San Carpóforo Canyon

Ragged Point is a headland on California's Central Coast. It is located at the southern end of Big Sur in northern San Luis Obispo County. The Ragged Point Inn and Resort is located in the area, which, as with much of Big Sur, features seaside cliffs, beaches, and hiking trails.

Salmon Creek Falls is a 120-foot (36 meter) waterfall in the southern Big Sur region of Monterey County, California. The falls are located along California State Route 1 about 2.9 mi (4.7 km) northwest of Ragged Point and lies within the Monterey Ranger District of the Los Padres National Forest and Silver Peak Wilderness.

The Silver Peak Wilderness is located in the southwestern corner of Monterey County in the Santa Lucia Mountains along the Central Coast of California. It southern boundary largely follows the Monterey County/San Luis Obispo County line. Its eastern boundary is defined by Ft. Hunter Liggett, while on the west it follows closely along Highway 1 and the Big Sur coastline. It is one of ten wilderness areas within the Los Padres National Forest and managed by the US Forest Service. The wilderness was created by the U.S. Congress as part of the Los Padres Condor Range and River Protection Act of 1992 (Public Law 102-301) which set aside approximately 14,500 acres (59 km2). The same legislation also established the Chumash, Garcia, Machesna Mountain, Matilija, and Sespe Wilderness areas. On December 19, 2002 the Big Sur Wilderness and Conservation Act of 2002 added 17,055 acres (69.02 km2) to the existing wilderness. The Wilderness is in two separate units, divided by the Willow Creek drainage and the fire roads to Alder Creek. The wilderness terrain rises steeply from near the Pacific Ocean to Silver Peak itself at 3,590 feet (1,090 m). Vegetation in the forests includes California sycamore, the big leaf maple, and red alder. Open slopes are dominated by ceanothus, manzanita, coastal live oak, and gray pine. There is also an isolated stand of coastal redwoods, the world's southernmost stand of redwoods. The wilderness also encompasses a rare grove of Sargent cypress, gray pines, and Santa Lucia fir. In the spring when the creeks fill, some of the steeper canyons feature waterfalls. Salmon Creek Falls, just off CA-1, is a very popular attraction, and the Salmon Creek Trail is a popular access point to the Wilderness. Views on clear days extend to the Big Sur coastline to the north, the Pacific Ocean to the west, and the Salinas Valley to the east. Recreation includes backpacking, horse camping, and day trips. As with all wilderness areas, motorized and mechanized vehicles (including mountain bikes) are prohibited everywhere except the forest service roads.

Piedras Blancas State Marine Reserve (SMR) and Piedras Blancas State Marine Conservation Area (SMCA) are two adjoining marine protected areas that lie offshore of San Luis Obispo County on California's central coast. The combined area of these marine protected areas is 19.68 square miles (51.0 km2). The SMR protects all marine life within its boundaries. Fishing and take of all living marine resources is prohibited. Within the SMCA fishing and take of all living marine resources is prohibited except the commercial and recreational take of salmon and albacore.

The Southern Redwood Botanical Area (also known as Southern Redwood Special Interest Area) is a 17 acres (6.9 ha) ecological preserve in the southern region of Big Sur in Monterey County, California, just north of the national forest's Salmon Creek trailhead. Established by the Los Padres National Forest of the United States Forest Service, it contains the southernmost naturally occurring Redwood. The trees are located in the Little Redwood Gulch watershed adjacent to the Silver Peak Wilderness. The area is just north of the Salmon Creek trailhead. In 2008, scientist J. Michael Fay published a map of the old growth redwoods based on his transect of the entire redwood range. The southernmost tree is about 15 feet (4.6 m) from Highway 1. The reserve is 7 miles (11 km) north of San Carpoforo Creek. It is unmarked and is not open to the public. The botanical area is classified as a special interest area under Title 36, Code of Federal Regulations, Section 294.1(a) due to its unique botanical resources for public and scientific purposes.

Piedras Blancas Light Station is located at Point Piedras Blancas, about 5.5 miles (8.9 km) west by northwest of San Simeon, California. It was added to the California Coastal National Monument in 2017.

Manchester (sometimes known as Mansfield) was a mining town in the Los Burros Mining District in the southern Big Sur region of Monterey County, California from about 1875 to 1895. The town was reached by a 20 miles (32 km) road from King City to Jolon. From Jolon travelers could ride or take a stage or wagon to the Wagon Caves, followed by a difficult 14 miles (23 km) trail over the steep Santa Lucia Mountains to the site, about 4 miles (6.4 km) inland of Cape San Martin. Prospecting began in the area in the 1850s. In the spring of 1887, after 10 years of varied success, William Dugay Cruikshank discovered lode gold at the head of Alder Creek. He opened the Last Chance Mine, later known as the Buclimo Mine. The Last Chance mine produced about $62,000 (or about $1,135,000 today) in gold ore. The mines were not very productive, and most mining activity ceased by about 1895. Renewed attempts at exploiting the ore in the early 1900s failed. Cruikshank lived on the site of the town until his death in 1937.

Rancho Piedra Blanca was a large, 48,806-acre (197.51 km2) Mexican land grant in present-day San Luis Obispo County, California given in 1840 by Governor Juan Alvarado to José de Jesús Pico. The name means "white rock" and refers to rocks painted white by its bird population. The grant extended south along the Pacific Coast below Big Sur from Ragged Point to Pico Creek (formerly Arroyo del Pinal), where it adjoins Rancho San Simeon. The land grant includes the original townsite and post office for San Simeon, the Hearst Ranch headquarters, and Hearst Castle.

Gorda (Spanish for "Fat") is a hamlet in Monterey County, California. It is located 3 mi (4.8 km) south of Cape San Martin, at an elevation of 148 ft (45 m). It is one of the three small settlements of filling stations, restaurants, and motels located along State Route 1 on the Big Sur coast. The ZIP Code is 93920, but mail must be addressed to Big Sur, and the community is inside area code 805.

The Hearst Ranch is composed of two cattle ranches in central California. The best known is the original Hearst Ranch, which surrounds Hearst Castle and comprises about 80,000 acres (320 km2). George Hearst (1820–1891) bought over 30,000 acres (120 km2) of Rancho Piedra Blanca, an 1840 Mexican land grant, in the late 19th century. He also bought most of Rancho San Simeon, and part of Rancho Santa Rosa, two other adjacent land grants. The other ranch is the 73,000-acre (300 km2) Jack Ranch at Cholame, California, which was acquired by the Hearst Corporation in 1966. The Jack Ranch comprises most of Rancho Cholame, an 1844 land grant, plus additional lands. The ranch's Circle C brand is the oldest registered brand in use in California. A third collection of Hearst ranches was acquired by the Army to form Fort Hunter Liggett.

The Neptune Pool is an outdoor swimming pool ensemble at Hearst Castle, in San Simeon, California. As well as a large swimming pool, the terrace also includes fountains, ornamental pools, sculptures, marble pavilions, alabaster lanterns, dressing rooms, and a mainly reconstructed ancient temple facade. The Neptune Terrace, including its huge pool shell, are raised up behind massive retaining walls on the Hearst Castle ridge-line in the Santa Lucia Mountains. It is to the north and lower than the main Casa Grande and the guest house terrace, with vistas of the ranch, Point San Simeon coastline, and Pacific Ocean. In 2014, the pool was drained due to severe drought conditions in Southern California. The pool had been leaking and evaporating 5,000 US gallons (19,000 L; 4,200 imp gal) of water per day. Extensive renovations began in 2017 to completely replace the pool's tile base and fix the leaks which had plagued it since its construction. The pool was temporarily filled for the first time since 2014 that August to make sure the leaks had been repaired before the water was subsequently returned to the local watershed. In August, 2018 the pool restoration was completed and the pool was refilled. In 2019, the pool was opened to the public by purchasing tickets with donations which helps fund the castle's art conservation and education programs. The castle was closed to visitors in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hearst Castle, known formally as La Cuesta Encantada (Spanish for "The Enchanted Hill"), is a historic estate in San Simeon, located on the Central Coast of California. Conceived by William Randolph Hearst, the publishing tycoon, and his architect Julia Morgan, the castle was built between 1919 and 1947. Today, Hearst Castle is a museum open to the public as a California State Park and registered as a National Historic Landmark and California Historical Landmark. George Hearst, William Randolph Hearst's father, had purchased the original 40,000-acre (63 sq mi) estate in 1865 and Camp Hill, the site for the future Hearst Castle, was used for family camping vacations during Hearst's youth. Soon after the death of his mother, Phoebe Hearst, in 1919, William Randolph commissioned the architectural pioneer Julia Morgan to build "something a little more comfortable up on the hill", the genesis of the present castle. She worked in close collaboration with Hearst for over twenty years; the castle was under almost continual construction from 1920 until 1939, with work resuming after the end of World War II until Hearst's final departure in 1947. Originally intended to be a family home for Hearst, his wife Millicent and their five sons, by 1925 Hearst's marriage was effectively over and San Simeon became the home of him and his mistress, the actress Marion Davies. Their guest list included many of the Hollywood stars of the Roaring Twenties; Charlie Chaplin, Cary Grant, the Marx Brothers, Greta Garbo, Buster Keaton, Mary Pickford, Jean Harlow and Clark Gable all visited, some on multiple occasions. Political luminaries encompassed Calvin Coolidge and Winston Churchill while other notables included Charles Lindbergh, P. G. Wodehouse and Bernard Shaw. Shortly after starting San Simeon, Hearst—who had a passion for collecting so strong he was dubbed the "Great Accumulator"—began to conceive of making the castle "a museum of the best things that I can secure". Foremost among his purchases were architectural elements from Western Europe, particularly Spain; over thirty ceilings, doorcases, fireplaces and mantels, entire monasteries, paneling and a medieval tithe barn were purchased, shipped to Hearst's Brooklyn warehouses and transported on to California. Much was then incorporated into the fabric of Hearst Castle. In addition, he built up collections of more conventional art and antiques of high quality; his assemblage of ancient Greek vases was one of the world's largest. The castle and Hearst's lifestyle was satirized by Orson Welles in his 1941 film Citizen Kane, which Hearst sought to suppress. In May 1947, Hearst's health compelled him and Marion Davies to leave the castle for the last time. He died in Los Angeles in 1951. Morgan died in 1957. The following year, the Hearst family gave the castle and many of its contents to the State of California and the mansion was opened to the public in June 1958. It has since operated as the Hearst San Simeon State Historical Monument and attracts about 750,000 visitors annually. The Hearst family retains ownership of the majority of the wider estate of 82,000 acres (128 sq mi) and, under a land conservation agreement reached in 2005, has worked with the California State Parks Department and American Land Conservancy to preserve the undeveloped character of the area; the setting for the castle which Bernard Shaw is said to have described as "what God would have built if he had had the money".