The 80 foot Big Sur tidefall that drops onto a cove beach at Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, running year round on a small coastal creek that is fattest in the rainy season.
December through April
Big water window
in a typical year
Rain fed
What drives it
McWay Creek
Climatology
Data on this page
McWay Creek is ungauged
CA State Parks
Managed by
their rules govern
Trail status, closures and safety rules belong to each falls' managing agency, named and linked on every page.
The season
What fills McWay Falls, and when
McWay Creek is a short coastal drainage in the Santa Lucia range, so the falls runs all year but does its best work from December through April when Big Sur storms are feeding it. Summer reduces it to a graceful thread above the famous cove. The view is from the overlook trail; the beach itself is closed to entry.
Typical best flow: December through April
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What the agency itself says
Known primarily for McWay Falls, an 80-foot high waterfall that spills onto a scenic beach, Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park also includes towering redwoods in its interior.
Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park (California State Parks)Multnomah Falls in autumn: a Columbia Gorge falls that keeps respectable flow year round, and the standard against which most falls seasons get measured. “Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area Multnomah Falls, fall color - 3” — Forest Service Pacific Northwest Region — Public domain
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Right now
Current flow at McWay Falls
Rain-fed falls carry the color of their watershed: Blackwater Falls runs amber with tannin from spruce and hemlock bogs upstream, and its volume tracks the last month of Appalachian weather. “Blackwater Falls (15437499241)” by Benjamin Smith from United States, CC BY 2.0
Getting there
Access, in the agency's words and ours
In late August 2026 the park was closed due to the Timber Fire, per a banner on the park's own page, alongside other Big Sur parks. Highway 1 in Big Sur also closes intermittently. Check the California State Parks page for current status before planning around this falls.
The rain-fed pattern in one frame (Looking Glass Falls, North Carolina): flow that mirrors the recent weather. McWay Falls runs the same way on its short Big Sur creek, biggest mid winter. “Looking Glass Falls, North Carolina, April 2025” by Bill McMannis, CC BY 2.0
Common questions
McWay Falls flow season FAQ
The reliable big-water window is December through April. McWay Creek is a short coastal drainage in the Santa Lucia range, so the falls runs all year but does its best work from December through April when Big Sur storms are feeding it. Summer reduces it to a graceful thread above the famous cove. The view is from the overlook trail; the beach itself is closed to entry.
McWay Creek has no USGS gauge near the falls, so the seasonal pattern above is the flow guide for McWay Falls, and Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park (California State Parks) is the source for current conditions on the ground.
No, it holds a thread year round, but the full version belongs to the winter rain season. The bigger variable is access: Big Sur closures, from Highway 1 slides to the 2026 Timber Fire, decide whether you can stand at the overlook at all.
Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park (California State Parks). In late August 2026 the park was closed due to the Timber Fire, per a banner on the park's own page, alongside other Big Sur parks. Highway 1 in Big Sur also closes intermittently. Check the California State Parks page for current status before planning around this falls. Trail status, closures and safety rules are theirs, and their page is linked on this one; nothing here overrides what they publish.
In their own words: "Julia Pfeiffer Burns SP is currently closed due to the Timber Fire." That sentence is Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park (California State Parks)'s, quoted verbatim, and their page is the place to check before you go.
Yosemite Falls in May, running on snowmelt that will be gone by late summer. The National Park Service tells visitors the falls can be dry by August, which is why every falls page here starts from its watershed. “Tourists below Yosemite Falls (39832011431)” by Mike McBey, CC BY 2.0
The tallest waterfall in North America by the Park Service's measure, and the most famous seasonal one: 2,425 feet of snowmelt that thunders in May and is often gone by August.
The 620 foot fall at the gateway of Yosemite Valley: a thundering column in spring, a light swaying veil the rest of the year, and one of the few Yosemite falls that never quite quits.
The 317 foot Merced River step on the Mist Trail, wide as a curtain in June and narrowed to ribbons by late summer; the mist that names the trail is a spring-only drenching.
The 594 foot upper step of the Merced staircase above Vernal Fall, at its loudest in late May and June and visible from Glacier Point when the road is open.
Places to stay