McWay Falls

Taking the PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) between San Francisco and Los Angeles offers some of the most beautiful coastlines in the US. While not as fast as some slightly more inland and more direct routes, the curving PCH hugs the coastline with numerous scenic stopping points. On a recent business trip to San Luis Obispo, I opted to spent the extra few hours to take the scenic route. I've explored Big Sur a bit before, but it's always worth taking another look.

There's a number of famous, photographic sites in Big Sur. One of the highlights being McWay Falls inside the Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park. The 80 foot waterfall is unique in that it empties directly into the ocean, which means its actually more aptly named a tidefall. Even at the global scale, seeing a waterfall empty into the ocean is quite rare, so its worth spending the short amount of time to walk from the PCH to see the waterfall.

See Also: List of Waterfalls that empty into an Ocean

Just steps from the PCH is this beautiful tidefall.