Trails

The Trail of 100 Giants offers a leisurely loop through a grove of giant sequoias. With easy access off the Western Divide Highway, this is practically a required stop on a trip to Giant Sequoia National Monument. Located within Long Meadow Grove, this trail gives visitors an opportunity to revel beneath these enormous beauties. Enjoy a half-mile paved loop or extend things a bit on a 1. ...Read more.

Salmon Creek Trail is a popular track with backpackers venturing deep into the Silver Peak Wilderness in the Monterey District of Los Padres National Forest, but you only need to hike a quarter mile round trip from Highway One to see a beautiful 120-foot waterfall. Unlike the trail overlooking beautiful McWay Falls farther up the Big Sur Coast, this hike brings you up close and person with a powerful cascade pouring down the Santa Lucia Mountains. ...Read more.

Along the bluffs of the Big Sur Coast protected by Los Padres National Forest is a scenic and easy ocean-view hike. Jade Cove and Plaskett Rock Point are just south of Plaskett Creek Campground on the west side of Highway One. Visited together, they form a 1.5-mile hike. This hike has two trailheads. Both are unmarked a somewhat difficult to spot. From Plaskett Creek Campground drive a quarter mile south and scan the west side of the road for the Plaskett Rock Point trailhead. ...Read more.

A great way to explore the dramatic waterfront on the Big Sur coast is to take a hike down the action-packed Partington Cove Trail. Partington Cove is part of Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park begins from Highway One, just north of McWay Falls. Partington Cove Trail The 1.5-mile hike to Partington Cove begins at the top of a gated fire road on the west side of Highway One and descends toward the coast to a junction at an information kiosk 0. ...Read more.

The overlook trail for McWay Falls is a must-stop for anyone taking the scenic drive up Highway One along the Big Sur Coast. The waterfall is stunning, dropping some 80 feet onto a pristine beach in an enchanting cove. It is a short 0.6-mile round trip hike to a viewpoint for McWay Falls, which can be reached directly from Highway One or from parking areas withing Julia Pfieffer Burns State Park. ...Read more.

Darwin Falls should not be part of Death Valley National Park. In fact, the year-round waterfall does not belong in the California desert at all. The hike starts as innocently as so many nearby trails, at the mouth of a gravel-bottom canyon, but after 0.7 miles the canyon closes and the trail enters a lush oasis of cottonwoods and willows. The next 0. ...Read more.

Sidewinder Canyon is located at the base of the Black Mountains on the east side of Death Valley National Park south of Badwater Basin. The canyon is fairly wide with a gravel bottom and forty-foot stone walls on both side. Within these walls lie tight slot canyons with pour-overs, carve outs, and dark passages that beg to be explored. There are three slot canyons off the south wall of the canyon and other slightly wider side canyons worth experiencing. ...Read more.

Wildrose Peak resides on the northern end of a group of peaks that form the top of the Panamint Mountain Range, which runs down the west side of Death Valley National Park. The 9,064-foot peak is about seven miles north of Telescope Peak, the highest point in the park at 11,049 feet. Wildrose sports an expansive view of the Panamint Mountains, Badwater Basin, and the surrounding desert landscape. ...Read more.

Visitors driving though Mojave National Preserve between Baker and Kelso Depot may wish to stop near Seventeen Mile Point for a quick walk to simple petroglyphs drawn into the volcanic rock outcroppings along the road. While certainly not the only petroglyphs in the preserve, these might be the easiest to get to. A petroglyph engraved into the rock On Kelbaker Road, 13. ...Read more.

This 8.5-mile hike ascends 2,500 feet to summit a 6,365-foot peak in the small range of mountains in the southwestern corner of Mojave National Preserve. Silver Peak looks out across the Granite Mountains toward the Kelso Dunes, Cima Dome, and the peaks of the Providence Range - a worthy view of Mojave National Preserve to be sure. Nearby Granite Peak is the tallest mountain in the range (6,762 feet), but Silver Peak is an easier hike because there is a rough trail leading almost all the way to the summit. ...Read more.