Our Mission The mission of California State Parks is Julia Pfeiffer to provide for the health, inspiration and education of the people of California by helping to preserve the state’s extraordinary biological Visitors from around the Burns diversity, protecting its most valued natural and cultural resources, and creating opportunities world revere the natural for high-quality outdoor recreation. State Park beauty of the park’s rugged coastline, panoramic views, California State Parks supports equal access. crashing surf and Prior to arrival, visitors with disabilities who need assistance should contact the Big Sur sparkling waters. Station at (831) 649-2836. This publication is available in alternate formats by contacting: CALIFORNIA STATE PARKS P.O. Box 942896 Sacramento, CA 94296-0001 For information call: (800) 777-0369. (916) 653-6995, outside the U.S. 711, TTY relay service www.parks.ca.gov Discover the many states of California.™
SaveTheRedwoods.org/csp Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park 11 miles south of Big Sur on Highway 1 Big Sur, CA 93920 (831) 649-2836 www.parks.ca.gov/jpb Julia Pfeiffer Burns photo courtesy of Big Sur Historical Society
© 2011 California State Parks J ulia Pfeiffer Burns State Park including the McWay and Partington dropping nearly vertically to shore offers a dramatic meeting families. Homesteaders were provide habitat for many sensitive aquatic of land and sea—attracting largely self-suffcient—making and terrestrial species. visitors, writers, artists and a living as loggers, tanoak Three perennial creeks fow through the photographers from around harvesters or ranchers by using park; Anderson, Partington and McWay the world. The same geologic, only the resources available on Creeks begin nearly three thousand feet climate and marine processes the Big Sur coast. up in the Santa Lucia Mountains. McWay that shape the character of Michael Pfeiffer moved Creek ends in spectacular McWay Falls at this beautiful park keep it to Sycamore Canyon in 1869 its cove. undeveloped, susceptible to when his daughter Julia was an Old- and second-growth coast redwoods natural forces. Wildfres and infant. She spent her life in Big Sur, grow within 100 yards of shore, near the landslides are common. Julia Pfeiffer Burns inspired by its terrain, the sea and southernmost point in California that The steep slopes of the Santa the wildlife. supports this species. Lucia Range and the rugged coast Former U. S. congressman Lathrop Wildlife and Plants embody the essence of the frontier spirit Brown and his wife, Helen Hooper Brown, and individualism of its early settlers. purchased property at Saddle Rock as Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park links Visitors may hike, scuba dive, fsh a vacation retreat. Julia Pfeiffer and her with the Ventana Wilderness and the and explore the coastal overlook. Park husband John Burns leased pasture land Los Padres National Forest to form a temperatures range from the mid-80s at from the Browns at Saddle Rock, near wildlife corridor preserving 173,000 acres higher elevations inland to the mid-40s, with McWay Falls. The Burnses lived south of the of contiguous open space for species heavy winter rains and frequent coastal fog. park at Slate’s Hot Springs (now the Esalen needing wide-ranging habitats. Institute), providing tourists with hot meals Native vegetation types in the park PARK HISTORY and a bed. include coastal scrub, chaparral, coastal Native People The Browns enjoyed Julia’s plain- prairie grasslands, mixed evergreen Evidence suggests that the Big Sur coast spoken manner and big heart, and they forest, riparian redwood forest was inhabited until the early 1800s by donated Saddle Rock Ranch as a state and arroyo-willow riparian native California Indians who spoke the park dedicated to Julia Pfeiffer forest. Non-native Esselen language. They used the forested Burns in 1962. The splendor and terrain as well as the coast for hunting seclusion of the Big California condor and harvesting what they needed for Sur coast continues sustenance, utility and ornament. Surviving to draw vacationers Esselen descendants in Monterey County to this park. continue to honor and practice many of their ancestral traditions. NATURAL HISTORY This four-square-mile park is Early Pioneers situated on the central coast. The area of today’s park was homesteaded Steep canyons flled with ancient by a number of pioneers in the 1870s, redwood trees and sheer cliffs Marine Life NEARBY STATE PARKS The Monterey • Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park Bay National 12 miles to the north on Highway 1 Marine Sanctuary Big Sur 93920 (831) 649-2836 helps preserve • Andrew Molera State Park California’s rich 16 miles to the north on Highway 1 marine life in both Big Sur 93920 (831) 649-2836 rocky intertidal and coastal strand zones. The PLEASE REMEMBER California Sea Otter • McWay Falls and the beach at State Game Refuge, McWay Cove are off-limits to visitors.
Image courtesy of Michael L. Baird with its extensive • Tidal conditions can change quickly, kelp forest, reaches and cliff overlooks are dangerous. Endangered resident of the California from the Carmel Stay away from cliff edges to avoid Sea Otter State Game Refuge River in the north being swept out to sea by sleeper to Cambria in waves any time of year. species include blue gum eucalyptus, the south. In the underwater portion of • Dive permits and surf conditions acacia, mock orange and jubata grass. the park, divers will be amazed by the are available at Big Sur Station on These species originate elsewhere, underwater pinnacles and cliffs along the Highway 1. but they have taken over parts of the park. coastline. Kelp greenling, cabezon and • Except for service animals, pets are Work to control non-native species other colorful fsh make their homes among is ongoing. the kelp. not permitted in campsites or on trails. All pets in the parking area Four active seabird colonies make up Camping and Trails some of the largest of those found along must be attended on a six-foot- Two tent-only, walk-in environmental the Big Sur coast. The central coast’s only maximum leash. campsites are available by reservation. For known colony of double-crested cormorants • All natural and cultural features are details, call (800) 444-7275 or visit lives just offshore. Partington and McWay protected by law and may not be www.parks.ca.gov/jpb. Some park trails are canyons shelter sensitive butterfy disturbed or removed. undergoing rehabilitation due to natural populations, including one of only eighteen events. Observe all posted trail signs. surviving Smith’s blue butterfy colonies on Earth. ACCESSIBLE FEATURES This park receives support in part Many species in the park are listed as An accessible trail for visitors leads from the through the nonproft either threatened or endangered, including parking lots to the scenic waterfall overlook. Big Sur Natural History Association peregrine falcons, bald eagles, California Accessibility is continually improving. P. O. Box 274 brown pelicans, California condors and For updates, call (916) 445-8949 or visit Big Sur, CA 93920 southern sea otters. http://access.parks.ca.gov.
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