Cathedral of nature

Ten years ago, I was at the Boston Marathon expo and picked up an oversized postcard with an aerial image of the Bixby Creek Bridge in the foreground set against the rocky coastline and deep blue sea of California's stretch of coastline known as Big Sur.

If you look closely at the postcard, you can see flea-sized figures that are runners.

As if the scenery weren't enough, the Big Sur International Marathon postcard warmly invites, "Join us (on) the last Sunday in April." I not only kept the postcard, but clipped it to a clear plastic frame, and put it on my desk. In our windowless office, I often peered at it for a brief visual escape from cubicle stress.

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Big Sur

At the end of April, health & fitness writer David Quick traveled to central coastal California to participate in the 25th annual Big Sur International Marathon, ranked by "Runner's World" magazine among the top three "destination marathons" in the United States. Quick took a week to enjoy the region, spending nights in San Francisco, Monterey, Carmel, Big Sur and Santa Cruz. He enjoyed hiking, biking, looking at wildlife, wildflowers and wild people, and taking photographs of it all in a country that author Henry Miller described as "The face of the earth as the Creator intended it to look."

My delay in actually going to Big Sur was due primarily to running Boston, also held in April every year. But when this year's race reached its registration cap 2 1/2 months earlier than last, my plan B was in place.

Big Sur, and more generally central coastal California, was it.

The region the Spanish originally called "El Sur Grande" is basically the unspoiled, 90-mile stretch between Carmel and San Simeon, the home of Hearst Castle. The drive along Big Sur's section of the California Pacific Coast Highway 1 is regarded as one of the most picturesque in the United States.

The beauty of the place has long been a magnet for artists and writers of the bohemian ilk, including Henry Miller, Edward Weston, Hunter S. Thompson and Jack Kerouac.

Miller described Big Sur as "The face of the earth as the Creator intended it to look."

Everything in Big Sur seems, well, grande: the ocean, the mountains, the rocks, the crashing waves, the canyons, the trees and the wildlife, the latter of which includes California condors and whales migrating between Alaska and Mexico.

Big Sur is, indeed, a cathedral of nature.

Getting there

From Charleston, there are several options for landing near Big Sur. Monterey and San Jose are the closest, but involved an extra changeover, or two. Same goes for farther away Oakland.

I chose San Francisco International between it was the least expensive and only involved one changeover (Continental via Houston). However, any inconvenience in the changeover could be quickly trumped by the hassles of getting a rental car in San Francisco and Oakland and getting stuck in metro area traffic.

While I prefer to use alternative transportation on trips, there was no way around getting a rental car on this one.

If flying into San Francisco, head over to the Pacific Coast Highway as soon as possible, either via California State Highway 92 to Half Moon Bay or via California 17 to Santa Cruz. U.S. Highway 101 is a dreadful drive.

Staying there

Because of the marathon, I spent one night in Monterey (where the expo was held) and two nights in Carmel (the finish line).

As expected, Monterey is primarily a tourist trap with overpriced seafood restaurants, junky souvenir shops and cookie-cutter tourists. But the anchor of all that tourism, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, is world-class. (Admission is $30 for adults, $28 for students and $18 for children over age 3.)

Founded in 1984 on the site of a former sardine cannery, the aquarium is impressive not only because of its exhibits of sea otters, sharks and colorful jellyfish but in its strong message of conservation and in preventing the overfishing of the bay that took place in the 20th century.

Besides the aquarium, the only other activity I could recommend in Monterey is renting a bike at Bay Bikes ($30 for four hours) and taking the paved trail to Pacific Grove and the 17-Mile Drive along the famed Pebble Beach Golf Links. If it's warm, plan to stop and enjoy Lover's Point Park, which features a beach and some family-friendly rocks to climb on.

Despite the "drive" part of the 17-Mile Drive, it actually is very cycling-friendly and offers beautiful vistas and stopping points, such as Bird Rock, Seal Rock and an array of beaches.

Carmel (aka "Carmel-by-the-Sea") is a charming, though snooty, village. Businesses seem to consist primarily of three categories: upscale restaurants, upscale clothing stores and upscale art galleries.

I stayed downtown in the Carmel Lodge, basically a motel. There are ample inns in Carmel, so booking in advance may not be necessary, but Carmel is a "been there, done that" kind of town and in that case, I'd recommend staying in the historic Pine Inn. Its origins go back to 1889 as Hotel Carmelo and you can't get any closer to the center of town.

The marathon

As for the marathon itself, there's a reason why Runner's World selected Big Sur as the third best marathon, and the best "destination marathon," in the United States. The combination of its spectacular course and attention-to-detail organization is unparalleled.

The marathon starts in the redwoods of the town of Big Sur, and rolls along the Pacific Coast Highway to Carmel.

A major gut check takes place during a hill from mile 10 to mile 12, but with some regular hill training on a Lowcountry bridge, it's no problem. (My time at Big Sur was more than two minutes faster than pancake-flat Kiawah).

And if you don't want to run a marathon, Big Sur features several concurrent races of rather odd distances -- 21 miles, 10.6 and 9 -- as well as a marathon relay. But do the marathon.

Playing in Big Sur

The first time I actually laid eyes on Big Sur was when I ran it. A bus took us to the starting line in the dark. So the day after, I explored the race course backward. It's hard to drive Big Sur and not be tempted to stop and hike every trail at each of the pull-offs. But I decided early on, based a recommendation, that I'd spend some time hiking a trail at Garrapata State Park.

The trail passed a valley between two virtually treeless mountains, through California poppies, to a creek bed where coast redwoods sprung out and cast dark shadows. It was quite a treat, even on legs sore from a marathon.

I stopped for a mid-afternoon sandwich and Corona at Rocky Point Restaurant, which sits atop a cliff on a point jutting into the Pacific. In the distance was the famed Bixby bridge and Hurricane Point.

Big Sur offers plenty of options for activities, especially hiking and sightseeing. The area boasts of 237 miles of trails, many heading into the San Lucia Mountains, and beaches.

You don't have to hike far, however, to see one of Big Sur's most photographed sites: McWay Falls at Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park. It's only a three-quarter mile stroll to see one of the few falls that empty directly into the Pacific Ocean.

Beaches are aplenty, but locals say Pfeiffer Beach between the Big Sur Post Office and the entrance of Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park is the most spectacular.

While I didn't make it to Hearst Castle, which is on the southern end of Big Sur, it comes highly recommended as well.

While Big Sur lends itself to an unstructured, flexible agenda, you may want to make a scheduled walking tour of the historic Point Sur Lightstation ($10 for adults: $15 for moonlight tours).

From 1889 to 1974, families lived and worked on the giant moro rock formation that rises from the Pacific.

Luxury, lodges & tents

The array of lodging in Big Sur ranges from camping, bare-bones motels and rustic lodges to ultra-luxurious resorts, including Portola Ranch Inn and Ventana Inn & Spa.

I stayed at the Big Sur River Inn, a motel with a surprisingly comfortable and clean bed, for $119. And while the room was far from luxurious, it was across Highway 1 from the lodge-like Big Sur River Inn Restaurant (fantastic trout, straight out of the creek).

But the place to stay for the experience is Deetjen's Big Sur Inn and Cottages. Established in the 1930s, it is nestled among the redwoods of Castro Canyon and is operated on a nonprofit basis by the Deetjen's Big Sur Inn Preservation Foundation.

One last stop

Needing to get within rush-hour shot of San Francisco International Airport, I decided to head north on Highway 1 to the surfing and biking beach town of Santa Cruz. I got an off-season, "rainy day" rate of $135 at the stylish Santa Cruz Dream Inn, overlooking the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk and spent the afternoon exploring downtown and watching surfers at Lighthouse Field State Beach until sunset.

I enjoyed dinner at the Saturn Cafe, a vegetarian restaurant, which at 9:30 p.m. on a Tuesday was filled to capacity. It was a fitting end to a well-rounded, healthy, adventurous week along this mere slice of the West Coast.

Reach David Quick at dquick@postandcourier.com.