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McWay Falls
Aug. 26th, 2021 12:40 pmOur return trip to Garrapata State Park last weekend didn't end with our hike around the Whale Peak loop. Actually, our trip to that park did, but not our day trip to the Central Coast. After returning to the car we continued further south, stopping for lunch at a busy food counter that's 87 years old. You might think, "Pfft. 87 years old, that's nothing." But that's about as old as modern human development gets in this remote area. This beautiful but rugged coastal mountain geography was almost impassible until Highway 1 was built in the 1930s.
Heading south wasn't about getting lunch, though. It was about making a longer day of our day trip and hoping the weather might improve. Alas, the weather didn't improve, but we tried to make the best of it by driving down to Julia Pfeiffer Burns state park for a short visit. You know, the home of McWay Falls. Okay, both of those names are unfamiliar? Well, maybe you've seen it in a book, pamphlet or blog about California scenery, a calendar of California waterfalls, or on the cover of National Geographic.
![McWay Falls, Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, California [Aug 2021]](https://ic.pics.livejournal.com/canyonwalker/33413618/771555/771555_original.jpg "McWay Falls, Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, California [Aug 2021]")
That's McWay Falls. In obscure, little Julia Pfeiffer Burns state park. On the rugged central coast area of California that few people were able to get to until Highway 1 was built here in 1932.
And I didn't even go in the park to take that picture. I took it from the side of Highway 1. Cars were driving past me 2 meters away. Highway 1 along the central coast is routinely listed as one of the top scenic drives in the US. With views like this you can see why.
We didn't just marvel at the falls from the side of the road, though. We walked into the park and along a short trail there. We could do that because the park was open! It had been closed for several years after a flood wiped out many trails in the park.
![McWay Falls, Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, California [Aug 2021]](https://ic.pics.livejournal.com/canyonwalker/33413618/771278/771278_original.jpg "McWay Falls, Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, California [Aug 2021]")
Only part of the park is open even now. Most of the trails are still closed due to damage that hasn't been fixed, and even the McWay Falls trail is only open to about half its previous length. We walked as far as was safe. A big chain-link gate blocked the trail past that point.
In case you're wondering why the perspective on McWay Falls looks nearly the same between the outside and inside-the-park pictures, modulo zoom and cropping, it's because the trail in the park actually isn't that far away from the roadside. It's maybe 15 meters down the cliff. For reference, the falls is about 25 meters (about 80') tall.
What else is different about the photos? Well, with the second one I had fun experimenting with my variable neutral density filter again. Yeah, that's the one I've written about using at Bassi Falls and Elk Creek Falls. Reducing the light into the camera let me shoot at a slow shutter speed, about 0.14s, that blurs moving things such as water. I forgot to take my tripod with me on this trek (a tripod is helpful for stabilizing the camera when shooting slow exposures) so I braced it against that aforementioned chain link fence. It's safety and photography! 😂
Heading south wasn't about getting lunch, though. It was about making a longer day of our day trip and hoping the weather might improve. Alas, the weather didn't improve, but we tried to make the best of it by driving down to Julia Pfeiffer Burns state park for a short visit. You know, the home of McWay Falls. Okay, both of those names are unfamiliar? Well, maybe you've seen it in a book, pamphlet or blog about California scenery, a calendar of California waterfalls, or on the cover of National Geographic.
That's McWay Falls. In obscure, little Julia Pfeiffer Burns state park. On the rugged central coast area of California that few people were able to get to until Highway 1 was built here in 1932.
And I didn't even go in the park to take that picture. I took it from the side of Highway 1. Cars were driving past me 2 meters away. Highway 1 along the central coast is routinely listed as one of the top scenic drives in the US. With views like this you can see why.
We didn't just marvel at the falls from the side of the road, though. We walked into the park and along a short trail there. We could do that because the park was open! It had been closed for several years after a flood wiped out many trails in the park.
Only part of the park is open even now. Most of the trails are still closed due to damage that hasn't been fixed, and even the McWay Falls trail is only open to about half its previous length. We walked as far as was safe. A big chain-link gate blocked the trail past that point.
In case you're wondering why the perspective on McWay Falls looks nearly the same between the outside and inside-the-park pictures, modulo zoom and cropping, it's because the trail in the park actually isn't that far away from the roadside. It's maybe 15 meters down the cliff. For reference, the falls is about 25 meters (about 80') tall.
What else is different about the photos? Well, with the second one I had fun experimenting with my variable neutral density filter again. Yeah, that's the one I've written about using at Bassi Falls and Elk Creek Falls. Reducing the light into the camera let me shoot at a slow shutter speed, about 0.14s, that blurs moving things such as water. I forgot to take my tripod with me on this trek (a tripod is helpful for stabilizing the camera when shooting slow exposures) so I braced it against that aforementioned chain link fence. It's safety and photography! 😂
