The Trail I Didn’t Mean To Take

Recent Hike: Ewoldsen Trail

• 📍 Location: Big Sur, CA

• 🥾 Distance: 4.5 miles

• 📈 Elevation Gain: 1,275 ft

• 📷 Gear Used: Sony a7iv

• AllTrails: Suggested Trail

Favorite moment: Looking out over the ocean half way up

Day three of a four-day solo trip. I'd already driven six hours on a whim to chase coastline and cliffs, hoping to hit a specific trail that ended up closed from storm damage.

So I pivoted — grabbed my pack and took the Ewoldsen Trail instead. No expectations. No idea what I was walking into.

This shot was taken about halfway up, right before the trail closed off at the top — 1,275 feet of gain, cut short. But honestly? I didn’t need to reach the end. This view was the reward: turquoise shallows, rugged rock, and the road I came in on, barely holding its line against the wild.

Sometimes the trail you didn’t plan gives you the clearest view of why you came in the first place.

Thanks for journeying with me!
– Bridget