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California

Los Padres National Forest

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Los Padres National Forest

California

Managed by U.S. Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Region

1,963,836 acres (1,762,767 federal/ 201,069 other)

Website: http://www.fs.usda.gov/r05/lospadres

Overview

Los Padres National Forest stretches more than 200 miles from Monterrey south beyond Santa Barbara.  It contains most of Big Sur, a name that conjures images of craggy cliffs dropping precipitously into white-capped ocean waves.  This sparsely inhabited stretch of coastline is known as much for its historic bohemians as its coast redwood trees.  It is home to multiple rare tree species with limited native ranges, especially those that can tolerate serpentine soils.  As the only National Forest in California that touches the Pacific Ocean, a road trip down scenic Highway 1 should be on everyone’s bucket list, including stops at Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, Bixby Creek Bridge, Hearst Castle State Park, and the elephant seal rookery at Piedras Blancas.  We have hiked many trails here since Scott taught for three years at Cal Poly State University in San Luis Obispo.

Highlights

Big Sur, Sykes Hot Springs, Salmon Creek Falls, Jade Cove, Cuesta Ridge Botanical Area, Figueroa Mountain, Mt. Pinos, Knapp’s Castle, Seven Falls, Sespe Hot Springs

Must-Do Activity

Los Padres National Forest is 48% designated Wilderness, so the recommended activity is to hike into those natural areas.  The Matilija Wilderness is in the Santa Ynez Mountains that loom above the coastal city of Santa Barbara, home to a university, art museum, and historic Presidio built in 1782.  If you go to hike to the ruins of Knapp’s Castle in the National Forest, also make a quick stop at Chumash Painted Cave State Historic Park, which contains colorful pictographs dating back to the 1600s.  Another popular U.S. Forest Service trailhead located closer to town goes either to Inspiration Point or Seven Falls, the latter a better choice on foggy days, which are common on the coast.

Best Trail

There are 323 miles of incredible hiking trails throughout Los Padres National Forest, including a few that access hot springs.  Our favorite trails are in the Santa Lucia Mountains that tower above Big Sur.  One pinnacle accessible by trail is Cone Peak at 5,155 feet in elevation.  The access road is typically closed in the winter, but when it is open the trail is only 2.3 miles to the summit with a vertical gain of 1,400 feet.  Do not expect any shade since multiple fires have burned most of the mountain, although there are still a few surviving examples of the rare Santa Lucia fir tree.  Although some areas are no longer vegetated, the plentiful sunshine above the fog belt means there are often incredible displays of wildflowers along the trail early in summer, including lupine, sticky monkeyflower, and yucca. 

Watchable Wildlife

There is a wide range of wildlife found here from sea level up to 8,847 feet in elevation, and the most famous is the reintroduced California condor that nests in the Sespe Condor Sanctuary.  Other birds include barn owls, great horned owls, red-tailed hawks, bald eagles, California quail, and California scrub jays.  Coyotes, black bears, bobcats, mountain lions, black-tailed deer, bighorn sheep, and raccoons are common large mammals.  Species of concern include the foothill yellow-legged frog and California mountain kingsnake.  Look for California newts and banana slugs in the moist understory of coast redwood forests.

Photographic Opportunity

Even if you are not spending the night at Kirk Creek Campground, you can park and walk down the trail to the south that goes past redwood trees to the beach where there is a sea arch and tidepools. 

Peak Season

Fall and winter

Fees

$5 per vehicle Adventure Pass (or America the Beautiful pass) required at most trailheads

Road Conditions

There are some steep unpaved roads in Los Padres National Forest, which can be impassable in wet or snowy conditions.  Portions of the unpaved Tassajara Road to Chews Ridge are narrow and steep, requiring a four-wheel-drive vehicle to reach Tassajara Hot Springs.

Camping

A night spent listening to the ocean waves breaking far below the U.S. Forest Service’s clifftop Kirk Creek Campground is enchanting, which is why it made it on our list of Top 10 Campgrounds in National Forests.  There are 11 campgrounds in total, and a free campfire permit is required if you use a camp stove (which can be obtained online). Sespe Hot Springs is a popular ten-mile one-way backpacking destination.

Wilderness Areas

Chumash Wilderness

Dick Smith Wilderness

Garcia Wilderness

Machesna Mountain Wilderness

Matilija Wilderness

San Rafael Wilderness

Santa Lucia Wilderness

Sespe Wilderness

Silver Peak Wilderness

Ventana Wilderness

Related Sites

Angeles National Forest (California)

Muir Woods National Monument (California)

Point Reyes National Seashore (California)

Channel Islands National Park (California)

Nearest National Park

Pinnacles

Scott’s mother and aunt in the redwood forest
Tiff hiking to Sespe Hot Springs
Sespe Hot Springs
Sticky monkeyflower
Scott backpacking to Sespe Hot Springs
Highway 1
Scott with a Santa Lucia fir
Scott with a coast redwood tree
Banana slug
California newt
Mt. Pinos
Kirk Creek Campground in Big Sur

Conifer Tree Species

coast redwood, Monterey pine, Coulter pine, gray pine, Jeffrey pine, ponderosa pine, limber pine, bigcone Douglas-fir, Sargent cypress, Monterey cypress, white fir, Santa Lucia fir

Flowering Tree Species

coast live oak, California black oak, tanoak, western redbud, Pacific madrone, manzanita

Explore More – What is the name of the nomadic group that lived in Big Sur dating back 5,500 years ago?

California

Lassen National Forest

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Lassen National Forest

California

Managed by U.S. Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Region

1,375,593 acres (1,070,992 federal/ 304,601 other)

Website: https://www.fs.usda.gov/r05/lassen

Overview

Lassen National Forest Reserve dates back to 1905, then a decade later when Lassen Peak explosively erupted (the first eruption to be photographed in the continental U.S.), 106,589-acre Lassen Volcanic National Park was carved out.  The two federal areas are connected by the 187-mile-long Lassen Scenic Byway (Highways 44 and 89) that traces the volcanic legacy of the southern Cascade Range.  The 41,100-acre Ishi Wilderness was named in 1984 to honor the last surviving member of the Yahi band of Southern Yanas, taken from his native home near Oroville in 1911 and employed as a janitor at the University of California’s Anthropology Museum in San Francisco until his death from tuberculosis five years later.

Highlights

Lassen Scenic Byway, Lake Almanor, Eagle Lake, Subway Cave, Hat Creek Recreational Area, Triangle Lake, Heart Lake National Recreation Trail, Bizz Johnson Trail, Spencer Meadows National Recreation Trail, Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail

Must-Do Activity

Lassen National Forest runs campgrounds and boat ramps on both Lake Almanor and Eagle Lake, although most of their shorelines are privately owned.  Between the two lakes is the town of Susanville, where a railroad bed abandoned in 1978 was converted into the Bizz Johnson Trail that follows the Susan River for 26 miles. The trail features 12 river crossings and two tunnels with scenic mountain views.  Camping is restricted to specific portions of the trail. The 20,546-acre Caribou Wilderness was one of America’s first Primitive Areas designated in 1932 and along with the 16,335-acre Thousand Lakes Wilderness was established immediately following passage of the 1964 Wilderness Act.  In a proposed Wilderness area on the west side of Lassen Volcanic National Park, Heart Lake National Recreation Trail is a 2.4-mile one-way hike up to a glacial lake that connects to the longer Twin Meadows Trail.

Best Trail

Subway Cave is only 1,300 feet long, but the lava tube is the main attraction in Lassen National Forest, with free guided tours offered on summer weekends.  Lava flowed through here less than 2,000 years ago and interpretive signs along the 0.7-mile loop trail explain lavacicles and other geologic oddities.  A flashlight is necessary to explore past the openings of the 46°F cave, which drops to four feet in some places with a maximum ceiling of 17 feet.  One mile south on the Lassen Scenic Byway (Highway 44) is the 1.7-mile roundtrip Spatter Cone Trail (across from Hat Creek Campground).  The trail passes a variety of volcanic formations in a forest of Jeffrey pine trees.

Watchable Wildlife

Lassen National Forest is home to black bears, pine martens, mountain lions, bobcats, red foxes, coyotes, and a few gray wolves that migrated south from Oregon.  You are most likely to see mule deer or one of the variety of chipmunks or squirrels.  Bird sightings include mountain chickadees, Steller’s jays, Clark’s nutcrackers (at high elevations), and eight species of woodpeckers such as pileated and white-headed.

Photographic Opportunity

Sitting at 4,505 feet in elevation, Lake Almanor stretches for 13 miles near Chester, California and is a good place for summer boating and fishing.

Peak Season

Summer

Fees

None

Road Conditions

Subway Cave is located right off Lassen Scenic Byway (Highways 44 and 89) and most of the unpaved roads we have explored in the National Forest have been maintained, probably because of the continued harvesting activities that we witnessed on our field trip from Cal Poly University in 2010.

Camping

Lassen National Forest runs campgrounds on both Lake Almanor and Eagle Lake, plus Hat Creek Recreational Area has seven campgrounds.  If you are looking to disperse camp outside Lassen Volcanic National Park, take the road west outside the southern entrance (but keep a clean campsite as we saw a black bear in the area).

Wilderness Areas

Caribou Wilderness

Ishi Wilderness (also managed by BLM)

Thousand Lakes Wilderness

Related Sites

Lava Beds National Monument (California)

Devils Postpile National Monument (California)

Whiskeytown-Shasta-Trinity National Recreation Area (California)

Nearest National Park

Lassen Volcanic

Subway Cave
Subway Cave
Subway Cave
Tiff in Subway Cave
Lake Almanor
White pelicans
Lake Almanor

Conifer Tree Species

red fir, white fir, western hemlock, Jeffrey pine, ponderosa pine, lodgepole pine, western white pine, California juniper, incense-cedar

Flowering Tree Species

quaking aspen, Fremont cottonwood, ceanothus, manzanita

Explore More – Other than the namesake for Lassen Peak, who was Peter Lassen?

Learn more about this and the 154 other National Forests in our guidebook Out in the Woods

California

Tule Lake National Monument

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Tule Lake National Monument

California

Managed by National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Established 2008

1,391 acres

Website: nps.gov/tule

Overview

Following the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an executive order authorizing the detention of more than 110,000 U.S. citizens of Japanese descent at ten concentration camps in the contiguous United States.  At Tule Lake War Relocation Center, 7,400 acres were enclosed by barbwire to hold about 12,000 people in northeast California.  Once a loyalty questionnaire was distributed throughout the ten camps, those considered disloyal to the U.S. government were all shipped to the renamed Tule Lake Segregation Center, which held 18,789 inmates at its peak.  Overcrowding, harassment, beatings, and a fatal farm accident led to riots and mass demonstrations, and martial law was declared from November 13, 1943 to January 15, 1944.  This camp was the last to be closed on March 20, 1946, months after the end of the war.  It was named a National Historic Landmark in 2006, and two years later became one of nine sites within World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument (which included Pearl Harbor National Memorial).  When that was disbanded in 2019, Tule Lake National Monument was created.

Learn more about the other 137 National Monuments in our book Monumental America: Your Guide to All 138 National Monuments. It is now available for sale on Amazon.com.

Highlights

Tulelake-Butte Valley Fairgrounds Museum, Tule Lake Segregation Center prison

Must-Do Activity

Most of the buildings at Tule Lake Segregation Center were moved elsewhere following the war.  One of the few remaining structures is the prison, which is only accessible on ranger-guided tours offered Memorial Day to Labor Day on Thursdays through Sundays (call ahead for required reservations).  The concrete jail had six cells to hold 24 men, but incarcerated over 100 at one time mostly outside in Army tents used as unheated punishment quarters.  The prison is always visible from the National Park Service (NPS) visitor center off Highway 139.  It is worth getting a tour to go inside to see original graffiti from inmates and the reinstalled metal doors that were purchased by a private citizen in the 1940s and kept at their farm for decades.  Tulelake-Butte Valley Fairgrounds Museum (fee) has a one-hour audio tour and there are online virtual tours that show several sites within Tule Lake National Monument, including the inside of the jail prior to the restoration.

Best Trail

There are no designated trails there, but from the NPS visitor center near Newell you can photograph the rock formation known as Peninsula/Castle Rock (solely managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service).  It is also visible while checking out the rock art at Petroglyph Point within Lava Beds National Monument.

Photographic Opportunity

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was stationed at Camp Tulelake from 1935 to 1942, constructing 23 buildings and repairing canals.  Several small groups of Japanese Americans were held at Camp Tulelake to separate them from the general population at Tule Lake Segregation Center.  Later in the war, Italian and German POWs were stationed there before the buildings were transferred to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.  Currently, tours of Camp Tulelake are not available due to ongoing preservation work, but you can photograph it through the fence on Hill Road and hike to bird viewing blinds in Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge.

Peak Season

Summer

Hours

https://www.nps.gov/tule/planyourvisit/hours.htm

Fees

Ranger-guided tours require a reservation, but they are free.  There is an entrance fee for the museum at Tulelake-Butte Valley Fairgrounds.

Road Conditions

Highway 139 and Hill Road are paved, but most of the roads through the former Tule Lake Segregation Center and Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge are unpaved.

Camping

Indian Well Campground is located in Lava Beds National Monument near the visitor center and Cave Loop Road.  Dirt roads in the nearby Modoc and Klamath National Forests provide free dispersed camping.

Related Sites

Manzanar National Historic Site (California)

Minidoka National Historic Site (Idaho-Washington)

Amache National Historic Site (Colorado)

Tulelake-Butte Valley Fairgrounds Museum
Tiff at Tulelake-Butte Valley Fairgrounds Museum
Tulelake-Butte Valley Fairgrounds Museum
Peninsula/Castle Rock
Crop duster
Tiff walking to the prison
Inside the prison
Historic graffiti
Historic graffiti in Japanese
NPS visitor center
Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge map
Reflections on Tule Lake

Explore More – Providing crucial habitat along the Pacific Flyway, what type of migratory birds can be seen at Tule Lake, Clear Lake, and Modoc National Wildlife Refuges?

Learn more about the other 137 National Monuments in our book Monumental America: Your Guide to All 138 National Monuments

California

Butte Valley National Grassland

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Butte Valley National Grassland

California

Managed by U.S. Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Region

19,705 acres

Website: https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/klamath/about-forest/?cid=FSEPRD494406

Overview

The flat, sandy soils of this former lakebed attracted homesteaders to plow fields and graze livestock, but following droughts in the 1930s it was largely abandoned.  Under the Bankhead-Jones Farm Tennant Act of 1937, these lands were purchased by the federal government and used as a practice bombing range during World War II.  Later, the Soil Conservation Service administered the area and planted more than 4,000 acres of crested wheatgrass.  In 1954, management was reassigned to Klamath National Forest who tried in vain to sell the Butte Valley Land Use Project (LUP) until it was named the newest National Grassland in July 1991.

Highlights

Windmill, Butte Valley Museum

Must-Do Activity

Located in the dry northeast corner of California, Butte Valley National Grassland is dominated by sagebrush, rabbitbrush, bitterbrush, basin wildrye, and intermediate wheatgrass, with western juniper being the only tree species.  Local ranchers graze cattle here under permit with the U.S. Forest Service, so be sure to close all gates behind you as you drive around.  The recommended driving loop is to take Highway 97 to Meiss Lake Sam’s Neck Road for 4.9 miles to Indian Point Road, which has low rock bluffs and a fenced-off windmill along its 4.6-mile length.  Richardson Road will take you 5.2 miles back to Highway 97, just south of the town of Dorris where you can visit the Butte Valley Museum.

Best Trail

There are no defined trails, but you could walk cross-country through the sagebrush or on the dirt roads.

Watchable Wildlife

Large mammals found in Butte Valley National Grassland include bobcats, coyotes, porcupines, jackrabbits, mule deer, Roosevelt elk, pronghorns, and possibly some reintroduced bighorn sheep.  Reptiles include Pacific gopher snakes, western rattlesnakes, California red-sided garter snakes, pygmy horned lizards, and western fence lizards.  We saw several large birds on our visit: a California quail, golden eagle, northern harrier, magpie, and common ravens.  A 35-year study of Swainson’s hawks has been conducted here as they nest in the western juniper trees.  Other bird species of interest include the sandhill crane, red-tailed hawk, ferruginous hawk, rough-legged hawk, prairie falcon, American kestrel, merlin, bald eagle, great horned owl, short-eared owl, and long-eared owl.  The adjacent 11,520-acre Butte Valley Wildlife Area encompasses Meiss Lake, a remnant of a much larger lake that still serves as an important site for migratory waterfowl.

Photographic Opportunity

The eastern face of glacier-covered Mt. Shasta is visible from the National Grassland on clear days.

Peak Season

Summer

Fees

None

Road Conditions

Highway 97 and Meiss Lake Sam’s Neck Road are paved.  We found Richardson Road to be somewhat rutted, but unpaved Indian Point Road was in good shape.  We drove an unnamed two-track road through the center of the National Grassland with a passenger car, although we would recommend a high-clearance vehicle.

Camping

You can probably disperse camp in the National Grassland without a problem, or drive into Klamath National Forest for its campgrounds at Juanita Lake, Martins Dairy, Shafter, and Orr Lake.

Related Sites

Klamath National Forest (California-Oregon)

Tule Lake National Monument (California)

Lava Beds National Monument (California)

Nearest National Park

Lassen Volcanic

California quail
Mt. Shasta
Mt. Shasta
Butte Valley Museum
Raven about the grassland

Explore More –According to archeological records, how many thousands of years have the Modoc Tribe and their ancestors been in this area?

California, Oregon

Klamath National Forest

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Klamath National Forest

California, Oregon

Managed by U.S. Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Region

1,913,264 acres (1,737,774 federal/ 175,490 other)

Website: https://www.fs.usda.gov/klamath

Overview

Split into two separate sections by Interstate 5, Klamath National Forest is spread across the Marble, Salmon, Scott, and Siskiyou Mountains of northern California, with less than 2% of its acreage across the border in Oregon.  The National Forest headquarters is located in Yreka on Interstate 5, from where the Forest Service also manages the small Butte Valley National Grassland.  In this remote portion of California, Klamath National Forest borders Modoc, Rogue River, Siskiyou, Six Rivers, Shasta, and Trinity National Forests.  It contains 152 miles of designated National Wild and Scenic Rivers, including some popular for fishing and rafting, like the Klamath River.

Highlights

Horsetail Falls, Kangaroo Lake, Sawyers Bar Catholic Church, Sur Cree Falls, Crater Glass Flow, Panhandle Lake, Chimney Rock, Diamond Lake, Juanita Lake, Cedar Mountain, Kelly Lake, East Boulder Trail, Taylor Lake Trail, Clear Creek National Recreation Trail, Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail

Must-Do Activity

The mountainous western portion of Klamath National is home to several designated Wilderness areas that offer excellent hiking and backpacking (as well as a long stretch of the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail).  In the Siskiyou Wilderness, a quarter-mile hike leads to Kelly Lake with picnic tables at both ends and an option to continue hiking three miles to a beautiful meadow near Poker Flat.  From the Shackleford Creek Trailhead, a trail follows the creek into the Marble Mountain Wilderness to Log Lake (three miles) and Campbell Lake (4.3 miles).  Russian Lake in the Russian Wilderness is heavily visited, although it is a difficult 4.5-mile hike from the Deacon Lee Trailhead.  Many trails enter the Trinity Alps Wilderness, such as East Boulder (see Best Hike) and Carter Meadows Summit, as well as Long Gulch and Trail Gulch (which together can be a turned into thru-hike with a two-car shuttle)

Best Trail

A popular destination for day hikers, East Boulder Lake is accessed by a 1.7-mile one-way trail that climbs 1,000 feet into the northern Trinity Alps Wilderness.  Due to the number of user trails around the lake, it is difficult to navigate to the 7,100-foot pass, but continue southeast past Upper Boulder Lake and keep heading uphill to locate it.  It is 1.2 miles past East Boulder Lake to the junction with the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail that runs east-west following the summits of the Scott Mountains (in Shasta National Forest).  It is possible to turn this into a loop hike by connecting with the Middle Boulder Trail and Boulder Tie Trail. 

Watchable Wildlife

Elevations in Klamath National Forest range from 900 to nearly 9,000 feet supporting a variety of ecosystems, including 168,000 acres of old-growth forest.  Large mammals found here include black bears, mountain lions, bobcats, coyotes, foxes, pine martens, skunks, raccoons, mule deer, and possibly gray wolves.  Fishing for rainbow trout, steelhead, and salmon is a major draw to Klamath National Forest with its countless lakes and major rivers like the Klamath, Salmon, Scott, and Trinity. 

Photographic Opportunity

The abundant rainfall that soaks the coastal mountains of California allows conifer trees to reach impressive diameters, like this ponderosa pine we found in the Trinity Alps Wilderness.

Peak Season

Summer

Fees

A free Wilderness Entry Permit is required for overnight trips in the popular Trinity Alps Wilderness where group size is limited to ten people.

Road Conditions

Twisty but paved State Route 96 traverses the western part of the National Forest providing access to the Klamath River, trailheads for the Wilderness areas, and campgrounds.  East Boulder Trailhead is located 7.8 miles from the town of Callahan, which is in a remote part of California north of Clair Engle Lake.  A high-clearance vehicle may help, but is not required for the unpaved final part of the drive.  In the remote eastern portion of the National Forest, a scenic back road travels six miles from Laird’s Camp over Gold Digger Pass near Lava Beds National Monument.

Camping

There are several campgrounds located along paved State Route 96, including Tree of Heaven, Totten, Rocky Bar, and Sulphur Springs (where Elk Creek Trail is a shady two-mile hike to a picnic area by the creek).  In the National Forest’s eastern portion, Juanita Lake Campground has a 1.5 mile paved, barrier-free trail that circles the lake. 

Wilderness Areas

Marble Mountain Wilderness

Red Buttes Wilderness

Russian Wilderness

Siskiyou Wilderness (also in Six Rivers National Forest)

Trinity Alps Wilderness (also in Shasta, Six Rivers, and Trinity National Forests)

Related Sites

Butte Valley National Grassland (California)

Lava Beds National Monument (California)

Oregon Caves National Monument and Preserve (Oregon)

Nearest National Park

Redwood

Scott’s mother climbing over the East Boulder Lake dam
Scott’s mother at Boulder Lake
Black-tailed deer
Incense-cedar
Sugar pine
Fireweed
Fireweed
Scott’s mother ready for backpacking

Conifer Tree Species

ponderosa pine, Jeffrey pine, whitebark pine, foxtail pine, Douglas-fir, incense-cedar, western juniper, red fir, white fir, silver fir

Flowering Tree Species

Pacific madrone, California-laurel, elderberry, curlleaf mountain mahogany, sagebrush

Explore More – How many species of conifers (or Gymnosperms) have been recorded in the Russian Wilderness, possibly the most biodiverse spot for these plants in California, if not the world?

Learn more about this and the 154 other National Forests in our new guidebook Out in the Woods

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