Red Tail Ranch. Big Sur, CA
After a long, winding and beautiful drive up the California coast from Los Angeles to Big Sur, we followed our hosts instructions to set our odometer for exactly one mile past a specified point and looked for the big, wooden gates to Red Tail Ranch. We climbed the steep driveway around a few bends and passed some old out buildings and storage sheds to a break in the cliff side where the house sat perched on the edge proudly overlooking the Pacific Ocean.
Red Tail Ranch is a modern, three bedroom home that sits on almost 400 acres of mountainous coastline at Lopez Point near Big Sur, CA and was once owned by an original pioneering family from the 1800s. It has been recently renovated and includes a working stone fireplace, gourmet kitchen and grill, wood burning hot tub, large outdoor patio, and a bathroom with a big picture window that made us feel like we were showering in the clouds.
The house itself was great, but what we really enjoyed was hiking around the acres and acres of private property. There are several trails you can follow, one goes high up into the mountains to a big open field (we never made it) and another takes you through a private tunnel underneath the Pacific Coast Highway towards the coast and a strange collection of rocks arranged in circles and a weird pit with a stake in it. We made lots of jokes about hippies and drum circles and sacrificing virgins, but it is Big Sur, and I’m sure there is a much more eloquent reason for them being there. We also hiked all the way down to our very own rocky beach area where we watched the birds sun themselves on the rocks and pretended to see whales and sea lions.
In short, Red Tail Ranch is a the perfect spot to drop out with a group of friends (it sleeps eight) for a few days, hike around the coast, and really do whatever the hell you want. Visit their website for more info on the property and how to rent the ranch.
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