Places to go in California.

The map has 16, and four of them are canyons and deserts.

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BeachesLakes & riversMountainsCanyons & desertsForestsCavesVolcanoes

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16 places

Mountains

Yosemite National Park

Mariposa, CA · Sierra Nevada$

Tunnel View, at the east end of the Wawona Tunnel, looks into Yosemite Valley with El Capitan and Bridalveil Fall in front and Half Dome behind. Valley parking is usually full…

Beaches

Coronado Beach

San Diego, CA · San Diego

Coronado's Central Beach, with the Hotel del Coronado behind it, is flat enough for skimboarding and runs about a mile and a half. Sewage from the Tijuana River can close the…

Lakes & rivers

Channel Islands National Park

Ventura, CA · Southern California Coast

Boats from the California mainland reach Scorpion Anchorage on Santa Cruz Island in about an hour, and a day trip gives you 6 to 8 hours ashore. There are no stores or…

Canyons & deserts

Death Valley National Park

Furnace Creek, CA · Mojave Desert$

The salt crystals at Devils Golf Course, on Badwater Road in Death Valley, make tiny popping sounds as they expand and contract in the heat. Badwater Basin is 17 miles south of…

Canyons & deserts

Joshua Tree National Park

Joshua Tree, CA · Mojave Desert$

Joshua trees grow only on the park's high Mojave side. Down in the lower Colorado Desert, ocotillo and cholla take over. At Hidden Valley you can scramble over the granite…

Canyons & deserts

Kings Canyon National Park

Fresno, CA · Sierra Nevada$

Drive the Kings Canyon Scenic Byway down to Cedar Grove in summer and the walls beside you climb more than 8,000 feet above the South Fork of the Kings River, deeper than the…

Volcanoes

Lassen Volcanic National Park

Mineral, CA · Southern Cascades, Northern California$

Lassen Peak, about 130 miles north of Sacramento, threw an ash column more than 30,000 feet high on May 22, 1915. The 30-mile park road runs past the Devastated Area that…

Canyons & deserts

Pinnacles National Park

Soledad, CA · Gabilan Range, Central California Coast$

The west side of Pinnacles gives the best views of its rock formations with little effort, and that entrance is 14 miles along Highway 146 from Soledad. Its gate is open 7:30…

Forests

Redwood National Park

Orick, CA · Northern California CoastFree

Redwood National and State Parks run about 50 miles up US 101 from Orick to Crescent City and hold about 35% of the world's remaining old-growth redwood forest. At Fern Canyon…

Forests

Sequoia National Park

Three Rivers, CA · Sierra Nevada$

Summer parking near General Sherman fills by mid-morning, so arrive early or ride the shuttle. Sherman is the largest tree on Earth by volume. The paved Congress Trail runs…

Beaches

Pfeiffer Beach

Big Sur, CA · Big Sur$

On a few days in December and January the setting sun shines through Keyhole Rock at Pfeiffer Beach in Big Sur, and photographers turn out for it. The beach is at the end of…

Beaches

El Matador State Beach

Malibu, CA · Malibu$

A dirt path and several sets of steps drop down the bluff from Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu to El Matador, a narrow beach with sea caves. The bluff-top lot is small and open…

Caves

Crystal Cave (Sequoia National Park)

Three Rivers, CA · Sierra Nevada

Behind a wrought-iron spider-web gate the Civilian Conservation Corps forged in 1940, Crystal Cave opens into a marble cavern an underground stream carved and is still polishing…

Caves

Lava Beds National Monument

Tulelake, CA · Modoc Plateau$

Tucked into a high desert plateau near the Oregon line, Lava Beds hides more than 800 lava tube caves under its sagebrush, the densest concentration in North America, and 27 of…

Lakes & rivers

Yosemite Falls

Yosemite Village, CA · Yosemite Valley, Sierra Nevada, California$

Yosemite Falls is the tallest waterfall in North America, dropping 2,425 feet in three connected stages down the north wall of Yosemite Valley. The Upper Fall plunges 1,430 feet…

Lakes & rivers

McArthur-Burney Falls

Burney, CA · Shasta County, Northern California$

McArthur-Burney Falls does not rely on a single plunge. Burney Creek pours 129 feet over a volcanic cliff, and the rock face itself leaks, with dozens of springs seeping straight…