Rise to the East

The next few weeks are some of the best of times to visit one of California’s best kept secrets. Ancient, rugged, and remote, Owens Valley and the adjacent Eastern Escarpment are the otherworldy flipside to the well-trodden Western Sierras … a visual passage of ancient volcanic and glacial occurrences, a place of cinematic history, a land where superlatives properly apply as you adventure among the oldest trees in the world and the highest peak in California. Go before the snow and snag some great camping, too!

Week: 09.22.2016
Regions: Southern CA

Alabama Backdrop

Hiking among rare formations at Alabama Hills in Owens Valley California

Despite being named for a Confederate warship, the CSS Alabama, there’s nothing Southern about the Alabama Hills. This range of rocky hills between the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada and the town of Lone Pine in the Owens Valley is Californian to the core, embodying a mythic
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Redding-Made Getaway

Early Fall Getaway to Redding

Vacations are like a pizza: Everyone loves it. But the question is, what kind of pizza? Pepperoni? Cheese only? Extra olives? Redding is the pizza pleaser of weekend getaways! It’s got so much outdoor variety in such close proximity, all you have to do is choose your adventures!
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Old and Gnarly

Hiking the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest of the White Mountains in California

Few places will magnify your sense of time and space quite like the rugged White Mountains. A part of Inyo National Forest, this remote, seldom-visited range along the upper Owens Valley features epic vistas of the Sierra Escarpment, ultra-dark night skies, exposed metamorphic ro
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Lone Oasis

Hiking a section of Mount Whitney Trail in California

Every summer, thousands travel to Whitney Portal in the Eastern Sierra to summit Mount Whitney, the highest peak in the contiguous United States. But thousands more are denied the required permit to enter the “Whitney Zone” due to the Forest Service’s strict quota system. The goo
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Trending Stories NorCal

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    A serene stroll alongside marshland, passing ponds and grasses frilled in seasonal wildflowers, with Mount Tam a beacon in the background … how nice. As part of the esteemed Bay Trail, San Rafael’s Las Gallinas Valley Birding Loop and Wildlife Ponds comprises about 3.5 miles of wide-open trail.

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  2. Paint Brushy

    This time of year you’ll have good reason to head for the hills—the electric-green rolling hills of Brushy Peak Regional Preserve in Livermore. This 4.5-mile loop hike is like stepping into a plein air painting.

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    2025 POST Wildflower Walks

    Get flower empowered! POST’s complimentary 2025 Wildflower Walks guide blooms with the best places to see a variety of florals across the Peninsula and South Bay this spring.

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    Take a trip through time on this 5-mile loop in Almaden Quicksilver County Park. Explore the ruins of an old cinnabar mine and enjoy the first hints of wildflower season.

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Trending Stories SoCal

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  1. Sponsored

    Weekend in Reno Tahoe

    Weekend plans? Reno Tahoe! Just a few hours by car or a short flight away, Reno Tahoe springs to the moment with great ways to combine adventure and relaxation in its beautiful mountains-meets-desert setting.

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  2. Hiker walking along the North Bluff Trail on Santa Cruz Island, Channel Islands National Park

    Purely Wild

    Channel Islands National Park lives up to its nickname as “North America’s Galapagos.” This less-traveled national park is an undeveloped and isolated series of five dramatic and distinct islands reached by boat. Hike the largest of the islands, Santa Cruz.

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  3. Woman hiking the South Kaibab Trail in the Grand Canyon

    Truly Grand Day Hike

    One of the best spring day hikes in the Grand Canyon? See layer upon layer of the park’s grandeur—including the river—on this 3-mile (one-way) journey to Skeleton Point via the South Kaibab Trail.

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  4. A woman stands amid an array of yellow and purple flowers at Descanso Gardens in Los Angeles

    Petal Paradise

    Tulips, lilacs, and daffodils—flower power is in full bloom at Descanso Gardens in La Cañada Flintridge. Sprawling across 150 acres surrounded by mountains, the gardens are putting on their best show right now.

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