Is This Poison Oak?
Story by Nicole
The goal of Wednesday was to explore the Big Sur area. We began by visiting Andrew Molera State Park. The bridge over the creek at the beginning of the trail was washed out, so we removed our shoes and socks and waded across. Once on the other side, we re-donned shoes and walked to the Molera beach. Jason was not pleased about getting his feet wet.
Nicole and Eric wade across the creek (Photo/Jason Rafal)
Jason’s reaction to crossing the creek (Photo/Nicole Harrison)
The beach was, of course, stunning. We hung out for a few minutes and watched a sea otter.
Windblown flowers (Photo/Jason Rafal)
Eric celebrates successfully balancing small rocks (Photo/Jason Rafal)
Eric contemplates the ocean (Photo/Jason Rafal)
Nicole watches a sea otter (Photo/Jason Rafal)
For the next couple of hours, we hiked along the bluff, followed constantly by strong winds. Nicole’s grandfather, Eric, pointed out native and non-native plants along the trail. After he pointed out poison oak, Nicole was constantly concerned about accidentally touching it (pro tip for those who have not been trained to recognize poison oak: it has three leaves grouped together, like a berry, but it has smooth stems). We continued for a couple of miles before turning back toward the car.
A view of the ocean (Photo/Jason Rafal)
The hills above the Big Sur coastline (Photo/Jason Rafal)
Eric leads the way on the trail (Photo/Jason Rafal)
Next, we decided to return to Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park and walk the famed waterfall trail, which we had not had time to visit the previous day. It was very easy and touristy walk, but the view of a thin waterfall falling directly onto the sand in a turquoise bay surrounded by huge rocks was definitely beautiful and worth putting up with the tourists. We have been seeing a lot of selfie sticks, which we had first seen in Italy. It’s amusing how it seemed to follow us back to the states.
The waterfall view (it’s a located on the left side, and falls onto the beach near the ocean) (Photo/Jason Rafal)
Another coastal view from Julia Burns Pfeiffer State Park (Photo/Jason Rafal)
After the waterfall walk, we headed to Nepenthe for lunch. This restaurant has been in Big Sur for generations and is famous for the amazing views of Big Sur visible from its balcony. Since our day pass got us into all of the state parks in the area, we went to Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park to wrap up the day, and then headed home.
Lack of internet and phone service means that I’ve been writing these blogs in bulk to post when I feel like going down to the check in and grocery cabin to use the wifi. It’s not the ideal way to blog, but it works.
Nicole types blog posts in the cabin (Photo/Jason Rafal)