Pfeiffer Beach: A Hidden Gem on the California Coast
I lived through a YA fantasy novel plot: I went looking for something magical, but what I found was a solid, compatible relationship that withstood a 7-hour road trip instead.
On our way to San Francisco, we made plans to stop by Pfeiffer Beach, because someone mentioned it was known as “Purple Beach,” and I was SOLD.
NOTE: This is a post inspired by #FlashbackFriday, where I reminisce about my past experiences for nostalgia, and also to practice my (rusty) writing skills. The events, prices, and other details mentioned are not necessarily accurate when reading. It’s best to assume the events, prices, and other details are from my previous personal experience unless I state otherwise that it is accurate at the time of writing.
Table of Contents
Obligatory backstory
If I’m being perfectly honest, my predominant memories of most road trips are falling asleep near the start. Then like magic, I wake up at our destination (or at least during a bathroom break).
Despite how admittedly spoiled that is, road trips aren’t my favorite mode of travel. Admittedly, a lot of that depends on the company and who’s in charge of the itinerary and snacks.
But also, I’ve realized in the past year that I’ve found a certain pleasure existing in airports. It’s not necessarily that I look forward to it exactly…. The best way I can put it is this: I enjoy the in-between time when I don’t have to stress about research. By the time I’m at the airport, I’m done with planning and packing, so all I’m left with is the anticipation of what’s to come.
Huge disclaimer though; that pleasure (and almost peace) only happens after the hassle of boarding passes and TSA checks. Until that’s over with, I’m a nervous wreck, thinking “What if I forgot to bring my passport, which is already in my hand?”
Overall though, it’s a direct contrast to my husband who prefers road trips over every other method of travel. Mainly since he can control more variables of the journey.
Yet people somehow think I’m the control freak in the relationship. Probably because I’m the much more visible planner? But I digress.
Back in February 2016, we were both firmly under college-student budget constraints. So we decided to do a road trip rather than fly to San Francisco to meet up with my mom, who was visiting there from the Philippines.
On our way there, we made plans to stop by Pfeiffer Beach, because someone mentioned it as a “purple beach” and I was immediately sold.
Did I mention that this would be the first time my then-boyfriend (now-husband) would be meeting my mom in person?
First long-haul road trip
The most important thing that my then-boyfriend and I agreed on about road trips is that they’re best started as early as possible. It was – and still is – simply the best way to avoid traffic, LA or otherwise.
This is why we started our first-ever road trip (that wasn’t just San Diego) before the sun even came up. We only planned for one stop along the way, which was Pfeiffer Beach.
I happen to be one of those people who oddly enjoy the planning process, so I was prepared in terms of snacks, pillows, and music. Since we made arrangements to stay with a friend who was studying there, we brought our own pillows and an air mattress. Score one for low-budget traveling!
We were both able to enjoy the snacks, whilst I was the only one to enjoy the pillow.
I tried my best to stay awake for as long as possible, to keep my then-boyfriend company (he was the only one who could drive). But I inevitably lost that battle. In retrospect, maybe I shouldn’t have gotten too cozy with the blanket & pillow, but oh well.
So, unfortunately, I slept through most of the – apparently gorgeous – scenery of the California coast. Whoops.
I wasn’t too upset, since I know that’s on me for not getting enough sleep the night before. And though my then-boyfriend said he didn’t mind, I felt bad leaving him to stay awake on his own.
Eventually, though, I woke up on my own so I still got to enjoy the view along the Pacific Coast Highway. We talked and snacked for another couple of hours until we reached our only planned pit stop: Pfeiffer Beach, also known as Purple Beach!
Pfeiffer Beach
I first heard about Pfeiffer Beach from my Oceanography professor, when I had her class the year prior.
I’ve heard of pink sand, black sand, and even glass beaches. But I somehow never heard of a purple beach. Although it’s my favorite color and all. The best part of learning that tidbit was learning that it was located in California, albeit on the opposite end of the California coast I’m at.
At the time, I didn’t have plans to go to San Francisco. To be honest, I would’ve preferred to see other states rather than more of the California coast, you know, for variety.
But when my mom let me know she was planning a trip to San Francisco with her friends, and asked if I could also make it. I said, “Yes, I’ll make it happen.” Just because it wasn’t exactly on my list doesn’t mean I’ll pass up a good opportunity.
Plus, it almost felt like fate. Except more planning was involved.
Initially, I planned on taking the Greyhound bus overnight. I was only going to ask my then-boyfriend to drop me off & pick me up at the station.
But I suppose he wanted to make a better impression on my mom, so he offered to drive us both to San Francisco and back. Since I knew we both enjoyed the beach, I figured I might as well ask if he would be interested in seeing Pfeiffer Beach. He was intrigued enough by the idea of a purple sand beach (and by me, I suppose) that he agreed.
I was extremely excited about the idea of a magical, ethereal purple beach. Which made my disappointment sting more, once we got to Pfeiffer Beach.
As an art major, I’m no stranger to Photoshop and other types of photo manipulation. Heck, anyone who also has an Instagram account can tell you that filters can be deceiving.
But somehow, despite all that, I still managed to build up expectations of, well, more purple. I knew it wouldn’t look like something out of a fairytale, but I was hoping for more visual impact. I wanted to get struck by the thought, “Oh yeah, that’s definitely purple sand.”
Instead what I got was pretty much normal sand, that only looked purple if I squinted hard enough. It felt like it was 93% regular sand, with streaky patches of purple, as if someone washed off some dye.
We did eventually find patches where the sand was more “yeah, okay that’s purple” looking. But those areas were few and far in-between. The actual visual impact Pfeiffer Beach had on me was underwhelming, to be honest.
Looking back on it, there were other factors I hadn’t quite considered. Such as the time we were there and the tide levels. Supposedly the “magical” effect was more predominant & apparent during certain times of day.
I’m not sure what the tide level was when we were at Pfeiffer Beach in 2017. But I suppose the “actual purple” sand was just further out.
Even if I knew those factors though, we didn’t have a large window of when we were able to travel to San Francisco. See college-student budget goes hand in hand with a college-student schedule. Taking some days off from school to see my mom, when we weren’t usually in the same country made sense. Taking more time off just to see Pfeiffer Beach, which may or may not have purple sand made less sense.
It simply wasn’t feasible for us to plan our trip around, or wait for a “magical moment” to maybe happen.
Since I’m not the type to mope around in disappointment, I forced myself to re-adjust my mindset. I tried my best to appreciate something about our pit stop at Pfeiffer Beach.
I don’t consider myself an optimist. But if I can’t see the positive side of an experience, I look for the practical aspect.
Case in point: It wasn’t a well-known beach. Plus, the entrance was a little tricky to find, so there weren’t a lot of people there at all, which made the introvert in me happy.
My then-boyfriend and I were able to enjoy a leisurely stroll at Pfeiffer Beach without stepping on or navigating around other people. We took our time to enjoy the ocean breeze and the view. All in all, it was quite romantic despite the bright 10 a.m. sunlight.
I did have a brief moment when I regretted not bringing a swimsuit, but we weren’t familiar enough with the area and shower amenities, if any. I wasn’t willing to sit in the car sandy and salty (literally & figuratively) the rest of the way to San Francisco.
So I just settled snugly against my then-boyfriend. I focused on basking on the beach with a guy who was willing to make the 7-hour ride from LA to San Francisco, with a pit stop to Pfeiffer Beach. Not to mention meeting my mom and the eventual 7-hour road trip back home.
We cuddled until we were both ready to continue our road trip to San Francisco.
Back to reality
Pfeiffer Beach wasn’t the magical place I had been dreaming of.
Despite that, I’ve since learned to appreciate the novel experience of walking on a beach in California that wasn’t crowded. For that matter, a beach on the California coast where the sand isn’t all rocks, or the sand is so rocky & gritty anyway.
So far, Pfeiffer Beach had the smoothest sand I’ve experienced along the California coast. I’m guessing that was because the sand there isn’t imported, unlike some of the beaches along Southern California. That’s just my theory though.
Otherwise, our road trip itself was great for other reasons:
One, a road trip was a more intimate way to see more of the California coast.
Yes, even though I was asleep for a chunk of it, I’d like to think I still got to see enough. It was also fascinating to see the transition from desert and palm trees to a coastal forest. I wouldn’t have been able to appreciate that biome shift as well as I could’ve if we just flew across one end of the California coast to the other.
Two, the road trip helped me and my then-boyfriend learn a lot about each other. It was beneficial for both of us to experience how the other planned and acted during a trip.
There’s a lot to be learned in seeing your partner deal with the challenges and stress of traveling out of town. To be honest, it’s been my go-to advice when other people ask me for signs as to whether a relationship can be long-term or not. While it’s by no means foolproof, I think going on an out-of-town trip together can show a lot about someone’s true colors.
Both parties can see each other’s planning method (if any), and coping under stress (if any) as they deal with inevitable setbacks that happen with most trips. It’s less about what their method and coping mechanism is, and more about knowing if they can live with each other’s. These are important things to know about your partner, but also about yourself.
Hopefully, other people’s magical journeys feature more spectacular beaches than Pfeiffer Beach, the sometimes-purple beach.
