McWay Falls Frame Color:Black Nine volcanic peaks march in

Nine volcanic peaks march in an almost-straight line from Morro Bay inland to San Luis Obispo — the Nine Sisters

It's been there ever since

by August in most years it's a trickle

The Pickled Image shoots a long exposure with a driftwood log foregrounded in the wash and the pier silhouetted against a late-day sky

not the wave

McWay Falls Frame Color:Black Nine volcanic peaks march inMcWay Falls drops 80 feet from the cliff above into the cove below Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park in Big Sur one of the only two waterfalls in California that fall directly onto a beach. The cove itself isn't accessible; there's no legal trail down. Tom shoots from the public overlook on the bluff above, the falls landing onto the sand and the swell rolling in turquoise behind.