Page 66 - 2019 Travel Guide to California

STATE & NATIONAL PARKS
BY BONNIE SMETTS
Awesome by Nature
California’s natural and cultural heritage is easy to explore
LASSEN VOLCANIC
NATIONAL PARK
Manzanita Lake and Lassen Peak,
above, are prime attractions in
Lassen Volcanic National Park,
which in 1916 became the fifteenth
national park established by
Congress. The greater Lassen area
has been volcanically active for
3 million years.
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.
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
summer when the park is abuzz with visi-
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
64 2019 TRAVEL GUIDE TO CALIFORNIA
CHRIS FLENTYE. OPPOSITE: VISIT CARMEL; LARRY HABEGGER