Big Sur

A beautiful place.

Anya's recommendations:

• Andrew Molero State Park is lovely. You can walk one mile to the beach. There is usually a more direct trail but salmon are spawning, so you have to walk through the campsite. The surf was pretty good when we were there, but it depends. You'll have to walk through a river to get to the other side of the beach so be ready :) Once there you can do an easy meadow walk that we did or there is also a cliff walk. Both are accessible after you cross the river, just walk down the beach a few hundred yards to your left when facing the ocean. If you can find a place to camp here, it's lovely. The park ranger at the parking lot can fill you in, and sometimes people are nice enough to share their camp with you if you ask. If not there are simple cabins nearby. We stayed at the Riverside Cabins, which were funky but fine.
• The other walk I recommend (that brings you to a 360 view with the ocean) is in Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park. You take the Ewoldsen trail which offers a 5 mile loop. Stunning 360 view if you take the little finger trail that gets you to the top. So many wildflowers.