Bradley N.
Yelp
OK, I admit to it, Sidney S. I was wrong about Andrew Molera when I only rated it 4 stars. But, in my defense, I was young and foolish then and lacked the time and stamina to tackle the Bluffs/Panorama/Ridge loop. Now that I am less young - but if anything even more foolish - I returned to Molera to tackle that more rigorous route. Solo, sans camera. It was an adventure, and totally deserving of the highest possible rating on Yelp.
First off, there was the rain that fell remorselessly for two days prior to my visit, the first major Pacific storm of 2016. It was clear the morning I visited, but the Big Sur River was pretty swollen with run-off. Removing boots and socks and tying the laces securely together, I waded gingerly through the flowing, turbid waters that at the maximum reached mid-thigh, and once on the Creamery Meadows side, it was pretty great, as the waters had scared away the other handful of people who had arrived. So, for the next 2.5 hours, I had the entire park south of the Big Sur River to myself, which only added to the experience. Add a little solitude to the stunning natural beauty the Big Sur coast provides in spades, and bang! It's a little less California, a little more Montana, except with saltier water and fewer bears.
I will part ways with Sidney on the preferred direction of this hike. I recommend a short stop at Molera Beach (which was covered in kelp and sea wrack due to the heavy, post-storm surf and full moon cycle), then hitting the Bluff Trail first. You'll enjoy lovely morning light and great south-facing views, and when you hit the Spring Creek spur leading down a steep ravine over driftwood to a pretty little pocket beach, you can make that your rest stop. Just find a spot high enough on the beach to avoid the sneaker waves which periodically scour the sands. I had to time my return in-between wave sets or else would have gotten a lot wetter than I was hoping for (especially since the Bluff Trail portion had just dried me off from the Big Sur river crossing).
Tackle the Panoramic Trail portion of the loop head-on: constant uphill motion, with brief pauses to marvel at the view as you rise higher and higher atop Pfeiffer Ridge, which gives you views of the Point Sur lighthouse to the North, Cooper Point to the South, and Venta Double Cone to the East, and which elevates you well above sea level in the process. Once you hit the boundary fence dividing the park from an adjacent ranch, you'll almost have reached the Ridge Trail, and things will start to level out.
As Sidney notes, there are beautiful coastal oaks here, and a surprisingly lush redwood grove containing a few sizeable old specimens, nothing like the giants of Del Norte and Humboldt counties, but pretty amazing for Big Sur.
But the best part of this trail is the gentle descent, through open grass and light chaparral, back down to Molera Beach. You will be treated to a gorgeous view to the North, all while savoring the Santa Lucia Mountains on the other side of Highway 1. Once you're back to sea level, you can return to the beach to watch the surfers and shore birds (more people tend to show up by noon, mainly to visit the beach), then prepare for a second river crossing before reaching your parked car, which hopefully you've stocked with a change of clothes and some extra water, since - as others have noted - the full 8-mile loop can at times be challenging. By most standards, this would be a difficult hike. By Big Sur's super-sized standards, it would rate a medium.
But the 5 stars, they are well earned, indeed. Probably the best combination of beaches, bluffs, and ridges that you'll find in Big Sur. I'd suggest that Cone Peak (5155 ft.) and Junipero Serra Peak (also known as Sta'yokale, highest peak in the Santa Lucias, 5862 ft.) make better hikes, but they are further inland and during fire season are often off limits. Andrew Molera has the advantage of being closer to Carmel than hikes further south, like Vicente Flat and the Ewoldsen Trail, and it's further removed from the traffic on Highway 1 than trails in Garrapata. All in all, an excellent Big Sur adventure, full of a little bit of everything that makes this place so unforgettable.
Note: the hike can be done in 3 hours, or trail run in even less, but ideally you'll want to spend more time at both beaches (esp. Spring Creek) and digging the great views. Fall and spring would be my ideal times, though, for the clear skies in fall and green grasses in spring. Winter would be hard to cross the river, and summer would likely be to foggy. Be prepared for anything, though, when you come. This place, it is more wilderness than state park. The trails can be rutted, rough, and rocky, the signage is sufficient but minimal, and you are totally exposed to sun, wind, and weather all the time, with limited shade in the oaks and redwoods and along the river, but otherwise, it's you and deep blue Pacific. Have fun!
