Anacapa Island is the closest, smallest, and easiest first taste of Channel Islands National Park, and this Anacapa Island guide is built around its two best experiences: paddling sea caves at the base of volcanic cliffs, then hiking to a 1932 lighthouse as seabirds circle overhead. The whole island is Read more…
Some redwood groves make you earn the payoff with a long drive and a steep climb. Armstrong Redwoods does the opposite. Three miles north of Guerneville, an 805-acre grove of old-growth coast redwoods sits just off the road, with flat trails that put thousand-year-old trees a half-mile stroll from the Read more…
Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park protects some of the finest old-growth coast redwood forest left on Earth, and it pairs that forest with a fern-draped canyon, a wild beach, and meadows full of Roosevelt elk. This Prairie Creek Redwoods guide covers the groves, the trails, and the Fern Canyon side Read more…
A Santa Cruz Island day trip is the wildest single day you can have off the Ventura coast. One hour on a ferry from Ventura Harbor, and you step onto an island with no cars, no shops, no restaurants, and no cell service — just sea caves, kelp forests, and Read more…
The Sonoma Coast is California’s wild edge: 17 miles of Highway 1 where wide sandy beaches sit below grassy bluffs, sea stacks rise out of the surf, and summer fog usually burns off by midday, revealing prime whale watching. This Sonoma Coast travel guide covers the run from Bodega Bay Read more…
At the far north end of Napa Valley, where Highway 29 runs out of vineyards at the foot of Mount St. Helena, sits Calistoga, a small town that runs on hot water. This Calistoga travel guide covers the mud baths and mineral pools, the walkable downtown tasting rooms, the geyser Read more…
High on the crest of the Santa Cruz Mountains, Castle Rock State Park feels like a different world from the valley floor below, where sandstone outcrops rise out of redwood and Douglas-fir forest and, on a clear day, the view stretches toward the Pacific. This Castle Rock State Park guide Read more…
Few places in California deliver a first impression like Emerald Bay. The road rounds a bend on Highway 89, and the whole bay opens below: deep blue-green water ringed by granite cliffs, a tiny island, and a Scandinavian castle tucked into the pines at the far shore. This Emerald Bay Read more…
Lodi sits 35 miles south of Sacramento in the San Joaquin Valley, and it offers some of the most relaxed wine tasting in California. This Lodi wine country guide is built for a slow weekend: old-vine Zinfandel, farm stands, and a downtown farmers market, with no need to plan every Read more…
Six thousand acres of wind-scoured bluffs, honeycomb rock, and miniature forest sit on one of the wildest stretches of the Sonoma Coast, and this Salt Point State Park guide is built for first-timers who want the highlights without missing the strange details that make the park famous. The park holds Read more…