Located at Ragged hotel on highway one. The beginning of the "nature trail" can be found behind the…read moregift shop. This trail may be a short hike but not a hike that should be taken lightly; tread carefully. You should only do this hike if wearing proper shoes and use to tough steep hikes. This hike has very loose footings and one can easily slip or fall. If you may it to the bottom you'll be treated with a deserted beach: black beach. Best to go during low tide. If the tide is not low, the beach may be non existent. After a storm, you may see a waterfall! Be careful: extremely dangerous hike

The hike itself says it's 1.8 miles, but truly feels longer…read more You have to pay $5 per person to enter the park, which isn't too bad. You can access the redwood decks and they're GORGEOUS. This hike feels longer because it's entirely uphill and very steep in some parts. It's a super fresh trail surrounded by lush greenery, trees, different Big Sur animal life and of course the Big Sur river. This being said it's beginner friendly. Take lots of stops, no one rushes you. Keep trudging, drink water. If you regularly do some stairs at the gym, you'll brush through pretty easily. Very worth it at the end (p.s. my 1 year old corgi made it & he has super short legs).

Trail access is from the Pfeiffer State Park campground (day use $10 for non-campers)…read more This hike is around 4 miles in total and I'd classify it as moderate. Probably difficult for those that have never hiked before. Your reward will be seeing big views of the valley and of the ocean in the distance. TIPS - At the loop sign I'd recommend going right. - This hikes start under deep tree cover and is cool. Close to the top there is no shade and you're under direct sunlight. Dress appropriately. - There are a few downed trees along the path that you'll have to walk through.

Our twelfth stop (09:42) on the Cabrillo Highway on our southbound trip through Big Sur, this dirt…read moreturn off provides unmarked parking to get clear views of the Partington Cove trail that will take you down to see the cove. We couldn't take the hike down but there were already cars parked on the side of the road to allow easy entry onto the trailhead. No cell reception in this area.

We came here 10 years ago and it was a hidden gem at the time, we drove by around 8:30am on the way…read moreto McWay Falls and there were already 2 cars there so I knew it was no longer a secret. This is by far one of our favorite Big Sur spots. The entire beginning of the hike is all downhill so you'll have an easy time going down and be panting on the way back up, you'll see it in other people's faces as you are going down. At the very bottom split I would take the time to go both directions, if you take the bridge it'll lead to a view of the ocean that narrows and then broadens. There is a nice wood tunnel you'll pass through and at the very end of the trail you can do a small rock scrambles to get an amazing view of the turquoise blue water and seaweed gently swaying in the water. If you are lucky you'll spot some sea otters diving in the kelp. If you take the other path it leads to a rocky cove with fun boulders for kids and adults to climb on, if you come in a wet season or after rain there will be a stream with many mini waterfalls on the left side. The wave splashes here are epic and it is dangerous so I would always be mindful of the water and avoid rocks that are wet when visiting.

Stayed at the Alila Ventana Big Sur and this hike was one of the activities. We started off from…read morethe property onto a dirt road like path up the hills passing a few homes along the way. The first part of the hike is nice and shady with redwoods surrounding you. Eventually, you go beyond the redwoods where it's a little hotter but you get a beautiful view of the coast. This hike is relatively easy with a slight incline. Definitely recommend. Will need to go back next time to do the full hike.

I'm a happily sedentary person, but Big Sur is so uniquely, astonishingly beautiful, I think it…read morewould've offended even my conscience to spend three days there without at least one good hike. We asked someone at our hotel to recommend an easy hike and he suggested Coast Ridge Road. It was a great recommendation, one I'll pass onto anyone else in pitiable physical condition who would nonetheless like to get outside, walk uphill, and drink in some views. I did make the mistake of underestimating either the hike's difficulty or my own decrepitude. It would've been fine if I'd just taken a bottle of water, but I didn't want to carry it and quickly regretted my decision. We walked from the Post Ranch Inn to the Ventana, where the hike begins, and I was already kind of tired by the time we reached the bottom of the trail. Going up a noticeable incline for several more minutes was just kind of a challenge, and I complained heartily and made a few stops before I got accustomed to the elevated activity level. Once I did, though, I really enjoyed the hike. The trail was, objectively, not hard, and it was lush and pretty the whole way through. We walked past tons of trees, which also afforded us cover from the son, and even a lovely waterfall. I don't know how far the trail went, but people were going up there with overnight camping gear. We stopped walking shortly after we lost tree cover and that felt like a good end point. We got to stand on the mountain and admire the endless sky and Big Sur laid out below us, the drama of all that coast and sparkling water. This was a lot of exercise for a lazy person, but it was definitely worthwhile. It was a great way to soak up the beauty of Big Sur.

The hike kicked our ass, a lot to adventure and see. I think in total we had almost 15,000 steps…read moreand climbed about 109 stairs.

Come here if you want to feel like katniss, the part before she volunteered as a tribute and spent…read moremost of her days hunting in the woods. This hike is no joke. Beware of bringing noobs on this hike because Ewoldsen will work you so hard and so good. In addition to being steep as hell, the trail is also narrow af. You have to basically hug the wall of the mountain to let the opposite traffic go. Sharing is caring! But be very careful because doing that stunt gets even scarier the higher you go up. The trail starts off only one path in the beginning. Right at the beginning, it's okay to take it a little bit easy. It's very chill at this point. And then suddenly, you face this "almost vertical looking" path and you're thinking to yourself "aw shit. What did I get myself into." But it's too late to turn back. I mean, you can but you traveled so far just to conquer this monster Ewoldsen. You might as well finish it and show off what you achieved! Anyway, somewhere along the trail, a wild fork appears. Which one to take? Left or right?? Choose wisely because one leads you to a never ending path! Just kidding. (Although, you may start thinking that about the entire hike). Per advice from people in the opposite traffic, My friends and I chose left. We really should have went right so that we went counter clockwise because then we would be climbing up less. I don't know if that made sense. We went left. And we ended up going up steep hills so if we had went right, we would be actually going down those hills instead of up. It's actually a loop so technically it doesn't matter if you choose left or right. You will end up at the same fork after completing the loop. The view on the top was stunning. Although, the McWay falls trail produced a prettier picture, you will feel more accomplished once you see the small waterfall from all the way on top of the ewoldsen loop.

What an amazing hidden treasure. Hard to find and if you know you know. Not easy to find no markers…read moreits about 800 feet south of sand dollar beach. Hike through some poison ivy into a cool meadow over looking the beautiful cove. Now finding your way down is no joke adventurous people only. Need to find the cliff with the ropes and hold on tight as you cascade the cliff. Once at the bottom you feel amazing like you conquered a hidden secret Now climbing back up I thought would be tough however climbing back up is much easier than going down. This is not for the weak but totally worth it. Highly recommend. Jade well thats the color of the water and if thats what you're searching for I suggest diving for it.

Fun, but getting there can be tricky. I used the AllTrails app to find Jade Cove. I then opened up…read morethe Jade Cove map and looked for the blue dot (my car) going along highway 1. I pulled over at the trail marker.. It worked perfectly. The best part of this experience was the short but precarious hike down to the cove. You'll be required to use a rope to hike down to the beach and back up again. The rope is a permanent fixture. Kids seven and over could do it without any assistance. When at the beach you'll see a lot of green rocks, mostly serpentine. The rule is that you can take anything you like as long as the "tide" ocean is able to touch it. The tidal range goes all the way to the cliffside. - There is no highway sign for jade cove anymore. That was taken down many years ago. - Check the tides and try to come here at low tide. - If you can, when you're at the bottom of the rope hike southward to the next cove. Better rocks over there.

Great trail with an opportunity for an epic view of the coastline…read more With many of the State Parks in the area closing down their hiking trails (Spring 2019) I was lucky to find the Mill Creek trail. This hike exceeded my expectations. The Yelp page directions were spot on and we arrived at the dirt parking lot. The trailhead is right along the road. This is a family-friendly trail, and I think I booked about 3.5 miles total. There are some small ups and downs but overall not too bad.. There was a lot of green during our hike and many tall redwoods.. Tips - My top tip is that after you've hiked just drive up the road from the parking lot for about a mile. There will be amazing views when you get to highest point facing the coastline. - Make sure you have Google maps installed on your phone (for the gps)... just in case you accidentally go off trail. - Tons of poison oak. Long pants required. - If you have kids, there will be a fork in the trail not too far from the trailhead. Right side path goes straight down the steap side of the hill. You can take this and check out the creek if you don't want to do the full hike. - Basic rule is to stay along the main creek trail until you get to a point to cross it.. This is confusing because when you reach the point that the creek is in your way there are multiple paths you can take. The few people we saw on this hike all went different directions from here. We crossed the creek and we were okay.

We decided to do this hike on our way back to the Bay Area. It was amazing and we are so glad we…read moredid. We were the only ones in the parking lot that morning and it felt like we had the whole hike to ourselves. Coming in the spring was great since everything was growing, lush, green, and the water was roaring. So serene.