hikespeak

Along Highway One between San Luis Obispo and Morro Bay, is a regional park with over 700 acres of land that were formerly part of Camp San Luis. The versatile El Chorro Regional Park sports a 63-site campground, a botanical garden, playground, picnic area, dog park, volleyball courts, ball fields, and Dairy Creek Golf Course. Additionally, the park hosts a 2. ...Read more.

If you are itching to hike through a forest that is a postcard of the northwest, Silver Falls Loop Trail is for you. To make things even better, the 3-mile circuit (with 300 feet of elevation gain) also visits a thundering 70-foot waterfall on Ohanapecosh River. This is a premier woodland hike in the southeast corner of Mount Rainier National Park. ...Read more.

Trail of Two Forests offers a window into two time periods of forestation shaped by nearby Mount Saint Helens. The current forest is obvious - moss, fern, trees, and fighting shrubs that have regrown over lava that covered this land approximately 2,000 years ago. The second forest is ghosts of trees that once stood here. As slow-moving molten lava cooled, it surrounded trees and began to harden. ...Read more.

The driving force in the creation of the redwoods state and national parks on California's North Coast was the Save-the-Redwoods League. Founders Grove was selected to memorialize the originators of that league. Expect something special on this easy half mile hike. A guide accompanying this trail is packed with useful information, allowing hikers to thoroughly experience a redwood forest on Founders Grove Nature Trail. ...Read more.

What Elephant Trees Trail is to desert botany, Narrows Earth Trail is to desert geology. The pamphlet available at the start of this half-mile loop describes the geological features present in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. The desert is a great place to learn about geology. Sparse vegetation exposes the earth's rock skeleton, bringing the secrets of the land's formation to bear. ...Read more.

The elephant tree is likely the most unique plant in the entire Anza-Borrego Desert, and only one such tree stands along this one-mile nature trail. Pick up a pamphlet at the start of this self-guided loop, and enjoy a brief lesson on elephant trees and other more common vegetation. This is a great trail for those interested in learning about plant life in the Anza-Borrego Desert. ...Read more.

Want to see a natural arch in Joshua Tree National Park? Take a short hike to Arch Rock within the granite formations surrounding White Tank Campground. An easy and enjoyable 0.3-mile loop leaving the campground is a must-do stroll for anyone staying at White Tank Campground. Other park visitors can now enjoy a 1.3-mile lollipop loop hike that begins from a trailhead along Pinto Basin Road. ...Read more.

Across the road from the park visitor center (and Canyon Rim Trail) is Alcove Nature Trail. This track is set back from the canyon rim, which limits views of the great landscape. What this trail offers instead is an informative hike with numbered markers that coincide with entries in a guide booklet. The entries describe plants and animals in the park as well as the geological history. ...Read more.

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.

The General Sherman Tree is the most giant giant sequoia in the world. It is the largest tree by volume, measuring 275 feet tall and 36.5 feet across at the base. General Sherman Tree is believed to be 2,200 years old and weigh 1,385 tons. But those are numbers – numbers that a brain familiar with standard-sized trees cannot process. The only way to appreciate the unfathomable, almost unearthly size of the giant sequoias is the see one for yourself. ...Read more.