t's a vast paradox… a landscape breathtakingly beautiful yet unsparingly harsh; a climate equally bucolic and brutal; a commu-
nity simultaneously insular and warmly welcoming; a spirit both ruggedly realistic and dreamily ethereal. It's Big Sur.
If ever a region were appropriately named, this is it. It's huge, encompassing some 75 miles of California coastline extending
roughly from Mal Paso Creek in the Carmel Highlands to the San Luis Obispo County line. There's a lot of natural beauty packed
into that stretch; rolling meadows, wind-scoured tors, towering stands of Coast Redwoods, babbling brooks that can become rag-
ing rivers in winter storms and the pièce de résistance: what many consider the most gobsmackingly gorgeous juxtaposition of
land and sea anywhere. And it's populated by independent-minded, creative, resilient people who couldn't imagine living elsewhere.
Big Sur Magic
A Land of Rugged, Mystical Beauty
B Y M I C H A E L C H AT F I E L D
C A R M E L M A G A Z I N E • S P R I N G / S U M M E R 2 0 1 4 91
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