Shoreline Lake, in Mountain View, is holding its third annual Sail-A-Dinghy-Day on Sunday, April 12th, from 10am to 4pm. Visitors to "Silicon Valley's best kept secret" will get access to free skippered sailboat rides, helmed by the Boathouse's experienced instructors, as well as other Welcome-to-Sailing activities.
Get up early to drive into the hills and park in the main lot, which opens 30 minutes before sunrise. This will leave you with enough time to make your way to the peak through the wildflower-scattered trails and watch the sunrise over the Bay.
For 2025, there was good news and bad news: overall, these areas were visited 323 million times over the course of the year. That's the good news; the bad news is that this figure was down ever so slightly - specifically, 2.7% - from a record-setting 2024.
Located squarely in the U.S. Midwest, it may be obvious that Duluth, Minnesota, doesn't have mountains, but what it does have is quality trails easily accessible from a larger urban area. Located on the far southwestern tip of Lake Superior and on the border of Minnesota and Wisconsin, what Duluth lacks in alpine terrain, it more than makes up for with accessibility, character, and community.
Relics of L.A.'s agricultural past, when the city was more renowned as a producer of lima beans than of movie stars, these outposts provide direct links to the days when the region was knit together by a network of dusty bridle paths that have long since been paved to make way for our latest beast of burden, the car.
Named after the legendary Big Sur female pioneer and rancher, Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park stands out even among the rest of the region's attractions. The park features stands of centuries-old redwood trees and provides a haven for a variety of California wildlife, though it's best known for the 80-foot-high McWay Falls, an impressive cascade that drops directly from a sheer cliff to the sandy beach below.
BIG BEAR LAKE: Tucked just outside the national forest, this 1940s cabin features dramatic beamed ceilings over a two-story living room. Listed for: $265,000 for two bedrooms, one bathroom in 789 square feet with built-in seating, floor-to-ceiling stone fireplace, galley-style kitchen, and rear deck on a 5,400-square-foot lot.
Ganesha Hills is a neighborhood of some 500 homes described by one resident as 'the San Gabriel Valley's best-kept secret.' Named for the elephant-headed Hindu god of good fortune, Ganesha Hills is situated in the rolling hills north of the San Bernardino Freeway (10), just east of the Orange (57) Freeway. The community of single-family homes in a variety of architectural styles set amid chaparral and oaks is in the northwestern section of Pomona bordering La Verne and San Dimas.
After a mine cave-in revealed a rich vein of ore Bodie, California became a thriving town during the years of the California gold rush. It quickly exploded in size and at its pinnacle was home to around had around 2,000 structures and a population of 8,000 people. It went bust in 1881 and what buildings remain standing represents about 10% of its original structures.
Following a three-day resort closure due to treacherous snow and road conditions, operations resumed, and what waited on the other side was nothing short of historic. A sincere thank you to the teams who kept everyone safe during the storm cycle.
City staff estimate it would cost approximately $1.2 billion to meet its goal of adding 87 more acres of parkland. That figure is based on Mountain View's current population, and does not account for future growth. "Significant funding would be needed to develop new parks or to update our parks," Assistant Community Services Director Kristine Crosby said at the Jan. 27 council meeting.
The statement, released Saturday, February 21, followed a press conference by the Nevada County Sheriff's Office confirming that recovery efforts had concluded earlier that morning. "We continue to grieve the devastating loss of life from the February 17 avalanche near Castle Peak," the statement by Blackbird Mountain Guides read. "Following the release of the names by Nevada County, we hold each individual and their loved ones in our hearts."
The fire then was fueled by brush - desiccated by both long-term drought and days of 90-degree heat during the peak of California's fire season. Powerful winds cast embers wide, setting shake roofs alight throughout hilly, narrow neighborhood streets. Communication between departments - including those that rushed into the area to offer mutual aid - was disorganized, with at least one unit waiting 24 hours for orders, while others freelanced, doing what they thought was best.
The Altadena sheriff's station hosted the inaugural Altadena Forever Run, a benefit event featuring 10K and 5K runs and a 1K family walk that brought nearly 2,000 runners through the Eaton fire burn scar. The race featured survivor stories at mile markers, fire survivors running alongside neighbors, first responders and "community cheering stations." Proceeds were to benefit the Altadena Eaton Fire Relief Fund.
Most years, when storms roll through Southern California during the winter holiday, local mountains transform into a wonderland blanketed in snow. But instead, the recent storms featured relentless rains, bringing a downpour of destruction and disappointment. A woman sits near the North Shore Lookout Point next to Big Bear Lake as Snow Summit is seen in the distance in Big Bear on Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026.
This quaint little town, surrounded by green pastures and granite cliffs, is the northern gateway to the High Sierra. Bridgeport always evokes nostalgia and is one of my favorite views of the Eastern Sierra. In my younger years, it was all about the resorts, and Bridgeport was a place to stretch the legs on the way to Mammoth Mountain. Now, I look more to the backcountry trailheads, and Bridgeport has become an alluring area along the 395 corridor.
Situated on the southern border of Orange County and easily accessible to travelers by Amtrak train or car, San Clemente has all the charm of a close-knit community and all the liveliness of a surfer's paradise. Plus, it's one of the most beautiful towns in the area, with the rolling San Joaquin Hills on one side and the Pacific Ocean on the other.
The body of a hiker who went missing last week in Placer County was found Monday in the North Fork of the American River, authorities said. The search for the hiker identified in media reports as 40-year-old Eryn VanAcker started shortly before 6 p.m. Friday, according to the Placer County Sheriff's Office. VanAcker was last seen around 2:30 p.m. that day walking her dog on Codfish Falls Trail outside of Colfax, authorities said.
The water bubbles up hot from the earth and sunlight filters down through the branches of mighty oaks. But before you can soak in Santa Barbara County's highly popular Montecito Hot Springs, you'll need to hike a little over a mile uphill, threading your way among boulders, oaks and a meandering creek. And before the hike, there are two other crucial steps: getting to the trailhead and knowing what to expect.
Outdoor home security cameras caught the mountain lions, a mama and her offspring, wandering around a home nestled in a hilly, forested subdivision of Monte Rio on video on Jan. 21. Residents Rick and Nancy Lopes, who shared the videos with The Press Democrat, said they were awoken just before 3 a.m. by their phones alerting them that movement had been detected on the outdoor camera. Nancy Lopes said the animals were first spotted on their cameras walking by the home's front entrance under the deck before they jumped the fence and took a lap through their backyard.
Author Jules Verne briefly mentioned the tiny railroad town tucked into the Sierra Nevada foothills in his classic "Around the World in 80 Days." The plot takes protagonists Phileas Fogg, a wealthy and bored Londoner, and his French sidekick, Passepartout, on a whirlwind global journey at the height of the Industrial Age. "The train, on leaving Sacramento, and passing the junction, Roclin, Auburn, and Colfax, entered the range of the Sierra Nevada," Verne wrote in 1872 of the Transcontinental Railroad leg of the journey.
The Guest Cabin at Wondernut Farm, Big Oak Flat Wondernut Farm's quaint one-room cabin (Courtesy of Nic Castellanos via Hipcamp) Overlooking the property owners' 115-year-old barn and garden, the guest cabin at Wondernut Farm is, perhaps, the perfect minimalist retreat for those seeking a bit of respite from our electronic devices. Glampers who choose to spend an evening or more underneath the tin steel roofed cabin can expect a cacophony of chorused musings to help wake them up everyday.
Though trails have reopened, hazardous winter conditions still persist and hikers should come prepared to meet snow-covered trails, icy sections, limited visibility, and the possibility of sudden storms, said the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department in a news release. That means evaluating weather conditions, carrying appropriate gear, and understanding personal limits.
I felt like a hawk catching a gentle breeze as I flew about 400 feet over the oak woodlands and ranchland below me. I was harnessed into the first of three zip lines available at Highline Adventures near Buellton, an expansive adventure park where Californians of every age can find something fun to do - including zooming down the fastest zip line in the state.
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