Piedras Blancas Light Station, San Simeon

NOTE: There are no restrooms at the light station, only portapotties. 

At the start of the Big Sur Coast Drive, in San Simeon, is the Piedras Blancas Light Station! You see it from the road, the sun lighting up its white walls if you're lucky to have no fog! You can visit the lighthouse and stunning loop trail, but you must make a reservation online. You get to walk around mostly on your own, which is nice, after a pleasant half-hour talk outside by a ranger.
You should try to reserve ahead of time. But if you didn't, you can still reserve up until 9am that day. After that, you can show up and hope they let you in. The tour meets Tues, Thurs, or Sat at 9:45am at the parking lot for the former Piedras Blancas Motel, two miles north of the lighthouse, at 16420 Highway 1, San Simeon.
When you arrive at the old Piedras Blancas Motel, there is the lovely chance of hearing elephant seals playing below the cliffs! Walk the path to the left of the motel and you can hear their funny gurgling sounds, like a bottle pulled underwater. You can see them playing together in the water! Such joy!
After, the ranger counts who is present, and you all drive over to the lighthouse in your own cars. At the lighthouse, a ranger gives you a short half-hour talk outside about the history of the lighthouse. It's interesting! The second time we came, a volunteer gave us the talk inside the lighthouse, which is musty, so we left the talk early. After the talk, you get to walk by yourself wherever you want to go! You can go inside the lighthouse (but not up the staircase) and read about the fresnel lens (which is now located next to the Veteran's Memorial Building in Cambria town). The fuel oil building and fog signal building are also interesting. The buildings are very cute architecturally, and match pleasingly with the landscape. A water tower stands above cute cottages with red trim, and there are plain 1960s ranch houses where the Victorian lighthouse keeper's house used to be. It is here that you find the attractive gift shop, and some photos showing what the lighthouse looked like before it lost its decorative top section (and lantern room with fresnel lens) because of earthquake in 1948.
There is an amazing loop trail past the buildings and along the cliffs, with information plaques along the way. An incredible stretch of yellow flowers greets you in all directions in summer, looking gorgeous against the blue sky! There is an impressive white sea stack in the ocean, hence the name Piedras Blancas, white rocks. The golden inland mountains also look wonderful. I hope you will get sunshine so that the colors will really show. We absolutely loved our visit.
The crowded Elephant Seal Vista Point, or more secluded Boucher Trail, which goes north from there, are other spots to see elephant seals!

Directions

Cost is $10 each. Tour is at 9:45am on Tues, Thurs, and Sat. Reserve ahead, online. The last time to go online and reserve for that day is 45 minutes beforehand, if there is space left. Otherwise you can show up and ask to join the group if it's not full. The tour begins at the former Piedras Blancas Hotel parking lot, two miles north of the lighthouse, off Highway 1. The address for the former Piedras Blancas Motel is 16420 Highway 1, San Simeon. It is now a ranger station.

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