The forest at Bothe-Napa Valley State Park on the Upper Ritchey Canyon Trail are recovering from a fire that occurred in 2020.
The hike to Upper Ritchey Canyon at Bothe-Napa Valley State Park is challenging, but along the way you can see a forest that is in recovery from a fire that burned through parts of it in 2020.
The view from Artist Point at Yellowstone National Park of Lower Yellowstone Falls and the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone can be spectacular.
The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone is an incredible sight to see and hike along in Yellowstone National Park. From different vantage points, you can marvel at Lower Yellowstone Falls. The forest along the hike was tranquil and mediative, and once we left the crowds, we probably saw a little more than a dozen people.
The scenery at Mirror Lake at Yosemite National Park can be stunning.
Mirror Lake in Yosemite National Park is a beautiful hike that is pretty easy and hikes through forests and next to big granite rocks. Upper and Lower Mirror Lake live up to their name where the reflections in the water of the landscape around them can be gorgeous.
There are several places you can start the hike from, and we jumped on the Yosemite Valley Loop Trail off of Ahwahnee Drive about .34 miles short of the Ahwahnee Hotel. The Mirror Lake hike itself is about a 2.4 mile loop, but we wanted to make a longer hike out of it, so we ended up hiking 7.2 miles.
Nevada Fall in Yosemite National Park is a stunning waterfall.
The hike from Yosemite Valley up to Vernal Falls and then over to Nevada Falls is incredible, and one of many of many spectacular attractions of Yosemite National Park. But even hiking through the beauty of the forests, it does take work to make it to the top of either waterfall.
Lake Hennessey from the spur trail to the top of Conn Peak.
This is a very pleasant trail in the Napa Foothills where you eventually end up looking over Lake Hennessey from Conn Peak, especially in the springtime when the hills and trees are all green and the wildflowers are popping.
The Matt Davis Trail at Mount Tamalpais offers sweeping views of the Pacific Ocean.
The Steep Ravine Trail at Mount Tamalpais State Park is a beautiful trail to hike, and I’ve written about it previously. I combined this trail with the Matt Davis Trail to make a loop on the west side of Mount Tamalpais.
The view from the Coast Trail on Mount Tamalpais from the north the south can offer a stunning green and blue contrast.
If the weather is right, the views from the Coast Trail on Mount Tamalpais of the Pacific Ocean can be striking. During the right time of the year, the hills are beautifully green with a beautiful blue ocean background to the west, or sweeping green hills as you look north and south.
While the grasses and some of the undergrowth along the trails in the Meadow Trail/Mt. Wittenberg Trail area at Point Reyes National Seashore are green, many of the trees are burned out from a 2020 fire that swept through the area.
Meadow Trail at Point Reyes National Seashore up to Sky Trail is a tough climb, but sometimes the rewards are great if you like wildlife. Both times I hiked the trail I was treated to seeing Black Tail Deer once in a meadow and once running in the forest.
Mount Rainier in its magnificence from the trail to First Burroughs Mountain.
Parts of the hike to First Burroughs Mountain from the Sunrise Visitor Center are fairy-tale spectacular where you see vibrant wildflowers, green meadows surrounded by thick forested trees, and stunning views of Mount Rainier.
The hike to Carter Falls is a climb for sure, but it offers a nice view of the falls, and then on up a little further, there’s Madcap Falls is just ahead.
The vast view of the Oregon Coast disappears to sight from the top of Humbug Mountain.
We were pleasantly surprised by this trail on the Oregon Coast. When looking for trails to hike with some distance to them on the Oregon Coast, there weren’t too many choices showing, but this turned out to be a jewel of a hike.
Boy Scout Trail leads to a huge redwood tree and a waterfall through redwood trees and ferns.
Boy Scout Trail in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park is a beautiful hike amongst the ferns and redwood trees. The trail leads to a massive redwood tree, called “Boy Scout Tree” and then a waterfall.
The ancestry of the ferns in Fern Canyon at Prairie Redwoods State Park can be traced back 325 million years.
Fern Canyon on the Northern California Coast is a very green must do hike. The 50-foot high walls are covered with ferns that include lady fern, wood fern, five-finger fern, deer fern, leather leaf fern, and sword fern, and their lineage can be traced back 325 million years. Fern Canyon is beautiful, and as well as the James Irvin Trail.