer Burns, a respected Big Sur pioneer. She was
less than a year old in 1869 when her parents, Michael and Barbara Pfeiffer, journeyed
to this wild coast to become Big Sur's first permanent white settlers. The Pfeiffer fam-
ily grew, prospered, and homesteaded so much of the surrounding land that it was often
said, “There was a Pfeiffer on every hill.”
In the late 1870s, Christopher McWay arrived to settle the adjacent canyon. Fifty
years later, Lathrop Brown, a former New York congressman, and wife Helen Hoop-
er Brown purchased McWay's Saddle Rock Ranch and built a home atop what today
is the waterfall overlook. Helen Brown donated the ranch to the state of California in
1961, choosing to name the park in honor of Julia, the strong, self-sufficient pioneer.
 
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