McWay Creek  McWay Creek is a  coastal stream in Monterey County in the U.S. state of California. It flows steeply west and south from McWay Canyon, high in California's Central Coast Range, and spills into the Pacific Ocean at Waterfall Cove after flowing over scenic McWay Falls. Most of the creek and its watershed are contained within Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, south of Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park. The creek is named after Christopher McWay from New York, a pioneer who homesteaded the property. A Pelton wheel was installed in McWay Creek and generated power for Saddle Rock Ranch, the only electricity in the area for many years. The creek and its canyon are rich in vegetation types, due to the humid coastal climate with frequent fog and rainfall. McWay Creek is formed by the confluence of its North and Middle Forks, at an elevation of roughly . The North Fork is the longer of the two streams, beginning at an elevation of , and running in a straight course southward to where it joins the Middle Fork. The smaller Middle Fork begins at an elevation of and flows south-southwest to meet the North Fork and form the mainstem of McWay Creek. After the mainstem is formed, the creek winds south and west through a narrow canyon to where it meets the South Fork at an elevation of roughly . The South Fork, the largest sub-basin in the McWay Creek watershed, begins at an elevation of on the east side of a ridge that separates it from the mainstem. After flowing south and turning slightly in a south-southwest direction, it meets McWay Creek. The creek then heads southwest, passing a parking area for Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park and crossing under California's Highway 1 via a concrete culvert. It spills into the Pacific Ocean at Waterfall Cove. There are a number of waterfalls in the basin of McWay Creek. The most well-known is McWay Falls, which spills onto a sandy beach at Waterfall Cove. A smaller waterfall, the two-tier, McWay Creek Falls is located upstream of the Highway 1 culvert and the parking area. A small cascade, Canyon Trail Falls, is fed by the South Fork just before it meets McWay Creek. As most of the creek is steep and rocky, there are many unnamed waterfalls that also exist. McWay Creek is fed by a number of springs in McWay Canyon and flows year round. Christopher McWay homesteaded the canyon named after him in the late 1870s.