The Little Sur River in Big Sur is a 15.6 miles river that has its headwaters in the Ventana Wilderness (a federally designated wilderness area located in the Santa Lucia Mountains in Big Sur). Most of the river is located within the Ventana Wilderness area the river remains in unspoiled condition, which lead to the California State Legislature to add the river to the California Protected Waterways System in 1973. Monterey County then in 1981 added the river to its Protected Waterways Management Plan and asked the state, in its Big Sur Coast Land Use Plan, to designate the Little Sur area as a "coastal resource of national significance." Today the lower portion and river mouth are on private land and not open to the public. This image is of the lower portion of the river as it empties into the sea.