Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park is a day-use park
Julia Pfeiffer Burns is a day-use park built around the 80-ft McWay tidewater fall — no RV camping, parking caps at 30 vehicles, stage at Pfeiffer Big Sur or Plaskett Creek.
n/a
None (dry)
No
N/A — day-use + 2 environmental tent sites only
McWay Falls — the 80-foot tidewater fall plunging directly into the Pacific from a wave-cut bench — is the only reason most travelers stop, and the visit is structured entirely around the 0.6-mile Overlook Trail. The park has zero developed campground. The two Environmental Camp sites are walk-in tent only, 0.25 mile from the parking lot, and exist as a rare backcountry overnight slot rather than RV inventory. Day-use parking on Highway 1 caps at roughly 30 vehicles in the official lot plus a long shoulder, and rigs over 25 feet are explicitly discouraged from the shoulder — the southbound merge geometry past the trailhead is hostile to long wheelbases. RV staging routes to Pfeiffer Big Sur (12 miles north) or Plaskett Creek USFS (8 miles south).
Managing agency
California Department of Parks & Recreation
Primary sources
How to book this park
Reservations + RV staging
Official reservation portalLooking for the rig? Browse California RV rentals on PickRV →
Other state parks in California
Humboldt Redwoods
Humboldt Redwoods holds the world's largest contiguous old-growth redwood stand — Burlington's year-round 33-ft loop is the basecamp, and the 31-mile Avenue of the Giants is the reason you came.
Mount Tamalpais
Mt. Tamalpais posts a 24-ft road advisory and offers only walk-in tent sites — stage at China Camp or Samuel P. Taylor for RV camping, then day-trip the East Peak summit.
Anza-Borrego Desert
California's biggest state park lets you dispersed-camp any dirt road inside 600,000 acres — Borrego Palm Canyon holds the only full-hookup loop, and the operational season runs October through April.
Pfeiffer Big Sur
Pfeiffer Big Sur's redwood campsites cap at 32 ft, run year-round, and book six months ahead — but Highway 1 landslide closures north of the park are the actual planning constraint.
California rules · last verified 2026-05-10
- Rental tax
- 9.75%
- Min driver age
- 21+ std · 25+ Class A
- Gravel roads
- Permit required
- Generator quiet
- 22:00-06:00
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