Limekiln State Park
South Big Sur, near Lucia · near Lucia · Central Coast
Hiking · parks
At a glance
- Difficulty
- easy
- Route type
- loop
- Distance
- 2 miles
- Elevation gain
- 200 ft
- Time needed
- day
- Best season
- Year-round; winter-spring for the fullest waterfall
- Size
- 711
- Established
- 1994
Permits and booking
- Permit required
- No
- How the permit works
- $10/vehicle day-use. Reopened Nov 2024; verify whether the Falls Trail has reopened. CRITICAL: Hwy 1 slides north of the park mean it's often reachable only from the SOUTH - check Caltrans.
- How hard the permit is to get
- 0 of 5
What is here
- Features
- Coast redwoods in a steep canyon · A ~100-ft waterfall (Limekiln Falls) · Four historic 1880s lime kilns · A small beach at the creek mouth
Worth knowing
- Dogs
- Allowed
- Good for a first timer
- Yes
Hiking detail
- Intl tip
- Redwoods, a 100-ft waterfall, historic lime kilns, and a beach in one small park - and dogs are allowed on some paths (rare for Big Sur). Verify the Falls Trail is open and check Caltrans - Hwy 1 slides often mean south-only access. $10 day-use.
parks detail
- Hook
- Four 1887 lime kilns, a waterfall, and redwoods in Big Sur's steepest watershed
- More
- The four stone-and-iron kilns burned local limestone into lime for San Francisco's mortar until the redwood fuel ran out — the kiln trail, falls trail, and beach under the highway bridge pack remarkable variety into a tiny footprint. The campground's redwood sites book instantly.
The guide
Limekiln is a jewel-box of a state park at the south end of Big Sur, packing redwoods, a waterfall, history, and a beach into a…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Limekiln State Park — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 35.8636, -121.418