Ragged Trail was pretty rugged and worth the hike!
You can find the trailhead for Ragged Trail in Ragged Point Inn's grounds. Let's talk about Ragged Point Inn for a moment here, because you are gonna love this place.
If you've been driving for hours like we have from Los Angeles, Ragged Point Inn is a very welcome sight after miles and miles of raw coastline beauty --- it is beautiful, but there are no bathrooms in sight.
So when you come upon Ragged Point Inn, with its large parking lot, with easy turn-in driveways from PCH, with a clean bathroom conveniently located outside the inn and a real sit-down restaurant, you will be filled with gratitude.
Another reason to be grateful: An outdoor cafe serving food, drinks and ice cream. It comes complete with picnic tables and benches beside the parking lot, too! If you want to take your time and have an actual sit-down meal, the restaurant is a good place to eat and sit too.
When you're stuffed to the gills and want to walk off the food a bit, you can walk the beautifully tended grounds and enjoy the view. This property is right on the cliff and you can look over onto the ocean all the way to the horizon. When you look down, you can see where the earth meets the ocean on a small patch of beach to the north. This place would make a great destination wedding venue that is very California, if you ask me, which you haven't, but I'll say it anyway. :)
If you really want to work off some more of the yummy food you just had, feel free to hike down Ragged Trail that will lead you all the way down to the beach. It is a short and very steep hike. The trail is most definitely not paved and most of it is loose dirt. If you are confident of your grip, there is nothing to worry about as you have lots of vegetation to hang on to should you slip off the trail down the side of the mountain. LOL.
Just kidding! My five year old made it. If she made it, you should be able to make it too! Unless you have knee problems, or other problems I haven't mentioned here, then I highly discourage you from taking this hike. Also, be prepared to get your shoes dirty.
The trailhead is easy to find: There is a large sign that says "Coastal Access" next to a Japanese Gate that frames the coastal view.
At the beginning of the trail, there are steps... which disappeared soon enough. The trail is steep and at times, almost invisible. It goes uphill then downhill even though I swore we were trying to reach the beach at the bottom of the cliff. Towards the bottom, you will need to cross a creek before you can reach the beach and then voila! The beach!
When we turned around to look back where we came from, I was surprised to see a very tall waterfall with a not-so-powerful water flow. It was a very nice surprise.
The kids loved hanging out here. Partly because there was a seal lounging on the beach with us, partly because we were the only ones there and partly because they got to pretend they were Ariel.
Ragged Point Inn
19019 Hwy CA-1, Big Sur CA 93452
https://www.raggedpointinn.com
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