- BIG SUR (CALIFORNIA) Part 1 -
A Travelling Days Website

BIG SUR is a 95 mile section of rugged coastline that stretches from the Monterey Peninsula southwards to San Simeon.
    The California Highway 1 follows the coast for much of the way and provides spectacular views from off-road parking places. The following pictures have been taken in the northern part of Big Sur.

Big Sur began 35 million years ago, 14 miles deep in the earth off the coast of Mexico. Tectonic plates rubbing against each other moved these mountainous rocks north.
    Five million years ago they pushed up out of the ocean to form an island that is now Big Sur.

Much of the text on this page is reproduced with permission from and acknowledgement to to Jack Ellwanger and The Pelican Network. The website may be reached by clicking here.
    'Today, Big Sur is a coastal wilderness. It is as pristine as could be imagined for its 200,000 acres and 90 miles of premium California coast. It is a grand testimony to the human craving for appreciating this raw, bold beauty that it has been protected.'
    Sean Viousek has said, 'The California coast with its purple mountains dropping off into the sea is the end of the nation and the destination of historical westward travel by early pioneers. As California matured and grew in population, transportation engineers conceived a route running directly along the coastline to best serve the purpose of connecting California's coast.'
    Pelican continues, 'A highway was constructed in the 1930's just to see this boldly beautiful natural setting. The road in this setting has come to define Big Sur for most people. But, the will of the pioneers to conserve the remarkable region has prevented its destruction by development.'
    'Ninety-five per cent of Big Sur is the fold-upon-fold of Ventana Wilderness, rare biology, incredible geology that most people do not ever see. In the coastal mountain canyons that vein the intricate quilt of watersheds one gets an inside peek at this wondrous country. In these pages (hopefully) you will come to know it, want to appreciate it and help conserve it.'

'Ending Big Sur's isolation in 1932, the 714 ft long Bixby Bridge (seen in the distance) made the Carmel to San Simeon road an accomplishment for the ages. It is constructed of 6,600 cubic yards of concrete and 600,000 pounds of reinforcing steel - and straight up, 260 feet above the creek. The concrete abutments, anchored into sheer rock walls 140 feet above the creek, are 330 feet apart.
    'Its graceful arch bows over the creek in the scrubby canyon that rises abruptly on both sides from the sea. It is one of the highest single-span arch bridges in the world. Before the bridge, this was considered the beginning of Big Sur. Hardly anyone went beyond this point. A ten mile inland road accessed the lower reaches of the coast.
    'In the bottom of this canyon, which was then called 'Rainbow', there was a resort owned by the family that rediscovered the sea otters in 1938. Bixby once was a busy place. Around 1910 there were a dozen limekilns operating in the canyon.'

Bixby Bridge (left)

Today the structure is usually called Bixby Bridge. In the past it had a number of names including Bixby Creek Bridge, Mill Creek Bridge and Rainbow Bridge (after the name of a tourist lodge built close by in the early 1900s). Charles Henry Bixby from Livingston County, New York was a cousin of United States President James K. Polk and an early settler in the region arriving in Monterey in 1868. He later purchased and developed large tracts of land in the Big Sur area.