Weird California - By Joe Parzanese

McWay Falls

CA-1, Big Sur, California 93920

McWay Falls

Along California Route 1, south of Big Sur, in Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, there is an eighty foot tall waterfall, flowing year round, from a creek known as McWay Creek, down onto a beach. During high tide, the waterfall falls directly into the ocean. This is McWay Falls, and some people say it is the most impressive, the most amazing sight along the stretch of the Big Sur coastline.

McWay Falls

Although the waterfall is inaccessible, you can reach a prominent viewing area across the way from it. This viewing area is accessible from a short trail that can be found in Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park. If you enter the state park, which does cost an entry fee, there is a small parking lot, some camping, and some bathrooms. Across from the parking lot is the beginning of the trail, which will pass through a tunnel under Route 1 and then travel alongside a cliff until you are opposite from the waterfall, standing on an overlook, and able to view the falls. The trail is roughly six tenths of a mile round trip.

McWay Falls, however, didn't always land on the beach like it does now. Originally the area was known as Saddle Rock and was owned by a U.S. Congressman and his wife, having purchased it in 1924 from a pioneer, Christopher McWay. Lathrop Brown and his wife Helene Hooper Brown built a cabin, which was later replaced with a two story home, on top of the cliffs opposite the falls. After the Congressman passed away, in 1961 Helene Hooper Brown donated the property and land to the state, with the stipulation that the area be used as a park named after her good friend, Julia Pfeiffer Burns. Additionally, it was required that her house either be demolished or turned into a museum, specifically for the display of indigenous Native American relics, flora and fauna of the California coastal area, and historical objects from the Big Sur area. Sadly, there was difficulty in getting a museum together and the house was demolished. Apparently, the overlook for McWay Falls is now located where the house formerly was.

Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park

The Path to the Falls

The Tunnel under Route 1

Christopher McWay was a pioneer who homesteaded the area back in the late 1870s. McWay Creek, which flows into McWay Falls, are both named after him. McWay Creek is about two and a half miles long.

In 1983, the beach upon which McWay Falls plummets down onto was formed. That year, massive amounts of rainfall for the area occurred leading to several mudslides. Route 1 was closed for about a year, and during the repairs massive amounts of dirt were put into the ocean. Some of it was pushed back under McWay Falls by the surf, and a beach formed there. Today the beach is only reachable from the ocean, due to the high cliffs surrounding the area. At high tide, McWay Falls still crashes into the ocean, but the rest of the time it lands on the beach.

McWay Falls

On the trail to the Falls

In March 2019, several storms caused damage to the cliffs and made the trail to the overlook hazardous. Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park was reopened by at the latest July 2021. It was rumored that there was another trail that went closer to the falls than the overlook. If such a trail ever existed, it either no longer does or is now closed due to the instability of the cliffside. There are several trails east of Route 1 that are also closed from recent fires. One called Canyon Trail supposedly is only a short distance to yet another waterfall, this one sixty feet tall.

McWay Falls plummeting down into the cove along the ocean there is truly a sight to behold. It is a very impressive waterfall and is most definitely one of the must stops along Route 1. However, as you can't get close to the waterfall and can only view it from the overlook, which although it is still an impressive sight, it can be a little less impressive than people make it out to be. In my opinion, a trip down Partington Cove, only a few miles north of McWay Falls, also gives stupendous views of the ocean, complete with a rocky beach and a wooden tunnel. For another impressive waterfall, I recommend Lime Kiln Falls which is just as tall, but instead of landing on a beach near a beautiful cove it is surrounded by gigantic redwood trees.