Explore 126 write-ups tagged with California State Parks

Yaqui Well Trail is one of the free self-guided nature trails in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. Pair a trail guide (that you can pick up at the trailhead) with numbered markers along the way to learn about the history and botany of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park as you enjoy the surrounding scenery. The 1.6-mile round trip trail with 100 feet of elevation gain ends at Yaqui Well, a vital year-round water source that stands out from its arid desert surrounding. ...Read more.

Looks can be deceiving. Kenyon Overlook Trail doesn't impress at the start - a dirt single track leaving the most primitive campground in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. The trail crosses pleasant but generic desert landscape at Yaqui Pass. Stick with this hike because the payoff is massive - a huge view across Mescal Bajada toward Sunset Mountain (which puts on a colorful display from the overlook at sunset). ...Read more.

The Anza-Borrego Desert is a beautiful place to visit, but a tough place to live. The areas inhabitants usually built homes near water, trees, and roads, but not Marshal South, who traded utility for scenery when he built a homestead in the 1930s atop Ghost Mountain (Yaquitepec) near Blair Valley in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. The trail to the ruins of the South's adobe cabin is 1. ...Read more.

Grab your hiking boots and your camera for this short hike to 360-degree views. Panoramic Overlook Trail is a vista-filled one-mile out and back hike with 275 feet of elevation gain. The brief steep effort is rewarded by sweeping views over Borrego Valley from a ridge flanking Borrego Palm Canyon at the base of San Ysidro Mountains, the towering western boundary of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. ...Read more.

Driving around Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, you will pass quite a few unnamed or unmarked footpaths heading off somewhere into the desert. If you are curious enough to venture down one of these mysterious trails, make your way to Tubb Canyon. Located near Culp Valley Primitive Campground in the San Ysidro Mountains on the west side of the park, Tubb Canyon Trail offers an easy 1. ...Read more.

If you like mountain views without a mountainous amount of effort, set out on Culp Valley Loop. This 2.2-mile hike with 200 feet of elevation change begins from Culp Valley Primitive Campground in the San Ysidro Mountains west of Borrego Springs. The campground is just off Montezuma Highway, the main road into the park from the west, making Culp Valley Loop a convenient first stop for Anza-Borrego Desert State Park visitors coming from Los Angeles, San Diego, or somewhere in between. ...Read more.

Culp Valley is a primitive campground in the San Ysidro Mountains west of Borrego Springs. At 3,375 feet above sea level, the campground a cradled by peaks. Here's what Culp Valley Primitive Campground doesn't have: water, picnics tables, fire rings, and charcoal grills. Here is what the campground does have: vault toilets and ground to put a tent on. ...Read more.

Near the west end of Mulholland Highway north of Leo Carrillo State Park, you will find an almost hidden trailhead for Malibu Springs Trail. This spring-loaded single track is faint and overgrown in areas, providing a sense of adventure as you take in fantastic views of the highest peaks Santa Monica Mountains. At the end of an arduous climb, you will drop down to Nicholas Flat in Nicholas Flat Natural Preserve. ...Read more.

A mesa is defined as a flat-topped hill with steep sides. A peak is defined as the pointed top of a mountain. Put these contradictions together and you get a subtle summit with substantial ocean views. This short perch on a mesa-like ridge behind Pepperdine University in Malibu delivers panoramic views over the surrounding Santa Monica Mountains. The hike to Mesa Peak up the steep sides of the mesa begins from the Piuma Trailhead in Malibu Creek State Park and follows 2. ...Read more.

The city of Cambria is located on Highway One at the north end of San Luis Obispo County, and has earned the nickname "Gateway to the Big Sur Coast." Like that stunning area to the north, Cambria has its own beautiful waterfront. Explore sandy beaches and rocky tide pools on a 2.85-mile round trip hike down Moonstone Beach Boardwalk, crossing a pristine beach that is preserved by Hearst San Simeon State Park. ...Read more.