Coastal Big Sur bounces back from wildfires

Big Sur is certainly open for business, but what does it look like since the area was shut by wildfires that started June 21 and continue to burn east of Highway 1?

Ed Kendig of the Monterey Bay Unified Air Pollution Control District says it’s business as usual, except for the dramatic burn on the hillsides.

“The coastal escarpment has all been burned, it’s really striking,” he said. But Kendig was there to check out the air quality, which he says is good. You pretty much can’t smell or see any smoke, he said, but some odor lingers from the ash in the area.

The Monterey County Convention and Visitors Bureau is reporting a “quick comeback” from the fires, noting a more than 90% occupancy rate at area hotels as early as July 25, according to a release. Among the properties weighing in were Post Ranch Inn, Big Sur River Inn, Ripplewood Resort, Deetjen’s Big Sur Inn, Big Sur Campground & Cabins, Riverside Campground & Cabins, Big Sur Lodge, Gorda Springs and Treebones Resort. Deetjen’s and the Esalen Institute plan to reopen Friday. The Ventana Inn & Spa will open its restaurant, Cielo, on Saturday, but the resort won’t open until Aug. 1 due to cleanup from fire-related damage.

Though fires continue to burn east of Highway 1, six picnic sites west of the scenic roadway will reopen Friday, according to a release from Los Padres National Forest. Pfeiffer Beach, Mill Creek, Sand Dollar, Jade Cove Beach, Willow Creek and San Carpoforo Beach will be open for day-use only, the release said. However, trails, roads and recreation sites in the national forest’s Monterey Ranger District remain closed.

The news isn’t as good for the state parks. None of the state parks in the area will open this week, according to California State Parks spokesman Roy Stearns. “To get these parks reopened, we must do a safety assessment at each, and we are in the middle of that right now,” Stearns wrote in an e-mail. State parks have authorized refunds through July 24, he said.

At Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, 95% of the trail system has been affected; at Pfeiffer Big Sur, 75% of the trails were affected, with 50% of the park’s acreage burned. The Big Sur Lodge is open for business, but Andrew Molera State Park remains the Incident Command/Fire Camp for hundreds of firefighters in the area and will remain closed to camping likely until the middle of August.

– Mary Forgione, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

[Photo: The Maiden Public House along Highway 1 in Big Sur was back in business July 8; Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times]

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 16, 2008 at 4:50 pm by Mary Forgione and is filed under Big Sur, California, California's Central Coast, Carmel, Monterey Peninsula, News, Tips & Advice, Northern California, San Simeon & Hearst Castle, Weekend Getaways. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.