Pacific Coast Highway Roadtrip: From San Fran to LA

My Zeal for the Pacific Coast Highway Begins

Back in 2009, I adopted a heavy passion for the state of California. The state is covered with awe-inspiring environments, which is great for content-creators such as me. California offers several unique environments – all with their own recipe of weather. Los Angeles, Santa Monica, and Venice all typically maintain the same, comfortable temperature. If you travel two hours north of LA, you can experience the many slopes Big Bear Lake has. If you traverse a few hours north of San Francisco, you’ll be enveloped in the mighty Redwoods that bleed over the border of Oregon. Not to mention, California’s Pacific Coast Highway is absolutely heavenly.

Over the years, I have visited more than 25 of the states, and 3 countries in Europe. Nonetheless, I can without a doubt say that the Pacific Coast Highway is the most beautiful and awe-inspiring places in the world. The PCH takes up quite the surface area,  running from Leggett in Mendocino County, California, to San Juan Capistrano on Interstate 5 in southern California.

What truly ignited my zeal for this coastal highway was a trip to Oregon last year. A close friend of mine, Tucker Baskin, and I traveled down the coast (pictured below). We started in Portland, went west to Haystack Rock at Cannon Beach, then simply went south. To avoid confusion: the Pacific Coast Highway in California is CA-1, Oregon’s “Pacific Coast Scenic Byway” is the 101. Both, however, are essentially the same thing considering they both ride the coast. Tucker and I explored the 1 for an entire week – eventually stopping in Crescent City and returning to Portland. I was beyond hooked.

Los Angeles Bound

Conveniently, Maria already planned to visit San Francisco for her spring break.  Once landing, we ventured over the Golden Gate Bridge to Stinson Beach beach where Maria’s Aunt had a vacation home. The scenery there was nothing less than beautiful. The two mornings we stayed there, we got to experience the magnificent fog that bleeds from the coast into the mountains. Stinson has over 15 miles of trails scattered near the small town. Maria and I decided to do the Rocky Point Trail – totaling about 6 miles, there and back. At the end of the trail, we had an unbelievable view of the coast and experienced a great feeling being isolated and alone in such an environment.

Shortly after recuperating from the long trek, we wanted to visit the Golden Gate Bridge. The two of us were very eager about this leg of the trip. Once leaving for this destination, we were truly starting our road trip! Since we were coming from Stinson Beach slightly up north, we got the view the bridge from its best POV. Viewing the incredible sight with Maria, I knew I had to fly the drone. We couldn’t have asked for better weather, and seeing such an iconic landmark was such a visceral way to begin our journey.

Point Lobos Stae Natural Reserve

A few hours south of San Francisco was the first stop, Point Lobos State Natural Reserve (10 miles south of Monterey, pictured below). We managed to see this spot during golden hour. The birds were chirping, the waves roaring against the mountainside, and the weather couldn’t be any more beautiful. Seeing such an insane sight had us ecstatic to see what the rest of the Pacific Coast Highway had in store.

That night, we ended up staying in a small part of the north side of Monterey, known as Sand City. We fell asleep early that night. We needed it. Tomorrow, we would be taking on Big Sur.

Big Sur

Big Sur, in my opinion, is the best stretch of California’s coastal highway. It’s simply packed with coastal look-offs hundreds of feet up mountainsides and beaches scattered all across it. Big Sur is about 89 miles long, filling in the gap between Carmel and San Simeon. Within its boundaries, there are only 6 restaurants (every 15, or so, miles) and 1 gas station. Don’t get me wrong, we loved the isolation; but hadn’t planned for it. Maria made sure we were always filled up on gas – something I am very grateful for!

Adding to the plethora of smaller scenic look-offs Big Sur already offers, it also has landmarks such as the Bixby Creek Bridge (also known as the Bixby Canyon Bridge), Pfieffer Beach, and McWay Falls. On the way through Sur the first time, we managed to see Bixby and Mcway Falls. Fortunately, we planned to ride the PCH back to San Francisco after we left Los Angeles. So, we felt no anxiety when we missed Pfieffer Beach on our first go at Big Sur.

Bixby Creek Bridge

When you initially enter Sur, the first landmark is upon Bixby Creek Bridge. Before this bridge was revealed in 1932, the residents in the 89-mile stretch were cut off due to impassable blockages in the accessible roads during the winters. Out of the many aesthetically pleasing bridges that lie on that highway, Bixby is definitely one of the more eye-catching ones. Although I was too busy shooting footage of Maria and Bixby while we were there, pictured below is the Big Creek Bridge at the end of Big Sur.

McWay Falls

McWay Falls (also pictured below) was absolutely stunning. It is an enormous 80-feet waterfall, flowing from Mcway Creek, and cascading onto the beach below. Due to the recent rainy season and slides that had occurred, the beach was closed at the time we were in town. Nonetheless, the lookout from Highway 1 facing the beach was incredible! Before heading out of Big Sur, we grabbed lunch at Rocky Point Restaurant. Stopping here gave us the energy we needed. It also gave us a chance to really soak in the views.

Morro Bay

Once leaving the Big Sur region, we continued to pass beautiful places such as Hearst Castle, Limekiln Tunnel and Limekiln State Park. During this leg of the trip, we were trying to make a good distance and limited the stopping. Before sunset, we got dinner at a cafe with a lookout of the pier and Morro Rock. Morro Rock was not a landmark we had planned on the trip, which was surprising considering its unfathomable size.

After we had eaten, we ordered a bottle of white wine to drink while on Morro Beach. Soaking in the incredible environment around us and reflecting on what we had seen so far (something we did many times on the trip). I’d say Morro Rock is comparable to Haystack Rock on Cannon Beach; but much cooler. Unfortunately, I didn’t snap any pictures while we were there. We were having fun drinking wine, running on the beach, and obviously getting good footage! After watching the sun fade into the ocean, we headed toward Santa Maria to stay and hibernate.

Los Angeles

The next morning, we woke up energized and eager for our Los Angeles heli-ride. Even though aerial photography is a frequent hobby of mine (Check out February’s flight). We got breakfast; but this time, we hopped on I-101 to fast-track to LA. We arrived at the Santa Monica Pier at 2:00 PM – the attractions’ rush-hour. Although we were in a hurry to reach our helicopter ride at 5 o’clock, riding the Pacific Park Ferris Wheel was on the to-do list. After leaving the park, we went by the Nike store to buy a new pair of shoes for our leg selfies over Hollywood. We both got different designs of white Air Force 1’s. Sorry to be so cringe-worthy; but a lot of the time we end up unintentionally matching.

FlyNyon Helicopter Experience

After a few hours in traffic, the two of us were excited to escape the traffic with some airtime. We arrived at the FlyNyon terminal 30 minutes early to get the pre-boarding checklist done. The weather was a perfect 75°, and we were more than ready to hang our feet out over the valley. We soared past the Tesla LA location, Griffith Observatory, LA County Museum of Art, Rodeo Drive, Sunset Boulevard, the list goes on.

After seeing all there was to see, we approached the iconic Hollywood Sign. So we could stick our legs out, the pilot slowed the helicopter down from 140 MPH, to 60 MPH. I highly recommend an experience like this, as you’ll never really get such an advantageous vantage point other than this one.

We met up with a good friend of mine for dinner. He took us out to Catch – one of the nicest restaurants in the Los Angeles area. Fortunately for my bank account, he paid for everything, including the 14 oz. of wagyu he ordered us which were $49 an oz! I couldn’t think of a better way to catch up with an old friend and recoup the energy from the long day in traffic.

San Francisco Bound

The next day, we were somewhat upset about the fact that we were returning home. While that may be, we’re excited to see our families again. Not to mention, we would finally reunite with our beds. That whole day, we traveled back up north on the PCH. We didn’t have the time to stop at every single lookout, but we did have the chance to visit some spots a second time. As well as making up for spots we missed.

The first time around, we were told that Pfieffer Beach was closed for the season. But in reality, Big Sur Recreation Area has basically put this location incognito. There were no signs pointing towards it, and no insight on where to go. We believe this is because it was such a trafficked attraction in the past and they were trying to diminish some of the issues they had encountered previously.

Pfieffer Beach

Nonetheless, we kept our eyes peeled for what might be Pfieffer Beach. After almost giving up, we found a detour going off the 1. As it was getting near sunset and we were trying to get to San Fran by the end of the night, we were hoping this spot was the actual location of the beach. If it wasn’t, we were simply running out of time and we’d have to check it out another time.

When we got to a ranger, he said that the parking lot was full for the day and he wasn’t letting anyone in. Almost as if it was a sign, right at that moment, three cars pulled out of the lot. The ranger was happy to see the excitement in our faces.

After parking and approaching the beach, it was clear why so many people were flocking to this spot. Pfieffer Beach has an enormous boulder (about the size of Morro Rock), but it has a natural doorway going through it. We visited the beach at the perfect time, as the sun was setting and piercing through the doorway.

This sunset view was the perfect closure for our trip. Out of our whole itinerary, this spot was the only hiccup along the way. Leaving Pfieffer Beach, Maria and I felt a great sense of accomplishment from our amazing trip. Although our future trips this summer will concern Yosemite, Yellowstone, and a few other spots, the Pacific Coast Highway is one we plan on exploring again. It is such a liberating trek, and I would recommend it to any individual.