Page 60 - 2018 Travel Guide to California

STATE & NATIONAL PARKS
BY BONNIE SMETTS
Naturally Awesome
Enjoy California’s rich natural and cultural heritage
DEATH VALLEY
One of the world’s hottest places in
summer, Death Valley also contains
the lowest point in North America,
and this is just 85 miles from Mount
Whitney, the continental U.S.’s
highest point. After wet winters,
early spring wildflower blooms here
are usually spectacular.
Scramble up boulders in Joshua Tree’s
Wonderland of Rocks. Time travel on a his-
toric ship in San Francisco Bay. Stand
beneath giant redwoods that author John
Steinbeck called ambassadors from another
time. Whatever your passion, California’s
280 state parks and 32 national parks,
seashores and monuments—whose mis-
sion is to protect the state’s natural and
cultural treasures—are the gateway to expe-
riences as varied as the state’s geography.
summer when the park is abuzz with visi-
Yosemite & the Sierra Nevada
Yosemite National Park, with its glacier-
sculpted valley and granite peaks, is
justifiably one of the world’s natural treas-
ures. Come in spring when the waterfalls
thunder to the valley floor. Come in
tors to explore by tram, bike or on foot.
Choose a gentle half-hour hike or reserve a
spot for the all-day climb up Half Dome.
Junior Ranger Walks are popular with kids.
Backpackers can enjoy the solitude of the
park’s high country and expert rock
climbers have dozens of granite walls to
scale. Don’t leave the park without stopping
at Glacier Point with its views of Half Dome
and Yosemite Valley or at the Mariposa
Grove of giant sequoias to marvel at its
2,700-year-old Grizzly Giant.
To see a really big tree—the world’s
largest by volume—head south to Sequoia
and Kings Canyon National Parks and
marvel at the weighty General Sherman.
While still in the mountains, take a trip to
ESPOSITO PHOTOGRAPHY/SHUTTERSTOCK. OPPOSITE: VISIT CARMEL; LARRY HABEGGER
58 2018 T R AV E L G U I D E TO C A L I F O R N I A