Bypass Trail
Big Sur
When the Pfeiffer Canyon Bridge came down in the winter of 2017, it divided the Big Sur River Valley in half, leaving the residents and businesses south of the bridge without access to the Monterey Peninsula (and the largest mudslide in Big Sur history left Highway 1 closed some 30 miles to the south). Agencies, businesses and individuals banded together to cut a mile-long footpath through part of Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park, connecting the north to the southern “island.” It gave kids an option to hike a mile to catch a bus to school, and for months, residents carried backpacks full of groceries back from town – headed south, the uphill direction. Life in rustic and rural Big Sur requires hard work in the best of times, and this was far from the best.