Coastline, Big Sur, California, 2000

Photograph by Frans Lanting

The Santa Lucia Range sprawls down to the rocky coastline in Big Sur, California. This wall of mountains plunges into the Pacific along 90 celebrated miles (145 kilometers) of California coast. State and federal preserves protect the wild solitude that lures artists, seekers, and plain folk to Big Sur.

(Text adapted from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Big Sur: California's Elemental Coast," August 2000, National Geographic magazine)

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