Happy Friday, friends! I’ve been working on these photos for a bit, and am so excited to finally share  with you. As you might have seen, the Mr. and I celebrated our 1 year wedding anniversary earlier this month (woohoo!) and to celebrate, we headed out to California for some Big Sur fun. We fell in love with the area last year, and were determined to make a trip back as soon as we could. What better excuse, right?

We stayed in Monterey again, with the intent of hiking as much of Big Sur as possible in our short time out there.

We arrived around noon on Friday, and after a bit of a snafu regarding the rental car, the afternoon was well underway and a little late to try to make it to Big Sur for a good hike. Instead? Wander around the wharf, stop for a beer or two, wander some more, and watch the sea life. We were familiar enough with the area after our last trip, so the afternoon was certainly a success.

On the way to dinner later on, we drove past a huge cemetery that backs up to a golf course. And why, you ask, did I bring that up? Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a large brown… Object. Moving. With horns. What? Black-tailed deer were all over the place. Pretty crazy right? So we hopped out of the car to see how many there were, and that’s when we spotted this guy:

Just hanging out, waiting for the sun to set. He and his enormous antlers. Totally unconcerned with overexcited me frantically trying to take as many photos of him as I could. A few minutes later, he casually got up and strolled away. Not too shabby for an evening, huh?

The next morning, it was off to Big Sur. We’d previously hiked in Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, and wanted to head a little farther south this time to areas we hadn’t ever seen. Where to? Limekiln State Park.

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A little bit of a haul, but the scenery along the way is deeeffffinitely worth it.

Once we arrived, it was hiking time – Hare Creek Trail & shoreline, Limekiln Falls, and Limekiln Trail to the limekilns. Limekilns? I didn’t know either, but it is exactly what it sounds like. In the late 1800’s, Rockland Lime and Lumber Company harvested limestone from the hills, put it in the tall kilns on site, and let it do it’s thing. Lots of heat and a little while later, the lime was extracted and loaded onto ships, on its way to be used in cement for construction. Neat-o, huh? Anyhoo – history aside – the trails, kilns, and falls were awesome.

Next, it was a mile farther south to Kirk Creek Beach, which promised a large eucalyptus grove and incredible coastal views. Once you meandered through a pretty cool looking camp site, the trail began. It did not disappoint!

A lot of the eucalyptus trees are brown and dry because of California’s drought – I can only imagine how this place looks when everything is green!

After few good miles of hiking under our belt and an increasing appetite, we headed back up HWY 1 to Monterey for dinner and (naturally) some wine tasting. Not before stopping at a few lookouts along the way, of course. Who could resist?

 

Wine tasting overlooking Monterey Bay was a great way to cap off the day and gear up for Sunday’s hikes. We had some big ones on the books.

Big Sur: Part II, coming your way soon! Stay tuned.