![Tyson Foods Plant [Photo: Food Manufacturing]](https://southarkansassun.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/iStock_1185520857__1_.5e441daa51cca-600x337.jpg)
![Silverado Senior Living Management Inc. [Photo: Los Angeles Times]](https://southarkansassun.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/download-6-4-600x337.jpg)
![China's Wuhan Institute of Virology [Photo: Nature]](https://southarkansassun.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/d41586-021-01529-3_19239608-600x337.jpg)
California’s Awesome State Parks
Yosemite’s great and all, but California’s hiding some serious natural treasures in its state parks. From a waterfall NASA studies for alien life to a redwood forest that predates the Roman Empire, these 12 parks prove you don’t need "National" in the name to be extraordinary.
Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park
The only waterfall on the Pacific Coast that drops directly into the ocean, McWay Falls pours 80 feet into a hidden cove that was created by a 1983 landslide. The park’s 300-foot redwoods shelter one of the southernmost sea otter habitats, and its kelp forests house 90+ fish species. Hit the Partington Cove Trail to find the remains of an old smuggler’s tunnel used during Prohibition.
Anza-Borrego Desert State Park
This 600,000-acre desert park contains 500 miles of dirt roads, 110 miles of hiking trails, and North America’s only native palm species. The badlands here have coughed up over 500 types of fossils, including mammoths and giant tortoises. At Font’s Point, you can see 4 million years of geological history exposed in the canyon walls. The park’s sky is so dark that you can spot the Andromeda Galaxy with the naked eye.
Mount Tamalpais State Park
The birthplace of mountain biking, Mount Tam’s 50+ miles of trails include the Dipsea, America’s oldest trail race (started 1905). The mountain creates its own weather system – the fog that blankets San Francisco actually forms here first. The park’s 2,571-foot peak offers views of 25% of California’s coastline on clear days.
Crystal Cove State Park
These 3.2 miles of coastline house 1,400 marine species in their tide pools, three endangered bird species, and 46 historic beach cottages from the 1930s. The park’s underwater park spans 1,140 acres, protecting two artificial reefs that shelter garibaldi, California’s striking orange state fish. The backcountry’s rare coastal sage scrub ecosystem is home to cactus wrens found nowhere else in Orange County.
Red Rock Canyon State Park
Hollywood’s favorite Mars stand-in has appeared in over 100 films since 1930. The park’s technicolor cliffs reveal 12.5 million years of geological history, including fossils of three-toed horses and saber-toothed cats. This was also a major trade route for Native Americans – you can still find centuries-old pictographs in Kawaiisu Indian caves.
Castle Crags State Park
These 225-million-year-old granite spires rise 6,500 feet, offering technical climbs that rival Yosemite. The crags are actually an ancient volcanic plug, exposed by millennia of erosion. The park’s 28 miles of trails include a chunk of the historic Pacific Crest Trail, and its pristine springs feed into the Sacramento River’s finest wild trout fishery.
Humboldt Redwoods State Park
Home to Rockefeller Forest, the world’s largest remaining contiguous old-growth redwood forest (10,000 acres). The Dyerville Giant, which fell in 1991, was taller than a 30-story building. The park’s Avenue of the Giants runs through 32 miles of redwood groves, where trees reach 370 feet – taller than the Statue of Liberty.
Point Lobos State Natural Reserve
Known as "the crown jewel" for good reason – this park hosts one of only two naturally occurring stands of Monterey cypress left on Earth. Its waters are part of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, the largest marine sanctuary in the continental U.S. Whaling Station Museum sits on the actual site of the last commercial whaling station in mainland North America, active until 1884.
Emerald Bay State Park
One of Lake Tahoe’s deepest parts (330 feet), the bay was carved by glaciers during the Ice Age. Fannette Island is Lake Tahoe’s only isle, topped with a 1929 stone teahouse. The park’s Vikingsholm Castle, built in 1929, is one of the finest examples of Scandinavian architecture in North America, constructed without nails using ancient Norse techniques.
Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park
The park’s Fremont Tree is hollow enough to stand in, yet still living after surviving an 1888 fire. These forests once housed California’s tallest known tree (378 feet). The rare Santa Cruz sandhills ecosystem here hosts plants and animals found nowhere else on Earth, including the Mount Hermon June Beetle.
Montana de Oro State Park
Named "Mountain of Gold" for its springtime wildflowers, the park’s 8,000 acres include a rare coastal strand that harbors endangered species like the Morro Bay kangaroo rat. Spooner’s Cove was a rum-runners’ favorite during Prohibition. The park’s volcanic peaks, called the Nine Sisters, were sacred to Chumash natives.
McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial State Park
The 129-foot falls pump 100 million gallons daily, even during drought, fed by underground springs. The mist creates a rare rainforest-like habitat 3,000 feet above sea level in an otherwise dry region. The falls were called "the eighth wonder of the world" by Teddy Roosevelt, and its waters are so pristine that they’re studied by NASA for understanding how life might survive on other planets.
The post 12 California State Parks That Can Rival Yosemite National Park appeared first on When In Your State.