Summer
In summer, inland temperatures along the Santa Lucia Range often soar into the 90s Fahrenheit during the day and drop to the 40s Fahrenheit by night both in the valleys and at high elevation. This contrasts dramatically with stable, cool temperatures along the coast, which generally range from the low 50s to mid 60s Fahrenheit.
Separated from the ocean by 2000-foot Pfeiffer Ridge, the Big Sur River gorge is much warmer than the fog-shrouded beaches to the west. Campers and hikers flock to deep swimming holes within the gorge for bracing dips. Occasionally, the fog encroaches inland and is drawn up-canyon, bringing gray and overcast conditions even to high ridges.
Although rain is unlikely in summer, tropical low-pressure systems occasionally approach the coast in the form of puffy cumulus clouds. As this warm, humid air moves in, thunderheads may develop, spawning lightning and rain. During periodic summer droughts, wildfires are a real threat, so residents are watchful for any signs of lightning or smoke. Lightning sparked the 180,000-acre Marble–Cone Fire (1977), the 60,000-acre Rat Creek Fire (1985), the 90,000-acre Kirk Complex Fires (1999), and the 160,000-acre Basin Complex Fire (2008).
Fall
Indian summer brings warmer temperatures to the coast in fall. As the North Pacific High dissipates, nearshore cold-water upwelling stops, lowering humidity and driving fog well offshore. Views from high mountain peaks are outstanding in the crisp, clear air. Northwesterly winds diminish, and coastal waters become flat, calm, and warm (upper 50s instead of low 50s Fahrenheit). Deep within the riparian woodlands, deciduous trees change color and shed their kaleidoscopic leaves on the canyon floors.
Winter
Winter storms generally approach the central California coast from the northwest or southwest. Forming in the cold regions of the North Pacific and Bering Sea, northern fronts bring cold air masses and moderate rainfall. Forming over warm water in the South Pacific, southern storms typically bring extensive rainfall.
Arriving on the Big Sur coast, the moisture-laden air lashes the steep terrain and is forced upward. As the air rises, it cools and condenses, releasing moisture as rain or snow. When the North Pacific High lingers into winter, it prevents storms from reaching the coast and often leads to severe winter droughts.
Precipitation varies dramatically from year to year. Rainfall along the coast averages about 40 inches annually, while some 90 inches fall near the crests and ridges. In winter the high peaks are dusted in snow, which may remain on the ground for weeks or even months above 3500 feet.
A rain shadow effect occurs along eastern slopes, similar to that seen along the eastern slopes of the Sierra. Moisture-laden air deposits its precipitation along the rising western slopes and ridges, leaving eastern slopes drier on average, as the air warms and descends into the Salinas Valley. King City averages only about 11 inches annually.
Spring
Spring is glorious along the Big Sur coast. Plants and animals awake from dormancy, and the sights and sounds of life abound. In the wake of winter rains, grasslands and forests burst forth with new growth. Colorful, fragrant wildflowers carpet the grasslands and ridges, while oak and riparian woodlands bud in vibrant green hues. Views are spectacular on cold, crisp days.
The arrival of spring varies with the timing of winter rains. If rains continue until May, expect incredible wildflower displays through summer, while an end to rains in March turns the hillsides gold as dry season descends on Big Sur. Expect encroaching fog by late spring as the North Pacific High returns offshore, spawning cold-water upwelling.
CHAPTER three
Big Sur Cultural History & Lore
IMAGINE A LAND OF STUNNING BEAUTY with a wealth of resources, where thousands of steelhead swim upstream along crystal clear creeks and rivers. Grizzly bears, wolves, and mountain lions roam sheer mountains that jut toward the heavens. Sea otters, seals, and whales forage in nearshore waters. Condors, falcons, and eagles soar overhead. Acorns, wild berries, nutritious herbs, and medicinal plants flourish amid valleys and hillsides. This vision is perhaps what early Europeans saw as they explored the vast wilderness inhabited by the American Indians of Big Sur.
American Indians
ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE PROVES that people have lived along the rugged Big Sur coast for some 8000 years. When Spanish explorers of the 16th and 17th centuries arrived in Big Sur, the native population numbered nearly 5000 people among three separate coastal tribes: the Ohlone (from Point Sur north to San Francisco), the Esselen (from Point Sur south to Big Creek and inland to the upper Carmel River and Arroyo Seco watersheds), and the Salinian (from Big Creek south to San Carpoforo Creek and inland from Junipero Serra Peak north up the Salinas River valley). These groups differed dramatically from one another, adopting different languages, religious beliefs, customs, and dress.
The American Indians were hunter-gatherers, harvesting a variety of food sources throughout the year rather than farming. In fall they moved inland to bountiful oak woodlands to collect acorns, in spring to the valleys and grasslands to harvest nutritious herbs, and in winter to the Pacific to fish and hunt along the rich coastal waters.
Ancient middens speak to this variety in their diet. Lying amid former Indian villages and encampments, middens are essentially trash heaps, offering a stratified record of animal bones, shellfish remains, stone tools, weapons, and ornamental artifacts. Coastal middens largely contain the remains of mussels, abalone, chitons, barnacles, seabirds, marine mammals, and fish, while inland middens feature the bones of deer, skunks, raccoons, coyotes, foxes, rabbits, squirrels, mice, and gophers.
Aside from the middens and written records from Spanish explorers, missionaries, and anthropologists, we know little about these people and how they lived. Tragically, their culture vanished soon after contact with the Europeans. Within a few decades, thousands succumbed to European diseases for which they had no immunity. Many of those who survived such diseases as whooping cough and measles were driven from their lands, converted to Christianity, and put to work raising cattle within the mission system.
Spanish Exploration & the Mission Period
In 1542, Spain hired Portuguese navigator Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo to sail the California coast in search of riches and a water route between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. The first European to see Big Sur and the Santa Lucia Range, Cabrillo remarked, “There are mountains which seem to reach the heavens, and the sea beats on them; sailing along close to land, it appears as though they would fall on the ships.” He also encountered Monterey Bay, naming it Bahia de los Pinos (Bay of Pines).
In 1602, 60 years after Cabrillo’s expedition and nearly 20 years before pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock, Spanish explorer Sebastian Vizcaíno sailed coastal California. His expedition spent two weeks surveying Monterey and Carmel Bays, proclaiming both to be excellent safe harbors. Vizcaíno named the coast Monte-Rey after Spain’s new viceroy, the count of Monte-Rey. Vizcaíno’s glowing reports and fears that Russian explorers were encroaching south along the coast from Alaska prompted Spain to claim Monterey Bay as its own.
In 1542, Cabrillo described the California coastline aptly: “There are mountains which seem to reach the heavens and the sea beats on them.”
In 1769, Gaspar de Portolá led an inland expedition north from Baja California near present-day San Diego. When the expedition reached the daunting coastal cliffs near Ragged Point, it turned inland. Protected by its sheer topography, Big Sur was left unexplored. After Portolá reached the San Francisco Bay, the expedition returned south, bypassing entirely Monterey, Carmel, and environs. Although disheartened, Portolá persevered and planned