![]() The route is also near McWay Falls at Julia Pfieffer Burns State Park. The base Boronda-De Angulo Loop is a little over 10 miles but extensions along the Coast Ridge Road are worthwhile. While the traffic can be annoying, there are enough turnouts and awesome views to make it worthwhile to complete the loop. Once at the highway, a 1.5 mile run brought us back to the Boronda trailhead. This fire road provides very nice views of Boronda Ridge and north along the rugged Big Sur Coast. The De Angulo Trail finally pops out on an old fire road which is taken down to Highway 1. Suffice it to say this stretch is not very runnable, but at least it has been recently brushed. The trail then turns off the spine of Partington Ridge and commences a series of steep switchbacks down the hillside with very loose, poorly defined, and sharply angled tread. The De Angulo Trail starts by traversing a steep hillside and then descends the spine of Partington Ridge with a jumble of loose rocks. After exploring to the north we retraced our steps and took the Coast Ridge Road south to the De Angulo trail. Heading north along the Coast Ridge Road from the junction withTimber Top is also beautiful with more open grassy hillsides and excellent views to Ventana Double Cone and the Big Sur River drainage. From Timber Top, we took the access road down to the Coast Ridge Road, which clings to the crest of the ridge with more spectacular vistas towards Big Sur amid the many grassy ridge lines that characterize this beautiful section of Coast Ridge. The view from Timber Top is gorgeous and worth spending some time to enjoy. It’s a remarkable sight and now one of my favorite spots along the Big Sur Coast.īeyond the elegant arm, a short traverse and final climb brought us to the summit of Timber Top. This photogenic rounded arm is separated by deep canyons of oak and redwood with the blue waters of the Pacific Ocean shimmering below. The ridge culminates in an elegant arm at the upper part of the ridge, the highlight of the trail in my opinion. From a vista at 1,500 feet above sea level, the topography is so steep that it’s almost as if you could dive into the ocean! The amazing views on Boronda are virtually non-stop owing to the fact that the ridge crest is almost entirely devoid of vegetation other than grass. Despite its lower vertical, Boronda Ridge rises more steeply immediately from the ocean with truly impressive relief on the lower part of the ridge. The distance from the ocean to Twin Peak via Stone is around 5.5 miles with 5,000 ft of elevation gain while Boronda is only 3 miles with over 2,500 feet of gain. Boronda packs nearly as much punch as Stone Ridge in terms of rate of elevation gain per mile. While Stone Ridge tops out at over 4,800 ft at the summit of Twin Peak, Boronda ridge reaches just over 3,000 feet at the summit of Timber Top. Similar to Stone, Boronda is a prominent grassy ridge that rises steeply from the ocean with magnificent vistas of the Pacific Ocean and surrounding terrain. I like to describe Boronda Ridge as Stone Ridge’s little sister. Plenty pics of beach, posted pics of trail for info purposesThe Boronda-De Angulo Loop is a classic route of Big Sur. TIP: go early to avoid the crowds, this allows you to enjoy nature, hear the crashing waves and feel the seabreeze. Because of safety concerns (steep cliffs), beach access is not allowed but, there was a single line of footprints in the sand. I would have stayed longer but the end of trail IS the viewing area and others were arriving and I didn't want to be crowded(pandemic). I would say that a person with a walker or cane could navigate with patience. There is a small stair to access trail, so it is not wheelchair accessible. The trail is more of a packed dirt sidewalk vs a "trail". Pay $10/car at self check in and it is an easy 10min walk to viewing area. Easy mistake because Big Sur park does have a "waterfall" trail. If you are traveling south on Hwy 1 from Monterey/Carmel area, go past Pfeiffer Big Sur about 10-15 minutes to Julia Pfeiffer Burns park. Had tried a month earlier but went to Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park instead of Julie Pfeiffer Burns State Park.
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