On a limited number of days in December and January each year, photographers crowd the beach to obtain pictures of the setting sun visible through the arch.

Due to the steep terrain prevalent along the Big Sur coast, it is one of the few ocean access points within Big Sur[1][2] The road and the beach are within the Los Padres National Forest.

[4]The Pfeiffer family built the first home in Sycamore Canyon near the coast in the winter of 1869.

Micheal and Barbara Laquet Pfeiffer were on their way to the south coast of Big Sur when they were forced to stop for the season in Sycamore Canyon.

[3] Their son John and his wife Zulema Florence Swetnam built a cabin near the north bank of the Big Sur River in 1884.