Big Sur Coast, Andrew Molera State Park
River & beach pictures - details below.
This peaceful stream is the Big Sur River, for which the area was named. “Sur” is Spanish for “South”; it was named by the Spanish who considered it the first big river encountered when going south from their colonial base in Monterey.
The river flows roughly parallel to the coast, between two ranges of mountains and then swerves to its outlet within the park boundaries, along the stretch pictured. The picture on right shows part of the ocean beach (on right) and a pond (on left) near where the river meets the sea. The picture was taken from a high promotory above the river.
Andrew Molera State Park is located 22 miles south of Carmel, and extends from a two and a half mile stretch of beach, across the highway and into the mountains. It is a “nature park” with a network of hiking trails but no campgounds except a few tentsites which must be hiked to. At some occasions one may find personnel involved with California Condors, a very large bird that nearly became extinct in recent decades. A program is underway with breeding of captive birds and reintroduction of the young back into the wild.
