Revisited: Big Sur, California

Revisited: Big Sur, California

 Happy New Year to you all! In order to help kick off this first day of 2013, I've added another post.

Back around 2007 - 2008, I visited the Big Sur coastline of Central California. What a glorious place! If you don't want fog or rain and clouds, the best time to visit is March thru May.

During one of my midday forays, I decided to hike up one of the several hiking accessible canyons that cut down through the coastal mountain range, to culminate in the Pacific Ocean. These are beautiful little Edens of sylvan life; many which contain small stands of redwood trees. Below are some photos I took in one of these gorgeous, quaint, and quiet canyons.

Fern grotto I came across off to the side of the main trail. Had to scramble over brambles and vines in order to set up for this shot. Unfortunately, the brambles didn't have any berries at the time, only flowers. I assume them to be native blackberries.

Bracket fungus.
Found growing in the bark of what I remember to be an oak of sorts. The sulfur color was remarkable.
 

 

One creature I was on the hunt for in these Big Sur canyons, was the aptly named banana slug. How so named? First of all, they range in color from pale brownish-yellow, all the way up to a bright yellow. Also, they can get HUGE. According to Wikipedia, slugs close to ten inches long (9.8 to be exact) have been recorded. I didn't find any, but if you look closely around the middle and bottom edge of the fungus above, you'll see a slime trail left by one of these lovely (I think) terrestrial gastropods. Now that would have made a cool photo! A gorgeous yellow banana slug cruising over the sulfur-yellow bracket fungus.

Wood Sorrel. A study in detail.

Pfeiffer Beach.

Pfeiffer Beach is one of those little gems along the Big Sur drive that if one doesn't know of its presence or where its general location is, becomes one of those spots missed that should have been visited if only known about. From the highway, one winds down a fairly large, but gently sloping canyon down to an open flat spot where one can park.

Between the parking lot and the beach is a thick stand of Monterey Cypress one has to cross beneath. The path down to the beach takes you through this natural tunnel underneath the trees. This was shot a bit after sunset, taken from the beach and looking back towards the parking lot.

More Big Sur photos to come.