All Stories from Southern CA

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  Ultimate Oasis

  Water is life in the desert, and nowhere does the desert come to life more dramatically than in Palm Canyon in the Agua Caliente Reservation's Indian Canyons. Here a walk on the 2.

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  Valley Rock 'n' Roll

  Imagine if there was a bike-friendly paved trail that circled Yosemite Valley’s floor, hitting all the highlights … including the tallest waterfall in North America. Well, in fact, there is! Rent your wheels and grab a map from the Yosemite Valley Lodge or Half Dome Village and forget about the buses.

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  Zippity Yeeha!

  When TripAdvisor rates you Mariposa’s #1 attraction, and your tagline is Get Your Zip On, there’s a lot to live up to. And Yosemite Ziplines and Adventure Ranch delivers! Created,

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  Oh So Power-Fall!

  Who doesn't love a good waterfall? Well, this classic hike in Yosemite gives you two bangs for your hiking buck. But get an early start, because this is one of the most popular trails in the park.

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  Wildflower Dreamscape

  Sprawling Tejon Ranch is on 270,000 acres north of Santa Clarita and south of Bakersfield, incorporating parts of the San Joaquin and Antelope Valleys, and the Tehachapi Mountains. It is private land, but the Tejon Ranch Conservancy holds guided wildflower viewings (limited in size), and other interesting events throughout the year.

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  Lupine Around Chino Hills

  All of the flowers without any of the mayhem! That’s the 3.4-mile, lightly trafficked Sidewinder/Upper Aliso Canyon Loop Trail in Chino Hills State Park.

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  Nuclear Option

  A private stretch of the glorious Central Coast with poppy-studded hills and wild coastal bluffs is ours for the hiking, and you’ll never guess who the willing-to-share landlord is

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  Lush Life

  Etiwanda Falls Trail in Rancho Cucamonga packs a lot of bang for your buck: waterfall, wildflowers, panoramic views of the Inland Empire, and lush green surroundings as you walk. N

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  Little Cool Pool

  "Chiquito” means “little one,” and while Chiquito Falls is no Niagara, the waterfall was actually named for a ranger’s horse, and the 15-foot cascade that tumbles into a secluded w

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  Anonymous Source

  Hidden in the Cleveland National Forest near Los Pinos Springs is a waterfall so unknown it doesn’t have a name yet and neither does the 2.6-mile (round-trip) out-and-back trail to

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  Eagle Eye Surprise

  Granite peaks, a view of Lake Tahoe, and a waterfall—get it all on a 2-mile (round-trip) winter hike to Tahoe’s Eagle Lake. In summer, this trail is busy, but in spring, you can ge

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  49 Palms and Counting

  The hike to 49 Palms Oasis in Joshua Tree has pleasures great and small. Big: a genuine palm oasis and expansive views. Small: the possibility of spotting a desert tortoise or a ch

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  Hi, View!

  Pop quiz: Closest Joshua Tree trail to the LA metro area? It’s Hi-View Nature Trail near Yucca Valley’s Black Rock entrance to the national park. Overlooked, but worth looking over

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  When Disney met the Petroglyph: It's Complicated

  An unlikely desert lake is generally the high point of a hike to Barker Dam, but there’s an even more unusual sight at the end of the loop trail that you might have missed even if

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  The Lost Pictographs of Perris, Found!

  Long before there was a Lake Perris there were the Luiseño people, known in their own language as the Payomkawichum (“people of the west”). They lived here for thousands of years,

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  10,000 Years in 1,000 Oaks

  A hike at the Chumash Indian Museum in Oakbrook Regional Park is truly a step back in time. You walk through a garden of native plants and into classic Calfiornia landscape—rolling

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  Waterfall, Wildflowers, and a Chumash Hike

  Under the shadow of majestic Boney Mountain, Satwiwa Native American Indian Cultural Center in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area is a fascinating place to explore

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  I Got You, Bird

  The Sonny Bono National Wildlife Refuge doesn’t get many human visitors, but more than 30,000 birds make it a point to visit this hidden gem every year. It consists of 2,200 acres

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  Salton Sea 101

  Your best intro to the Salton Sea is via a 2.5-mile walk along the north shore in Salton Sea State Recreation Area. It’s not exactly paradise, but the surrounding geography is impr

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  Muchas Palmas

  No California desert trip is complete without a visit to an oasis, and on a Salton Sea sojourn, that means a 1-mile (round-trip) out-and-back walk to palm tree heaven: Dos Palmas P

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