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Location, Directions:
Limekiln State Park is located in Big Sur, 56 miles south of Carmel, off Highway One, two miles south of Lucia.
There is a day use fee. The park has 33 campsites. Each site has a picnic table and fire ring. Some campsites
are in the redwood canyon with a few located near the beach. RVs are not allowed in the redwood camping area.
Hot showers are available! Reservations (www.reserveamerica.com) are not site-specific, you will be assigned a
campsite when you arrive.
Aerial photo of Limekiln.
Limekiln State Park is located in Big Sur, 56 miles south of Carmel, off Highway One, two miles south of Lucia.
There is a day use fee. The park has 33 campsites. Each site has a picnic table and fire ring. Some campsites
are in the redwood canyon with a few located near the beach. RVs are not allowed in the redwood camping area.
Hot showers are available! Reservations (www.reserveamerica.com) are not site-specific, you will be assigned a
campsite when you arrive.
Aerial photo of Limekiln.
Along the west fork of Limekiln Creek tower the four enormous kilns from which the park takes its name. In the
late 1800s, the huge kilns were used to cook lime out of the rocks for use as an ingredient in cement.
The canyon’s recorded history begins in the 1870s, when homesteaders, hunters, loggers and miners began
settling, exploring and exploiting the Big Sur Coast.
Builders in Monterey and San Francisco needed lime to make cement, and as a result, lime kilns sprung up along
the coast. In Big Sur, kilns were established in Bixby and in what would soon be named “Limekiln” canyons.The
limekiln trail follows the old wagon route used to haul barrels of lime slacked from the furnaces. At Rockland
Landing, near the beach, the lime was loaded onto ships for the trip up the coast to Monterey.
On the hike to the kilns, you will enjoy beautiful rushing streams, numerous small waterfalls, and lush fern-lined
canyons.
Limekiln is home to some of the oldest, healthiest and largest redwoods in Monterey County. Threatened with
logging in the 1980s, these trees are also significant in that they are geographically separated from the main
redwood forests to the north and may represent a distinct subspecies or variety of redwood. Thankfully, due to
action by the Big Sur Land Trust, these magnificent giants were spared. In the early ’90s, the Esalen Institute
leased and operated the canyon’s campground. The nonprofit workshop center and hot springs resort had an
option to buy the property but declined, setting the stage for its acquisition by state parks in 1995.
late 1800s, the huge kilns were used to cook lime out of the rocks for use as an ingredient in cement.
The canyon’s recorded history begins in the 1870s, when homesteaders, hunters, loggers and miners began
settling, exploring and exploiting the Big Sur Coast.
Builders in Monterey and San Francisco needed lime to make cement, and as a result, lime kilns sprung up along
the coast. In Big Sur, kilns were established in Bixby and in what would soon be named “Limekiln” canyons.The
limekiln trail follows the old wagon route used to haul barrels of lime slacked from the furnaces. At Rockland
Landing, near the beach, the lime was loaded onto ships for the trip up the coast to Monterey.
On the hike to the kilns, you will enjoy beautiful rushing streams, numerous small waterfalls, and lush fern-lined
canyons.
Limekiln is home to some of the oldest, healthiest and largest redwoods in Monterey County. Threatened with
logging in the 1980s, these trees are also significant in that they are geographically separated from the main
redwood forests to the north and may represent a distinct subspecies or variety of redwood. Thankfully, due to
action by the Big Sur Land Trust, these magnificent giants were spared. In the early ’90s, the Esalen Institute
leased and operated the canyon’s campground. The nonprofit workshop center and hot springs resort had an
option to buy the property but declined, setting the stage for its acquisition by state parks in 1995.
Another fork in the trail leads to the waterfall.The trail is easy to
follow, and there are rocks or boards to allow easy creek crossings.
Limekiln Falls is spectacular. Situated in a narrow box-canyon, it falls
100 feet down a wall of limestone, and fans out very wide at the
base. You can scramble up and get very close to the falls or take a
dip in the refreshing pools. This one is a beauty.
follow, and there are rocks or boards to allow easy creek crossings.
Limekiln Falls is spectacular. Situated in a narrow box-canyon, it falls
100 feet down a wall of limestone, and fans out very wide at the
base. You can scramble up and get very close to the falls or take a
dip in the refreshing pools. This one is a beauty.
Hare Creek Trail. Hare Creek is a tributary stream that
feeds Limekiln Creek in the dense forest. The trail begins at the
mouth of Limekiln canyon at the signed trailhead. It follows Hare
Creek up the narrow canyon to the park boundary. At the end of the
trail, duck under a group of fallen redwoods to see a beautiful
cascade and pool.
feeds Limekiln Creek in the dense forest. The trail begins at the
mouth of Limekiln canyon at the signed trailhead. It follows Hare
Creek up the narrow canyon to the park boundary. At the end of the
trail, duck under a group of fallen redwoods to see a beautiful
cascade and pool.
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For more information, see our camping section or visit our friend
sites, Big Sur Camping and Hiking in Big Sur.
sites, Big Sur Camping and Hiking in Big Sur.
ONCE THE scene of an extensive mining operation, an
unsuccessful logging venture and an invasion by hippies, Limekiln State Park
is a magnificent 716-acre park and campground located on the Big Sur
coastline 56 miles south of Carmel on Highway One. Limekiln features
breathtaking views of the Big Sur Coast, a lovely 300-foot beach, towering
redwoods, waterfalls and a lovely hike to four historic limekilns. Limekiln
creek's three tributaries flow year-round through the park under sycamore,
redwood, oaks and maples.
unsuccessful logging venture and an invasion by hippies, Limekiln State Park
is a magnificent 716-acre park and campground located on the Big Sur
coastline 56 miles south of Carmel on Highway One. Limekiln features
breathtaking views of the Big Sur Coast, a lovely 300-foot beach, towering
redwoods, waterfalls and a lovely hike to four historic limekilns. Limekiln
creek's three tributaries flow year-round through the park under sycamore,
redwood, oaks and maples.
In Vincent Bugliosi’s book “Helter Skelter,” the author refers to Limekiln and Salmon creeks as a “hippie
hangouts” and places where cult leader Charles Manson reportedly stayed when he visited Big Sur in the late
1960s. During that colorful time, Big Sur was flooded with wide-eyed refugees from San Francisco’s Summer of
Love, and many of them took up residence in Big Sur coastal canyons, where they lived in Volkswagen buses or
crudely constructed shelters.
While most of young, shaggy-haired visitors were relatively harmless, the canyons of Big Sur also attracted a
darker element. While he was a fugitive, LSD guru Timothy Leary reportedly hid out along Salmon Creek, and
Jeffrey Kripal, the author of “Esalen: America and the Religion of No Religion,” writes that Manson “was forming
his own cult down at Limekiln Canyon.” It is likely that a seemingly unremarkable individual like Manson would
hardly have raised an eyebrow in Big Sur during a time when, according to Kripal, “stoned bands of Hell’s
Angels” were roaring down Highway 1 with alarming frequency.
hangouts” and places where cult leader Charles Manson reportedly stayed when he visited Big Sur in the late
1960s. During that colorful time, Big Sur was flooded with wide-eyed refugees from San Francisco’s Summer of
Love, and many of them took up residence in Big Sur coastal canyons, where they lived in Volkswagen buses or
crudely constructed shelters.
While most of young, shaggy-haired visitors were relatively harmless, the canyons of Big Sur also attracted a
darker element. While he was a fugitive, LSD guru Timothy Leary reportedly hid out along Salmon Creek, and
Jeffrey Kripal, the author of “Esalen: America and the Religion of No Religion,” writes that Manson “was forming
his own cult down at Limekiln Canyon.” It is likely that a seemingly unremarkable individual like Manson would
hardly have raised an eyebrow in Big Sur during a time when, according to Kripal, “stoned bands of Hell’s
Angels” were roaring down Highway 1 with alarming frequency.