Hiking Salt Point State Park
Hiking Upper Ritchey Canyon at Bothe-Napa Valley State Park
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.
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Hiking Dipsea Trail To Muir Woods National Monument
This hike takes you under lush canopy at Mount Tamalpais State Park, up steep stairs, gives you a fantastic view overlooking the Pacific Ocean, and then you hike among the Redwoods at Muir Woods National Monument. But it’s also difficult for me to get excited about this hike.
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Hiking Steep Ravine/Matt Davis Loop at Mount Tamalpais State Park
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.
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Hiking the Grand Loop at Mount Diablo State Park
The views from Grand Loop Hike at Mount Diablo State Park are sweeping from all directions, and we wanted to see what we could see from the grand loop hike. While worth it, this is not an easy hike.
We hiked the trails that circled the top of Mount Diablo in February to see the hills when they were green and to avoid summer heat exhaustion and dehydration issues. The scenery was beautiful, and we could see into downtown San Francisco in the distance as we looked out from above the Juniper Campground on an offshoot trail.
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Hiking Mountain Trail to Sonoma Mountain Ridge Trail at Jack London State Historic Park
While the jewel hike at Jack London State Historic Park is the Mountain Trail to its highest point, another good hike is the Sonoma Mountain Ridge Hike.
The hike starts off on the Lake Trail to London Lake from the Upper Parking Lot. As you begin, you hike past a picnic area, winery ruins and the distillery and turn and hike past a vineyard. Follow Mountain Trail which is a service road next to the wooded area. We stayed on Mountain Road as we passed an intersection where another trail leads to the London Lake.
Hiking Trojan Point to McKennan Gulch Trail via the Coast Trail at Mount Tamalpais State Park
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.
Hiking Humbug Mountain Trail on the Oregon Coast
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.
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Hiking Boy Scout Trail in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park
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.
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Hiking Fern Canyon/James Irvine Trail in Northern California
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.
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Hiking Crags Trail to Castle Dome at Castle Crags State Park
Iwon’t sugar coat this. The hike to Castle Dome at Castle Crags State Park is not easy… especially on a hot day.
The hike starts off easy enough on the wide Root Creek Trail under forested canopy, but then you come to a junction about .3 miles in where you make a left turn, and then the climbing begins. Roughly after 500 feet, you will intersect with and cross over the Pacific Crest Trail.
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Hiking Creamery Meadow, Bluffs, Panorama and Ridge Trail at Andrew Molera State Park
Andrew Molera State Park at Big Sur offers beautiful views of the Pacific Ocean and the nearby mountains. While the hike to see some of the views is challenging in places, it is worth it.
Hiking the Historic Orchard at Jack London State Historic Park
The hike to the Historic Orchard at Jack London State Historic Park is mild. The one-time 100 acre orchard once produced apples, apricots, pears, plums, and prunes. The orchard is a casual hike, but getting there is a hike up and down hills and through forests.
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