Real Gear for Real Trails
The Grand Canyon is one of those places that photographs genuinely fail to prepare you for. Standing on the rim for the first time and looking out at a mile of vertical rock spanning 277 miles of canyon is a physical experience that no image communicates — the scale is simply too large for a […]
Los Angeles has a reputation as a city you experience from a car — and for most of it, that’s accurate. But within 30 minutes of downtown, the Santa Monica Mountains, Griffith Park, and the hills above Hollywood contain some of the most rewarding short hikes in California, with views of the city, ocean, and […]
Rattlesnakes are one of the most feared hazards in hiking — and one of the most misunderstood. Most hikers either panic at the thought of encountering one or carry completely wrong information about what to do if a bite actually happens. Both responses create problems. The panic is statistically disproportionate to the actual risk, and […]
The Lost Coast earned its name honestly. When California was building its highway system in the 1930s, the coastal mountains of Humboldt County were too steep, too unstable, and too geologically complex to route a road through — so the state went around them instead. The result is the longest roadless stretch of California coastline […]
There are places in Southern California that most people don’t know exist — and that’s by design. The Sespe Wilderness in Los Padres National Forest covers some of the most rugged, remote, and genuinely wild terrain in the state, protecting a creek system that runs free without dams for 61 miles, a 53,000-acre condor sanctuary […]
Rocky Mountain National Park sits about 90 minutes northwest of Denver and spans the Continental Divide across more than 415 square miles of alpine terrain. Within that geography you’ll find everything from flat lakeside walks accessible to almost anyone to serious 14,000-foot summit routes that demand full-day commitment and alpine experience. The challenge for first-time […]
Point Lobos State Natural Reserve sits at the northern end of Big Sur, 15 minutes south of Monterey, and manages to pack more coastal beauty into 400 acres than most California parks deliver across ten times that space. Monterey cypress groves found nowhere else on earth. Sea lion coves visible from the trail. A dramatic […]
Orange County doesn’t get the hiking credit it deserves. Mention hiking in Southern California and most people think immediately of the San Gabriel Mountains north of LA, or the national parks a few hours away. What they miss is that Orange County has tens of thousands of acres of open space, ocean-view ridge trails, shaded […]
Most Angelenos drive through Santa Clarita Valley on the 5 freeway without a second thought — it’s the stretch between LA and the grapevine, the place you pass through on the way somewhere else. What most people in that car don’t know is that the mountains and canyons surrounding the valley contain some of the […]
Redwood National and State Parks is one of the most undervisited major national parks in the United States — and that’s one of the best things about it. Located in the remote northwestern corner of California between Eureka and Crescent City, it sits well outside the well-worn California tourism circuit. Most visitors driving Highway 101 […]