#madera-county

#madera-county

Healdsburg's wine cred is matched only by its culinary one, with an influx of new energy from big names and cult favorites enhancing the local scene.

"This is truly one of the most iconic landscapes in America," said Chance Wilcox, California desert program manager for the National Parks Conservation Assn., as he stood atop a rocky slope within the project footprint.

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.

From Tuesday, March 31 through early Friday, April 3, most open Sierra resorts should pick up fresh snow, with snow levels falling from around 6,500 to 8,000 feet toward 3,500 to 5,000 feet.

They thought he would be too busy and too famous to consider building in Bakersfield. They were wrong. Wright responded to their inquiry and after much correspondence and a few meetings, agreed to the commission, one of his last. He designed the house in 1958 and died the next year at age 91.

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.

The new trees number in the thousands - at least 4,000 per acre or as many as 20,000, depending on who is counting. A few rise above head-height, the most energetic sentinels of regeneration. What will become of this nursery in the wild in the next hundred years, or thousand, is the crux of a scientific and policy dispute.

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.

SWE is the most important metric for all of our water resources. It's the metric that we deal with the most and the one that the entirety of the snow research and operations community is working to get right. So, seeing an increase in SWE like that, even if it's from mid-winter rain, is a great thing because that means we have more water stored in the snowpack moving forward.

Global travel booking website Skyscanner has named its top five destinations for solo travel this winter, and a Northern California favorite the Sonoma Coast made the list. The Sonoma Coast invites a different kind of stillness, the guide notes, praising the rugged shoreline as an antidote to crowded itineraries and overplanned escapes. The roundup also includes Guadalupe Mountains National Park in Texas, Tangier Island in Virginia, Olympic National Park in Washington and Red River Gorge in Kentucky.

Yosemite National Park is closed through Friday because of impacts from the winter storm, including heavy snowfall and heavy trees. The National Park Service announced Thursday that the park is closed and that visitors with lodging reservations may still enter the park through Highway 140 at the Arch Rock entrance. Since Monday, Yosemite Valley and the park has received about 4 feet of snow and up to 52 inches in some areas, according to the National Weather Service in Hanford.

Jesse Hall can't remember a time he wasn't inseparable from the sea. Born and raised in Sonoma County, Hall spent his youth surfing the Marin coast and sailing San Francisco Bay. By his early 20s, he was shaping surfboards in San Diego, where he rode the mellow waves of Pacific Beach. "Winemaking is similar to surfing in that you're living moment by moment," said Hall, founder of Seawolf Wines in Mendocino County's Yorkville Highlands.

Jesse Hall can't remember a time he wasn't inseparable from the sea. Born and raised in Sonoma County, Hall spent his youth surfing the Marin coast and sailing San Francisco Bay. By his early 20s, he was shaping surfboards in San Diego, where he rode the mellow waves of Pacific Beach. Winemaking is similar to surfing in that you're living moment by moment, said Hall, founder of Seawolf Wines in Mendocino County's Yorkville Highlands.

Only eight miles long by three miles wide, the small wine region established its AVA (American Viticultural Area) in 1982, just one year after Napa Valley. It's only one-tenth the size of its famous neighbor, yet the diversity in tasting rooms is impressive. You can travel from a blue Victorian house to gorgeous gardens, a vintage gas station-turned-tasting room, and even an award-winning modern architectural masterpiece all within minutes.

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.

"Wildflower growth depends on a delicate mix of weather factors, including rain and its timing, amount of sunlight, seasonal temperature patterns, and wind," State Parks wrote in its forecast. "Depending on the region and weather, the peak bloom season typically begins in mid-February onward." Currently, some colors have already been spotted in both the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, which is northeast of San Diego, and the Red Rock Canyon State Park, which sits north of Los Angeles.

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.

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 ranch is located in one of the most remote parts of California. It's a huge property, said Lucy Blake, president of the Northern Sierra Partnership. On the east side, there are large sagebrush flats that climb up into conifer forests and aspen groves. It has a lot of springs. It's very rich in wildlife. When we're out there, we've seen herds of pronghorn antelope and golden eagles. It's very vast and beautiful. A classic Western landscape.

I was told on my initial tour that the theme at the La Bahia Hotel is traveling the world, with different global influences brought in by the owner's travels. It's meant to feel like entering your worldly aunt's palatial home, comfortable and welcoming yet exotic and diverse. You get that sense even in the elevator, with the palm frond wallpaper feeling very White Lotuswhich is kind of the point here.

Before burning the meadow, Herrera urged everyone to think about those who would gather materials in the coming months. "It's going to be a place where our people can gather food, fibers and medicines," she said. "We want to make sure all of that stuff stays really clean." Basket weavers often hold materials in their mouths, and it's long been a challenge to find plants free of fuel or herbicides. Here, the tribe can tend its garden as it chooses.

After experiencing one of the wettest holiday seasons on record, still soggy California hit a major milestone this week - having zero areas of abnormal dryness for the first time in 25 years. This data, collected by the U.S. Drought Monitor, is a welcome nugget of news for Golden State residents, who in the last 15 years alone have lived through two of the worst droughts on record, the worst wildfire seasons on record and the most destructive wildfires ever.