Golden Eagles are often seen patroling the coastline in Big Sur 

Another perk of living in Central California for as long as I did, was its proximity to such fantastic places as Big Sur, one of the most spectacular stretches of coast anywhere in the world.  During my childhood, my father and stepmother took me and my sisters to the coast regularly for camping and trekking.  We spent countless weekends camping at such places as Montana de Oro State Park and Cambria Pines. (Although both may be technically just outside the Big Sur coastline, they’re close enough to include here.)

But it wasn’t until much later in life that I spent some more serious time traveling to and studying the ecology and natural history of the coastline.  One of the few sparsely populated stretches of the Central Californian coast, Big Sur offers a rare glimpse of what the wild coast once was.  Great redwood forests and chaparral plant communities still cover the mountainous terrain of the region.  One week I spent time developing curriculum for a natural history field course I was going to teach at Sierra College, but never did get a chance to teach it when Lien passed away.

Please take a look at our North America Image Galleries!

California Scenes Image Gallery

Take a look at some of the images taken from my many trips to Big Sur.