McWay Falls in Julia Pfeiffer Burns SP

37 miles south of Carmel and 3 hours away from San Francisco is little paradise called Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park. The park is made famous by McWay Falls, an 80-foot waterfall that drops directly from granite cliffs into the Pacific ocean. The falls can be seen from the 0.5-mile long Overlook Trail. Sadly, even though the trail is paved, it is not wheelchair accessible as it starts with a set of stairs.

The falls are magnificent and definitely worth seeing. If you would like to photograph them, then better visit the park in the late afternoon and don't forget to bring your ND filters! I regretted not having mine with me... From the Overlook Trail there are also wonderful views of the ocean and it is possible to see whales from there as well. We got lucky and saw a group of three moving close to the shore, which was amazing. They were too fast and that I did not manage to take a single good photo of them appearing at the surface of the ocean, but I'm posting one of them anyway as a proof that we in fact saw them.

There are several other trails in the park (Ewoldsen, Partington, Tan Bark) but, sadly, they were all close when we were there. I suggest that you check the park's website before you go there as it contains current information on both Hwy 1 and trails' closures.


Seven takes on McWay Falls:

Whales: