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A major storm was sweeping onto the central California coast when this panorama was taken. Six inches of rain had fallen in the preceding 24 hours, and more was on its way. This storm was of the Hawaiian (as opposed to Alaskan) type, with temperatures in the 50's and 60's. Dense clouds right down to the water can be seen approaching from the west, and mist lingers at several levels on the mountain front.

The cliffs and bluffs along the coast of Monterey county rise hundreds of feet steeply up from the surf. The coast road, Highway One, clings precariously to these unstable slopes, rarely dropping lower than 200 feet elevation, and rising as high as 1000 feet above the ocean. The ridgetops visible here are over 3000 feet high.

There are frequent turnouts on the seaward side of the road, where improvement has straightened a curve, leaving the old roadbed as a scenic lookout. This image was taken about a hundred feet below such a turnout, where a faint trail runs down the backbone of a ridge, with sheer 500 foot drops yawning on either side.

An inaccessible pocket beach is directly below, with a larger, bouldery beach further north. The vegetation is coastal sage scrub, mixed with plants typical of the coastal bluffs.

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Next: Limekiln Creek