Ewoldsen Loop

On the 17th I did a Big Sur day...breakfast at the River Inn, then a fairly serious hike in Julia Pfeiffer Burns SP. I took the Ewoldsen Loop, a trek through the redwoods, up the hills, and through canyons with gurgling streams. It's a beautiful and peaceful trek, and a good workout to say the least...about 6 miles with about 1600 feet elevation gain...and loss. The old sloat made it OK, stopping many times to admire the scenery rest his flippers, and catch his breath. This is McWay creek midway up the hike...a very pretty spot with a nice log bench for a break.

After hiking up three canyons, each with a fine stream, you finally (huff puff) get to the top, and emerge from the forest onto a mountainside about 1800 feet above the sea. As you can see, on this particular day there was a lot of fog over the ocean, but the marine layer was very shallow and at the spot where the picture was taken, I was above the inversion and the temperature was well up in the 70s. I spent an hour just sloating on the hill and enjoying the scene.

Eventually most of the fog cleared, and I could look a third of a mile almost straight down to the azure sea. Serious hike, but a nice reward at the top.