Walkin' West is sponsored by the Chicken Ranch Casino Resort in historic Jamestown, California.

Home to the great outdoors of the mother lode, Chicken Ranch Casino Resort, owned by the Chicken Ranch Rancheria of Miwok Indians of California.

Walkin' West is sponsored by Mountain House, where we've been feeding hungry hikers freeze-dried meals since 1969.

We invite you to walk west in a respectful, responsible way and to always leave no trace behind.

Mountain House.

I'm Stevce Weldon, and boy do I Love Adventure.

Whether it's a good long hike, climbing a big old rock, or checking out that secret swimming hole, I'm raring to go.

Join me as we hike from the crest of the Rockies to the beautiful Pacific Coast, right here on Walking West.

( MUSIC ) Hi, I'm Steve Weldon.

Welcome to Walkin' West.

We're about to hike one of the most beautiful coastal trails in America, Big Sur, California.

Now Big Sur is not just a small town.

Big Sur encompasses about 60 to 70 miles of coastline in California that starts just a little bit south of Monterey and ends up just a little bit north of Hearst Castle.

It's rugged, it's gorgeous, and I'm chomping at the bit to hike it.

Let's get after it.

MUSIC We're here at Garapada State Park, and it's one of about five state parks that they have here, and it's the smallest one.

It's about a two-mile stretch of beautiful beach right here.

And we've got all the beautiful flowers, the wild flowers are growing.

And this is home to harbor seals, to sea lions, to sea otters, gray whales migrate here.

It's an amazing place.

And what I like about it is for you folks that aren't able to take a long hike.

Maybe you're a little bit inconvenienced or slightly handicapped.

This trail, you could make it on crutches, you could make it on a cane.

Maybe not with a wheelchair, but it's only about a quarter of a mile from the highway, Garapada State Park.

Take a look at this.

MUSIC You know, when most people think about Big Sur, they imagine a beautiful place of ocean and coastline where you've got this incredible blue water, kind of wild and untamed crashing over the rocks.

And that's exactly what we have here at Rocky Point.

Take a look at this.

This is absolutely beautiful.

We've got all sorts of succulents here.

We've got all the flowers, and we don't really have a trail here.

We have more of a path.

And the landmark would be the Rocky Point Bridge.

And as a matter of fact, there was a restaurant here called the Rocky Point Restaurant that opened in 1947.

And it was open for over 70 years, an iconic landmark here at Big Sur.

A lot of people came here.

They enjoyed it for many, many years, until finally, the restaurant closed just a few years ago.

And just recently, this property that sits on two acres sold for about $8 million.

Not exactly chump change.

You gotta check out Rocky Point.

This is incredible.

MUSIC We've crossed the road here at Garapatta State Park.

And this place is pretty interesting in the fact that it's got two separate ecosystems.

Actually, they say that this side of the road, which is the east side of the road away from the ocean, has up to four or five ecosystems on this one single trail.

We're gonna see redwoods.

We're gonna see, kind of a desertist terrain.

We're gonna see arid, semi-arid.

And hopefully, we'll see a little wildlife and some flora and some fauna along the way.

But most importantly, there's a lot of history here.

A guy named Jose Maria Sobranis was part of the Portola expedition in 1769.

Well, he stayed here after that expedition, and he decided he liked this country so much, he would buy it if he could.

Well, he bought a big acreage here, thus they call it the Sobranis Trail.

Now, here at Garapatta, you know what Garapatta means in English?

That's Spanish for the word tick.

So I had to come prepared.

I'm ready to spray if need be.

Right here, Sobranis Trail.

We're gonna hike it.

MUSIC Right now, we're in the arid state, the arid part of this hike.

We've got about four different climates, and this is number one, cacti.

Forgot the tweezers, but I think I'll be all right.

MUSIC With all the elevation gain we've got today it doesn't take long to go from desert cactus to and to pristine streams.

I can hang out here all day.

MUSIC And if that doesn't put you in a heavenly mood, how about a walk through this old-growth redwood forest?

MUSIC MUSIC This is Mother Nature at her best.

MUSIC Ain't nothing better than hiking with your brother, especially when he's carrying the load.

MUSIC Well, we're a little bit over halfway up the Sobranis Trail, and we've had all these different environments that we've been through.

And we found this redwood forest, and we decided to take a lunch break.

Me and my brother, who's working with me on this project here today.

And it was a wonderful lunch and a wonderful hike.

And gosh, we're having a blast, aren't we?

We are, this is absolutely beautiful.

Beautiful hike.

You ready to get after it again?

I guess.

[LAUGH] Let's do it.

Let's get it, right here on Walkin' West.

MUSIC I think I finally found a stairway to heaven.

MUSIC I just met this lovely lady along the trail, and we are having a blast.

Me, my brother, my camera guy, Mark.

And this is absolutley beautiful.

Yes.

Gosh, Michelle, where are you from?

I'm originally from San Jose bit I live here in Monterey.

You live here in Monterey that's a pretty good tour of duty isn't it?

Yeah, it's not, can't complain.

(Laughter) So you're about what 30 miles due north of here?

I don't think it's that far.

Okay.

It takes me about maybe 15 minutes to get here.

Okay.

Yeah.

Okay.

So do you hike this trail a lot?

This is my first time this year.

Okay.

I've been hiking this trail for 30 years, but it's my first time out this year.

[LAUGH] Well, it's absolutely beautiful.

I mean, how many stages, different little ecosystems do you have?

So that's my favorite part of this trail, is you get a lot of bang for your buck on this trail.

As we were talking about earlier, you start out with the sort of chaparral or there's all this cactus.

You've got the view of the ocean.

Then you come in and the whole environment completely changes and you get into this riparian environment with the river or creek running through and the redwood trees and the ferns and it's suddenly it's lush and cool and it's just awesome.

I mean, it's absolutely beautiful.

And why do you hike basically?

Do you hike just for your own, I don't know, well-being or what?

I mean, so many things, my own well-being and of course, the exercise and fresh air and all of that.

And just to get, I was really feeling today like I needed to get away from just my life and my house and my job and all of those things and just reconnect with nature and just be out here and sort of it recharges me and helps me reduce stress and tension and just kind of, it's like a recharge.

I think you hit the nail right on the head and I'm the same way.

I wouldn't be, I mean, I just love the great outdoors.

And you know, it's funny, it's every hike I take that's incredibly beautiful like this, I say, this is the best hike I've ever been on.

And guess what?

This is the best hike.

They're all the best.

They are and I envy you because you are in God's country, no doubt about that.

And I want to thank you for being on Walkin' West.

Oh, my pleasure.

And you know what?

This is a great turnaround place, right?

I think that it's a great turnaround place because look at all that up there.

Somebody's got to climb those roots.

Yeah, it gets a little hairy up there.

I did that when I was much younger, but I don't do that trail anymore.

This is where I turn around and go back.

I think we're going to do the same thing.

These old bones need to go home.

Thanks, Michelle.

Have a great day.

You are most welcome.

MUSIC I don't think that logs going anywhere.

Ah, no problem.

MUSIC Now this one's a different story.

After all, I'm no Fred Astaire.

MUSIC Okay, Steve.

You can do this.

MUSIC Just me and my older brother Clark and the sounds of nature.

[wind blowing] Life is good.

MUSIC Now it's Clark's turn.

MUSIC You're doing good, big brother.

Keep on coming.

MUSIC Well, we got day two of our hiking today.

Yesterday was wonderful.

And we've got a little bit of a longer hike today, and I found an all-star guide, Mr. Rafa Garcia.

How you doing Rafa?

Great, Steve, how are you today?

Well, I'm doing great.

I'm glad to be here and I'm glad that we've got a great guide.

As a matter of fact, you come highly recommended.

Fabulous.

From your mother.

Oh, man.

I met her at the hotel last night.

Oh, no.

But we're excited to go on the hike and we're on the, what, is it the Tanbark Trail?

Yeah, we're going to be going on the Tanbark Trail and it's about six miles up the mountain here.

We're going to get some astonishing views of the ocean and walk through the Redwood Forest and see a lot of different types of oak trees and a lot of fun stuff across the stream a few times.

Is it pretty steep?

It gets steep in the beginning and then it kind of gets a little better.

Okay, come on, Steve, you can do it.

[laughing] We're going to get started.

And let's do it right now.

Lets do it Steve.

All right, let's go.

MUSIC Wow, Rafa.

This is obviously going to be a beautiful hike.

Oh, you have no idea, Steve.

It's going to be amazing.

I bet it is.

MUSIC Rafa, I'm noticing all this different vegetation.

I mean, you've got everything under the sun here.

And what are these bluish flowering things?

What are they?

This is actually a California lilac, we call it.

A California lilac.

Yeah, it's actually kind of nature's hand soap.

Nature's hand soap?

Oh, yeah.

How is that?

Just a little bit of water and the flowers, you rub your hands together, it suds up and it washes your hands right up.

All right, put it in your hands here.

Okay.

And dump a little bit of water in your hand.

This is cool.

And then go ahead and just rub your hands together and I'll start to set up and then you can use it just to soap.

Wow, I can feel it.

It is like soap, look at that.

Cleaning them right up.

And I bet it smells good.

Oh, it sure does.

Let me try that out.

Now we're gonna have to keep that that water out.

We're gonna rinse off here in a minute.

Oh my gosh.

(laughs) I'm in hog heaven.

I learned a lesson today.

Cool.

Well, we're a little less than halfway up this trail, the Tanbark Trail, and I had to give myself a little bit of a breather, and these sprightly young ladies passed us up, and I heard them talking, and I noticed this real cool accent, and I want to know where you ladies are from.

We're both from Melbourne, Australia.

Melbourne, Australia, what's your name?

My name's Poppy.

Poppy, I love that, like the flower.

Yeah.

And your name?

Gabby.

Gabby, Poppy and Gabby.

And so how long have you been over here from Australia?

About three days.

yeah, we just got here.

About three days?

Yeah.

And you had heard about Big Sur?

Yeah, we have a friend who's been here and recommended we come past.

Okay, and you're loving the hike?

Yeah, loving it.

Beautiful.

Okay, now is this your first hike since you've come to California?

We did a little one in Malibu State Creek Park but yeah, this is the first one.

I wish I could talk that way.

LAUGHTER You guys are delightful.

You're young and you're full of vigor, and you're headed up to the top of the trail and back, and my gosh, so you're going to be hiking here for a few more days?

Yeah, just tomorrow, and then we're up to San Fran and then Yosemite.

To Yosemite?

Well, you're going to love that as well.

No doubt about that.

Well, I've never been to Australia and I would love to go.

I'd like to hug a koala bear.

Yeah.

You can?

Yeah.

Can you do that?

Yeah, yeah.

They're friendly?

Hard to come by, but yeah.

Okay, how about a kangaroo?

Yeah, they're easy to come by, but I wouldn't hug one.

You wouldn't hug one.

You might get it in the chops.

Yeah, yeah.

There you go.

Well, you guys hike safe, and so like you said, you're going to hike one more trail?

Yeah, yeah.

Well, we did the Sobranas Trail yesterday.

Yeah, okay.

And it was absolutely gorgeous.

Well, you guys have fun and hike safe.

Thank you.

And thanks for being on Walkin' West.

Enjoy.

Thanks, guys.

We're taking a break on this magical hike here at Big Sur.

We're taking a break on this magical hike here at Big Sur.

We haven't talked about the Native American history here, and the Esland tribe came here, what, 6,000 years ago?

They've been here about 6,500 years.

And they came here, and they lived peacefully.

What did they do?

They were hunter-gatherers.

They spent the summer, the warmer months down by the ocean, fishing, collecting, gathering down there, and the cooler months they spent back in the valleys.

Okay, now around 1769, Gaspard de Portola, he had one expedition, then he had another one in 1770.

On that second expedition, they landed in Monterey.

Okay.

And that's where they actually encountered the Spanish for the first time.

Well, didn't they try to introduce them to their religious beliefs?

And then I think that they also brought Spanish diseases that the natives had no immunity to.

That's correct.

And they also forced them into labor, so they removed them from their ancestral lands to the mission farms and all the other farms in the valley.

And that to go along with the malnutrition they suffered nearly brought them to extinction?

That's correct.

A few that didn't go and seek farm work in the valley actually stayed in the forest, and they thought they were actually extinct, but they were actually some hungback in the forest and thats why they still thrive there, about 500 Esalen people still around today.

I understand that about 1,200 acres was recently given back to the Native American, to the Esalen tribe that was taken away many, many years ago, and this was granted back to them, and they use it for educational purposes.

They use it for all the right things, and they're apparently a very happy bunch.

All I can say is, God bless you, gang.

Boy, what a tough life you've had, but you hung in there, and you are in God's country.

No doubt about it.

Esalen country, right here on Walkin' West.

From mountain streams to old oaks and a bigger variety of conifers than you can shake a stick at, this Tanbark to Tin House trail has it all.

This is a must hike at Big Sur.

And the higher we climb on the trail, the better the view.

Oh my, would you take a look at that ocean?

At our next stop, we're gonna find out why a rich man from New York would build a house made out of tin!

We're standing here on the backside of this old tin house and there's gonna be a whole lot of history here, Rafa.

U.S. Representative Lathrop Brown bought the surrounding property, and he wanted to build a place that was above the fog line to help him with his asthma.

Being that it was World War II, there was an extreme shortage of building materials.

So what he did is he bought two gas stations, had them dismantled, had his crew haul the material up here, and assemble a tin house.

I'll be darned.

How long did he stay?

Not long at all.

He spent one night here with his wife.

Really?

One night?

One night.

That's it.

What happened?

Well, a combination of the temperature change caused the metal to buckle at night and the wind.

So if you imagine tin buckling and moving in the wind, you can only imagine how loud that can be.

So after one night of being here, they said, "We're out of here.

We're going back to the fog."

Really?

One night?

Well, it's not that loud, is it?

Well, maybe.

But I think I... What a wimp.

Laughter MUSIC Unspoiled beauty.

MUSIC You know, you're one heck of a great trail guide, but I never ask you.

You look like a ball player.

Did you ever play ball?

Football?

I played a little college ball.

You played college ball?

Wow, that's pretty cool.

What did you play?

I was a tackle.

A tackle?

Yeah.

Offensive or defensive?

Defensive.

Defensive.

Yeah.

You know, I was a football player.

No way.

No, I was.

Seriously.

I played in-guard and tackle.

No way.

Yes, I did.

I sat on the end of the bench.

I guarded the water, and I tackled anybody that got close.

Laugh Come on.

Lets get out of here.

I love hiking.

The one thing I hate about this program is that all good hikes come to an end, and this one has to end on the Tanbark Trail.

But what a blast I had.

I had a great time, Rava.

Oh, it was a beautiful day, a perfect day for hiking this trail.

It was wonderful.

And we're going to do it again tomorrow.

No, we're not going to be with you tomorrow.

You've got to go back to your job.

Absolutely.

As a matter of fact over there at the Big Sur River Inn where we're staying.

Yes, sir.

And you're the bartender over there at night, right?

Yes, sir.

Okay.

Well, I knew that because last night we stopped in for a cold one.

You sure did.

Oh my gosh, it was wonderful.

Are you going to make me the same one tonight?

As usual, a cold, tall Roy Rogers for you, sir.

Oh boy, Roy Rogers on the rocks.

There we go.

You can't beat that.

I mean, after 2,200 feet of vertical gain, I'm ready.

Thank you, my friend.

Absolutely, thank You Steve Thanks for being on Walkin' West.

Thank you for giving me that house today.

You're a good man.

Well, we're headed to Partington Cove.

We're going to do that.

We're going to hike McWay Falls.

There are a couple of short trails, but just absolutely beautiful.

You're going to take us right down to the water close to it.

And I think you're going to like this a whole lot.

This tunnel is pretty cool.

Neat.

Boy, this is a great hike.

For such a short hike, we've got all of nature's critters here and we've got the ocean, we've got the rocks, we've got the creek, you name it, we've got it all here.

And the payoff here at Partington Cove?

Unbelievable.

Let's check it out.

MUSIC Boy, we picked a great day to be here at Big Sur.

It's a great day to be alive.

MUSIC I could live here, if they'd let me.

MUSIC Wow, this is incredible!

I think Big Sur's getting their share of fresh water today.

What do you think?

Wow!

You know what I love about hiking?

It never gets old.

We're about to get where fresh water and salt water meet.

Let's just take in all this beauty together.

Hey, I see a critter down there.

It's a little sea otter and he's floating on his back.

And with those curly little whiskers, he looks like he's smiling.

Well, keep on smiling, little buddy.

MUSIC Life is too darn short not to enjoy all of this creation that we have in front of us.

Incredible.

MUSIC Our next stop, McWay Falls.

Well, here it is.

McWay Falls.

80 feet tall and looking good.

We're here on the McWay Falls Trail, which is absolutely beautiful like all the trails we've been on here in the park.

And we're almost to the falls, but I noticed this great sign and this is a tribute to the Esalen Tribe.

And they are the Native Americans who were here first thousands and thousands of years ago.

And I want to go to the last paragraph of this beautiful sign.

And these natives, they were here first and we need to remember this.

And I love this message.

It says, "As you walk our ancient homeland, we welcome you to pause, envision, and remember the lives of our ancestors.

We spoke and sang the beauty of this coast, the land, the sea, and the sky, and all of the rich life we share with it in our native language.

Thank you for treading lightly."

Yeah, let's leave it better than we found it.

Thank you, Esalen Tribe.

I couldn't help but think about what that sign said from the Esalen tribe.

We gotta let that sink in.

And let's all work together to keep this magical place exactly what it is.

Magical.

MUSIC Boy, I'd love to be down there right now where the falls and the ocean meet.

But as rugged as that is, I think I'll just enjoy the view from here.

What a special place.

MUSIC Well we just wrapped up our final hike at beautiful Big Sur and I'm talking about all four or five of the state parks that they have here and I had a great time it was it was just a real fun shoot and I had my brother Clark come all the way from Texas to help me on this and I really appreciate it Clark.

I enjoyed it was hard work but it was a lot of fun.

Well thanks for putting up with me on this thing.

Oh that's okay.

LAUGHTER Well it was a great time had a great time with our camera guy Mark Brant he's extraordinary I mean he is the best and I want to thank him very much I want to thank our guide from yesterday Rafa who did a great job all the people at the Big Sur River Inn who were so kind to us along the way and I want to thank Tim over at the visitor center who gave me a ton of knowledge as far as where to go where to hike and when to do it and I want to thank you the viewer for watching and I want to encourage you to get off that couch and get off that cell phone enjoy this great outdoors for what it is right here with Walkin' West.

Well, we went hiking on the west coast at a place they call Big Sur.

From the sound of the big waves of and them pretty trees, it sure made my heart purr.

We checked out some beautiful trails at a park called Garapada.

And to say how I felt in Texas terms, this place is a whole enchilada.

Yep, I can get used to living here.

And it might just become a lifer.

And if I do I owe my thanks, all to Julia Pfeiffer.

Yep, I'll get down on my knees and I'll hunt them trees and say thanks to Julia Pfeiffer.

That's all.

MUSIC Walkin' West is sponsored by the Chicken Ranch Casino Resort in historic Jamestown, California.

Home to the great outdoors of the mother lode, Chicken Ranch Casino Resort, owned by the Chicken Ranch Rancheria of Miwok Indians of California.

Walkin' West is sponsored by Mountain House, where we've been feeding hungry hikers freeze-dried meals since 1969.

We invite you to walk west in a respectful, responsible way and to always leave no trace behind.

Mountain House.