Best California Day Trips and Weekend Getaways
Summer is a busy travel time and it seems like everywhere you go there are a lot of people. Instead of heading to the beach or Yosemite with everyone else, try heading to one of the many beautiful, crowd-free California National Parks.
Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park
Less busy than Yellowstone, Sequoia National Park and Kings Canyon are two separate National Parks managed as one, meaning you only have to pay one entrance fee for both. Sequoia National Park is truly an undiscovered California treasure. In the park you will find the General Sherman Tree, the largest tree in the world; Mount Whitney, the highest point in the contiguous United States; the second largest trackless wilderness area in the United States; and Crescent Meadow, a redwood-fringed meadow called the “jewel of the Sierra” by John Muir.
Channel Islands National Park
Each island has its own endemic plants and animals, leading to the Channel Islands often being called the Galapagos of California. More than 2,000 species of plants and animals can be found within the park, which consists of five of the eight Channel Islands along the southern California coast from Point Conception near Santa Barbara to north of Los Angeles. The park is seldom visited, never crowded, and beautiful year-round. However, fall is the best time to visit this California National Park, because blue and humpback whales can be seen migrating.
Death Valley National Park
Home to one of the most inhospitable landscapes in California, Death Valley is a geological wonder filled with exposed rock and sparse vegetation. At 3.4 million acres, Death Valley is the largest national park in the contiguous United States. The 18-mile drive from Furnace Creek to Badwater is a must, along the way you’ll see fantastic salt formations, colorful vistas, and the lowest point in the Western Hemisphere.
mount shasta
According to John Muir, the beauty of Mount Shasta turned her blood into wine. Located in Northern California, Mount Shasta is the largest volcanic peak in the contiguous United States, a towering mountain with one of the highest bottom-to-top elevations in the world. Snow-capped Mount Shasta has pristine mountain lakes and rivers, majestic forests, and miles of countryside to explore, plus plenty of skiing, snowboarding, fishing, golfing, mountain biking, rock climbing, and hiking.
Joshua Tree National Park
Located in southeastern California, Joshua Tree National Park includes two deserts, each with an ecosystem whose characteristics are determined primarily by elevation. This California National Park gets its name from the unique-looking Joshua tree that can be found in the taller and slightly cooler Mojave Desert. The area’s geologically unique landscape features hills of bare rock, broken up into bolder loose rock, making the area huge for climbing and scrambling enthusiasts. Barker Dam, Keys View, offering views of the Coachella Valley and Salton Sea, bird watching, and Hidden Valley (not the salad dressing) are Joshua Tree National Park must-sees.