Having lived in California my entire life, I’m always in awe about how much there is left to see. Sometimes I wonder why I’d travel to foreign countries and neighboring states when I still haven’t visited all of California’s natural beauties.
On January 1st, having been fortunate enough to miss the big crowd over at Julia Burns Pfeiffer State Park, Mark and I continued further down the Pacific Coast Highway 1 to Limekiln State Park.
This park consisted of more campers, and to get to the trails you’ll have to walk through the campsite. The park itself is an absolute adventure! Some trails may require you to hop over creeks and cross over logs. Depending on which trail you take, you may see abandoned limekilns or waterfalls.
Two trails that are partially connected are the waterfall trail and the one that leads to the limekilns. Both of them are very short (about .6 miles). If you go towards the right in the direction of the waterfall sign, you can make your way towards the waterfall. You’ll walk amongst the redwoods for a short while alongside the trickling stream. The trail will then require you to traverse the stream, which can be strong depending on how much rainfall it has received.
You’ll have to choose your own path, balance across logs, and try to keep your feet dry!
Mark hanging out as I tried to take a creamy water shot. What do you think?
One of the many stream crossings where I was terrified of slipping in and getting my socks wet…or destroying my camera. Mark had absolutely no problems!
This was about where I literally crawled across the logs after seeing some little kid do it.
It was frigid up there next to the falls. The misty spray from the waterfall along with some light sprinkling sure only made things colder!
You can then meander back down and take the short trail to the limekilns.
So sad that people like to tag things with paint and ruin them…but to make matters light, at least this one had part of my name!
Afterwards, you can hike back down the trail and towards the entrance of the park where there is a secluded beach that I’m sure gets packed during the summer. We went in the middle of winter, so the windy beach was practically all ours. The water from the falls actually streamed all the way down into the ocean.
If anything, this was my favorite section of the park.
Moments like these, standing in the center of an empty beach with Mark, where the icy winter air somehow snaked beneath my layers of clothing and chilled me, where the waves gently rolled onto shore and receded away like a lulling melody, where no matter how many photographs I snapped, none would ever capture the raw beauty of this beach, where it didn’t matter how frozen my face felt, I just never wanted to tear my eyes away from the ocean….
Those moments always make me feel so whole. They make my chest swell with contentment and make me feel as if there is only this one moment in time and I don’t have to do anything but be a part of it. I can close my eyes, breathe in the briny air, hold my best friend’s hand, and know that I’m loved, safe, and so utterly content. They’re moments that I wish would never end.
California’s natural wonders never cease to create these moments for me. Have you ever had moments like those?
Great shots! I know what you mean about fearing the slippery logs. I’m firmly in the “4 points of contact” camp, while Jonty can gracefully skip across them 🙂 Looks like a great hike!
Thanks! It was a very fun one, lots of crawling involved haha.