Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park

The park sits 26 miles south of Carmel, centered on the Big Sur River winding through coast redwood forest. The Esselen people lived here as early as 3500 BC. The family whose name the park carries settled along the river in 1869, eventually trading their land to California rather than to a Los Angeles developer who came calling with a subdivision in mind. What endures: redwood groves, a campground that books far in advance, and trails that closed after wildfire and came back.