US news | The Guardian
· collected 2026-09-05 · by Andrew Gumbel in Big Sur, California
California's Big Sur coastline has been plagued by wildfires, road closures, and disruptions to local businesses this summer, including two large fires that are still not fully contained. The tourist industry, which accounts for about 90% of the local economy, is raising questions about sustainability in the area, particularly with the rise of social media-driven tourism. Residents worry that the influx of visitors is causing chaos on roads, litter, and even traffic deaths, with some calling it "overtourism." The situation has been exacerbated by the reopening of Highway 1 earlier this year, which saw a surge in visitor numbers but also an increase in selfie-taking tourists who are clogging roads and disrupting local life.
Written by the local model on 2026-09-05,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
California’s rugged Big Sur coastline is often called a slice of heaven, 120 miles (195km) of unspoiled rocky promontories, sandy beaches and redwood forests at the foot of the Santa Lucia mountains.
asserted
coastline → call → mountains
This year, it has endured a long summer of hell.
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it → endure → hell
Wildfires, road closures and repeated disruptions to the local hotel, restaurant and campsite businesses all have posed significant challenges in an era of climate change and unpredictable weather patterns.
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Wildfires → repeat → change
One large fire broke out in the highlands east of Big Sur in early August and is still less than 25% contained.
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fire → break → August
A second fire erupted 30 miles to the south two weeks later and is so inaccessible to firefighters that it has grown bigger than the first and is barely contained at all.
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it → erupt → first
Residents of the area have long known that the threat of natural catastrophe is part of what it means to live in a remote and beautiful place.
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it → know → place
But for many, the events of this summer have renewed questions about the sustainability of mass tourism in the area, particularly in the age of Instagram.
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events → renew → Instagram
The tourist industry accounts for about 90% of the local economy, so visitors are certainly welcome.
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visitors → account → economy
But nobody feels comfortable with chaos on the roads, tourists who leave their messes behind or a pair of recent traffic deaths that have plunged the community into mourning.
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that → feel → mourning
Like other global hotspots, from Italy to the Galápagos, Big Sur is asking: how many is too many?
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Sur → ask → Galápagos
Henry Miller once described this coast as a place imbued with “the peace of God, and the serene security created by a handful of good neighbors living at one with the creature world”.
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Miller → describe → world
But many coastal residents worry that sort of peace is rapidly eluding their grasp.
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sort → worry → grasp
A reopening marred by selfie-snappers
The disruptions began at the beginning of the year with the long-awaited reopening of Highway 1, a two-lane road that provides the only vehicle access to Big Sur from the Monterey peninsula in the north to Cambria in the south.
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that → mar → south
For three years, the route had been cut in two by extensive repair work in the wake of heavy landslides, another abiding natural threat.
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route → cut → landslides
The region lost about 20% of its tourists over that time, at a cost of millions of dollars a month.
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region → lose → dollars
Hearst Castle, on the southern end of the peninsula, lost as many as 40%.
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Castle → lose → %
The reopening immediately caused visitor numbers to shoot back up, but residents and local officials noticed that along with the nature lovers and the hikers came many more tourists interested almost exclusively in snapping selfies at a handful of well-advertised locations before moving swiftly on.
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tourists → cause → locations
Such visitors weren’t shy about stopping in the middle of the road to take pictures at the spectacular, arched Bixby Bridge, even if it meant snarling traffic for miles in each direction.
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it → stop → direction
Local media was filled with stories of visitors trampling on plants, camping illegally and tossing their trash in all directions.
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visitors → fill → directions
In July, a selfie-ruining banner appeared on the Bixby Bridge that read: “Overtourism is killing Big Sur.”
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Overtourism → ruin → Sur
But it made little difference.
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it → make → difference
“Visitor behavior has changed so much,” said Kate Daniels, who represents Big Sur on the Monterey county council and successfully pressed for a parking moratorium at the Bixby Bridge that went into effect last month.
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that → change → effect
“This is one of the most beautiful places you’ve ever seen, yet people have decided their goal is to take a picture of themselves on a bridge …
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goal → see → bridge
It’s really difficult and dangerous, and that road cannot handle it.”
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road → ’ → it
For many residents, the low point came in mid-August, when Monterey county hosted its annual Car Week extravaganza, featuring thousands of vintage and exotic cars and a line-up of events in and around the city of Monterey and the golf courses of Pebble Beach.
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county → come → Beach
Some of the event’s 100,000 visitors repurposed the Big Sur coastline as a playground for their souped-up coupes and convertibles.
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Some → repurpose → coupes
They had done much the same the previous year, but now the Timber fire was raging, every change in the wind was apt to carry the smell of burning forest and the community had no patience for it.
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community → do → it
Even as fire trucks were trying to set up defensive lines in an effort to save buildings and people, car aficionados were filmed making high-speed dashes down the straightest stretches of Highway 1, doing doughnuts at traffic intersections and gathering dozens of vehicles for group photographs.
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aficionados → try → photographs
Photos and videos posted online showed fire trucks struggling at times to move on a highway clogged with brightly painted sports cars.
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trucks → post → cars
“It was a nightmare,” Daniels said.
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Daniels → say → ?
“Car Week has been going on for decades and it never used to be like this, but now it’s this hyper-masculine racing culture thing.
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it → go → this
People kept saying that someone is going to die.”
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someone → keep → ?
By the end, people did die.
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people → die → end
On the final weekend, a 20-year-old out-of-towner at the wheel of a Dodge Challenger coupe plowed into Brian Roberts, a popular figure in Big Sur who went by the nickname Brewski and, according to his friends, had spent many of the previous days railing against the behavior of the Car Week attendees.
uncertain
who → plow → attendees
Accounts differ about how the accident happened – some of Roberts’s friends say he was crossing Highway 1 to admire the sunset, while others say he was in the road yelling at cars after he found them blocking the turn-off to Palo Colorado Road, where he lived.
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he → differ → Road
Days later, an 80ft skid mark was still plainly visible, along with circular burn marks where vehicles appear to have been doing doughnuts.
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vehicles → appear → doughnuts
One of Roberts’s friends, Brendon Shave, arrived on the scene shortly after the accident and found bloodstains smeared across the median line and on the tarmac.
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One → arrive → tarmac
The following day, another 20-year-old visitor from outside San Francisco smashed a silver BMW convertible into a tree a few miles north of Big Sur, killing one of his passengers and injuring himself and two other friends.
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visitor → smash → himself
Police said the driver recorded a blood alcohol level of 0.13, well above the legal limit, and they were investigating the death as gross vehicular manslaughter.
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they → say → manslaughter
Traffic deaths are a fact of life in Big Sur, with news reports suggesting that one occurs every few months, either because drivers go too fast along the windy, narrow road or because they become distracted by the natural beauty and plunge off the side.
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they → suggest → side
…and 29 more, not listed.
