Big Sur Coast (Monterey County, California)
Big Sur is a sparsely populated region of the Central Coast of California where the Santa Lucia Mountains rise abruptly from the Pacific Ocean. Although Big Sur has no specific boundaries, many definitions of the area include the 90 miles (140 km) of coastline from the Carmel River in Monterey County south to the San Carpoforo Creek in San Luis Obispo County, and extend about 20 miles (32 km) inland to the eastern foothills of the Santa Lucias. The name "Big Sur" is derived from the original Spanish-language "el sur grande", meaning "the big south", referring to its location south of the Monterey Peninsula.