The gates at Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park opened again on Friday, October 16. Big Sur Lodge, the campground and the Redwood Grove Boardwalk are all back on the reopened list. State Parks lists the park as open 8 a.m. to sunset. From the parking lot, the park looks like it did before August.
Walk toward the trailheads and the difference shows up fast. The Pfeiffer Falls Trail is still closed. So are Valley View, Oak Grove, Mt. Manuel, the Big Sur River Gorge Trail and Pine Ridge. State Parks says they'll stay closed "until further notice to allow for continued assessment and recovery work in burned areas," and anyone entering a closed area can be cited.
The two lists split the park by direction. What reopened is the river, the redwoods and the developed core. What stays closed is the set of trails that head up and inland toward ground the Timber Fire burned, with Buzzards Roost the lone exception. The same split holds up and down the coast this season, so the useful question for a winter weekend is which parts of Big Sur face the ocean.
What Came Back on October 16
The Monterey District notice of October 9 lists the reopened parts of Pfeiffer Big Sur:
- Day-use areas
- The campground
- Buzzards Roost Trail
- River Path
- Nature Trail
- Redwood Grove Boardwalk
- Campfire Center
- Big Sur Lodge
For a quick walk with visiting family, that list covers the familiar part of the park. River Path and the boardwalk keep you on the valley floor among the redwoods. Buzzards Roost is the one open trail that leaves the river corridor. The Campfire Center is open again too, which matters if you're booking a campsite for guests.
Pfeiffer Falls is the walk many people use to show off the park, and it's the most visible trail still missing. Valley View starts from the same area and is closed too. Mt. Manuel and the Gorge are closed for now.
Why the Inland Trails Have a Later Date
The fire behind all of this started on the evening of August 8, 2026, southeast of Loma Vista, according to CAL FIRE's incident page. Monterey County Weekly reported that it began near Timber Top in the Los Padres National Forest and was burning northeast into the Ventana Wilderness by August 12. In its October 20 update, CAL FIRE listed the fire at 25,352 acres and 97% contained.
The reason the closures will outlast the reopening sits beyond the state park boundary. Several of the closed Pfeiffer trails continue onto national forest land. That land falls under Los Padres Forest Order No. 05-07-51-26-11, which closes the Timber and Plaskett fire areas, including their roads and trails. The order took effect September 26, 2026, replaced the previous order and runs through January 31, 2027. Pine Ridge Trail, number 3E06, is named in it.
So the long hike up Pine Ridge toward Sykes is off the calendar through at least the end of January. The other closed Pfeiffer trails have no date at all. State Parks will reopen them once its assessment and recovery work is done, and the published notices don't predict when.
This goes beyond Pfeiffer. The district notice also says all backcountry trails east of Highway 1 in Andrew Molera State Park and Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park "will remain closed indefinitely due to the ongoing repair work." Molera's own trail page still shows East Molera Trail as open, but the dated district notice is the newer word, so plan on that side being closed.
Where the Open Trails Are This Winter
Put the reopened trails from Garrapata to Limekiln on one map and nearly all of them sit near the water or along a river. Each park has its own fine print.
| Park | What's open | The fine print |
|---|---|---|
| Garrapata State Park | Soberanes Canyon Trail, 1.25 miles to the back of the canyon | Open only from the gated trailhead on the east side of Highway 1, across from Gate 8 of the Garrapata Coastal Trail. Rocky Ridge is closed, so it's an out-and-back. |
| Andrew Molera State Park | Trails west of Highway 1 | The seasonal footbridge over the Big Sur River on Creamery Meadow Trail came out October 29. Trail Camp closed for winter on November 1. |
| Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park | Buzzards Roost, River Path, Nature Trail, Redwood Grove Boardwalk | Pfeiffer Falls, Valley View, Oak Grove, Mt. Manuel, the Gorge and Pine Ridge are closed. |
| Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park | Partington Cove Trail | Backcountry trails east of Highway 1 are closed indefinitely. |
| Limekiln State Park | Limekiln Trail to Pitkins Curve Trail and the ocean-view overlook | Hare Creek and Limekiln Falls trails are closed. All transactions are cash only. |
Soberanes Canyon is the one exception to the map. It's east of the highway and open, but only for its first 1.25 miles, ending at the back of the canyon. The Rocky Ridge loop above it is closed "due to hazardous conditions." Garrapata's page also warns visitors to "use extreme caution when parking and when accessing trails on either side of Hwy 1."
The Molera change happens every year. The Creamery Meadow footbridge is permitted by the Department of Fish & Wildlife from June 15 to October 31, and State Parks removed it this year on Thursday, October 29. Trail Camp sits in the Big Sur River's flood zone, closes every winter and is projected to reopen May 1, 2027. Hikers who usually start a Molera morning by crossing that bridge will find it gone until next summer.
Farther south, Limekiln is open, with a short-term catch. Caltrans is running a geotechnical survey of the Limekiln Bridge on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., expected to finish by November 13. Until then, State Parks says visitors and campers may hear "excessive noise." Day use runs 8 a.m. to sunset. The kiosk closes at 4 p.m., and it only takes cash.
North of all of this, Point Lobos lists day-use hours of 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., with last entry at 6:30 p.m. Its page suggests calling ahead for current conditions.
Building a Winter Hike Around the Closures
Highway 1 is open through Big Sur from the Monterey County line to San Luis Obispo County, according to Caltrans' Regent's Slide project page. An open highway still has delays. Big Sur Kate reported that daytime one-way traffic control near Torre Canyon Bridge started October 13, scheduled 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. for about five weeks, with delays of up to 20 minutes. The same post added that a later Caltrans email said the work could run seven days a week. Caltrans also held a full daytime closure near Torre Canyon on October 29 and said more were expected.
A practical order for planning a day:
- Check the road first. Open Caltrans QuickMap the morning you go. The Pfeiffer Big Sur and Limekiln pages both point there for current highway conditions.
- Pick the park, then the trail. Use the table above. A closed trail can sit right next to an open one in the same park.
- Bring cash if you're heading to Limekiln.
- Save the forest trails for February at the earliest. The Los Padres order runs through January 31, 2027, unless the Forest Service rescinds or modifies it sooner.
- Look at the State Parks page again before any Pfeiffer Falls plans. The six closed Pfeiffer trails will reopen on State Parks' timeline, which may not match the forest order's.
The forest order has an end date that can be extended or shortened. The state park closures have no end date and will lift when the assessment work is done. A trail such as Pine Ridge, which starts in the state park and runs onto forest land, needs both to open.
The Rest of the Park Is Back
None of this changes the lower part of Pfeiffer Big Sur. You can walk River Path, stop at Big Sur Lodge, stop at the Campfire Center or bring guests to the Redwood Grove Boardwalk, all on the park's normal 8 a.m. to sunset schedule. Out-of-town visitors who just want to see redwoods next to a river can have the same afternoon they would have had last spring.
Outside that core, Soberanes Canyon to the back wall, Partington Cove, the Pitkins Curve overlook at Limekiln and Molera's trails on the ocean side of the highway are the open options until State Parks and the Forest Service post new notices.
Our team at Carmel Valley Realty Company keeps track of Big Sur's reopenings and road updates as part of knowing the coast we work in. If you own land or a home along Highway 1 and want to know where it stands this season, request a home valuation. We'll pair it with what's open near your property.
