city, be ready to encounter fellow hikers on this popular road, while you bask in the endless sceneries of Malibu, and the Santa Monica Mountains. Hiking waterfall trails are definitely exhilarating experiences, especially if you’re hiking routes that portray vistas of canyons and oceans. Location: Temescal Canyon Trailhead, Temescal Canyon Trail, Pacific Palisades, C.A. Watch your step on the stairs, as they’re usually slippery from the mist of the falls. Enjoy the lush greens and soak up the cool air, as you make your way through the stretch of the wide dirt trail to the steep rock stairway leading up to the falls. A popular destination for those seeking hiking with waterfalls, a short but steep paved trail will lead you to cross a bridge where views overlooking the Verna Falls await you. ![]() 95389.Īlthough the lyrics suggest otherwise, some waterfalls are worth the chase. I-80 Donner Pass Eastbound Rest Area (Soda Springs), pcta.Location: Happy Isle Loop Rd, Yosemite Valley, C.A. You can walk through as much or as little of the tunnels as you want, then turn around and follow the PCT back to your car. From there, follow your eyes to the tunnels (don’t forget to read all about them on signs tucked into the side of the parking lot). Cross the road to the parking lot by the Summit Haus. Step onto the PCT on the south side and follow it over fields of erratic boulders and switchbacks down to Donner Pass Road. Start at the parking lot for the eastbound Donner Pass rest area. It is possible to park just a five minute walk from the Summit Tunnels but it’s much more epic to approach them via the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT). Today, though they are covered in a riot of graffiti, they are just as impressive as they were over 150 years ago. In the 1860s, Chinese immigrants carved tunnels through the impossibly hard granite at Donner Pass to connect California to the rest of the country via the transcontinental railroad. One of the most stunning feats of engineering ever accomplished in the U.S. July: Pacific Crest Trail to Summit Tunnels (8+ miles, out and back) Bear Valley Trailhead (Point Reyes Station), nps.gov/pore When you've taken all the photos, retrace your steps back to the trailhead. It can be dangerous to hike the final stretch when the tides are coming in so check the schedule to be sure you hit this section when they are low. Walk the last mile to the falls along the beach. Continue about 1.5 miles to the Stewart Trail where you'll turn right and walk for 1.2 miles (downhill!) to the Wildcat Campground. Follow the mostly flat trail south for 3.1 miles then make a left onto the steadily-climbing Glen Trail. While early 2023's storms have the Palomarin Trailhead near Bolinas temporarily closed, you can still access the falls from the Bear Valley Trailhead (located 4.5 miles south of the Bear Valley Visitor Center near Five Brooks Ranch) if you're willing to add an extra mile to your trek. That makes it well worth the approximately 14-mile hike, especially in February when winter rains have fattened up the area’s creeks and rivers. (Courtesy of Falls, Point Reyes National Recreation Area’s stunning 40-foot cascade, is one of just four in the U.S. ![]() ![]() (Santa Cruz), parks.ca.govįebruary: Point Reyes National Recreation Area, Alamere Falls (14.8 miles, out and back) For a little more exercise, follow the trail back the way you came. If you return to the parking lot straight from the beach, you’ll have covered about 1.5 miles. You’ll see the park's iconic natural rock bridge to your left but, if you time your visit for low tide, go right instead to check out the marine protected area’s impressive tide pools. Continue along the Monarch Trail to the Moore Creek Trail, passing through wetlands and down to the beach. Park at the Natural Bridges State Beach visitor center then enter the preserve through the Monarch Boardwalk. An unexpected rebound in their populations over the last two years will have the trees on this gentle trail blossoming with their vivid orange wings through February. January is peak butterfly season at Santa Cruz’s Monarch Butterfly Natural Preserve, where the flutterbys overwinter among the eucalyptus. ![]() (Courtesy of the rest of the world goes full weekend warrior in pursuit of their New Year’s resolutions this month, we’re easing into 2023 a little more gently. January: Monarch Butterfly Natural Preserve to Natural Bridge State Beach (1.5-mile loop or 3 miles out and back)
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