All Stories from Southern CA

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  Worsham Wow Factor

  Extreme makeovers aren’t just for homes or celebrities. Garbage dumps are finally getting their time to shine too! Hikers may find it surprising that much of the available natural

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  Sweet Valley High

  Sometimes you just need a fresh perspective. And getting up high to see things from a different view does the trick! At 3.6-miles (round-trip) the zigzagging Garstin Trail at the S

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  Coachella Kinda Day

  The Coachella Valley Preserve protects some 20,000 acres of wild desert, where the San Andreas Fault has worked as chief landscape architect. Seismic action forced freshwater sprin

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  Don’t Hurry Murray

  Don’t let the desert stereotype fool you: Palm Springs has a wet-and-wild side beyond hotel swimming pools. A 3.8-mile (round-trip) hike in Murray Canyon showcases Palm Springs as

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  Make it a Margarita Day

  Fallbrook is the self-proclaimed avocado capital of the world, with an annual April festival celebrating the fruit. But that’s not its only unique distinction. It’s also home to th

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  Monster Hike to Monserate Peak

  Before indulging in Fallbrook’s avocado specialties and local wines, head out for a challenging (okay, thigh-burning!) hike on terrain that towers over the landscape. Fallbrook Con

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  Land of Los Jilgueros

  It’s not often you find a 46-acre freshwater marshland gem hidden between a busy highway and a suburban neighborhood. Thank the Fallbrook Conservancy for Los Jilgueros Preserve and

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  Taco Peak Tea Time

  In 2015 a group of artists used reclaimed wood from a former Griffith Park wildfire to build a beautiful teahouse within steps of the park’s seldom-visited Taco Peak. The teahouse is gone but a bench remains, and the views from it are simply outstanding.

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  Basking in Berlin

  The star attraction in Griffith Park is the iconic Observatory, a hotspot for tourists and locals alike—which means it sees lots of people. So how do you escape the crowds? Head to

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  Amir's Art

  At 4,210 acres, Griffith Park is one of the largest urban parks in North America, home to a huge variety of trails, recreation, and hidden gems. Among the most inspiring of its bet

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  Mission Possible

  The Old Mission is a popular visitor spot in Santa Barbara, but many visitors are unaware of what lies beyond this stately historic landmark, on the east side. The 10-acre Mission

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  Knapp Time

  For a little taste of Pompeii in Southern California, head for Knapp’s Castle in the Los Padres National Forest above Santa Barbara. It’s a delightful oddity with stunning panorami

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  Jetty for La Jenelle

  The La Jenelle was a 467-foot luxury cruise liner before retiring to Port Hueneme Harbor with plans to become a floating restaurant. Then a severe storm ripped her from her mooring

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  Sand to Snow

  The Sand to Snow National Monument’s centerpiece is the 11,500-foot peak of Mount San Gorgonio (the highest in all of SoCal), but a hidden gem exists in the area’s 2,850-acre Whitewater Preserve.

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  Mojave Momentum

  The largest of Obama’s monument designations clocks in at a modest 1.6 million acres! Mojave Trails National Monument is home to a variety of desert destinations, including colorful canyons, striking mountain ranges, sand dunes, and even fossil beds containing 550-million-year-old trilobite remnants!

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  Storm the Castle

  Before President Obama channeled Teddy Roosevelt, the Mojave National Preserve was missing a key piece bordering Nevada in the northeast section of the park. This now conserved 21,000-acre parcel is protected and designated as the Castle Mountains National Monument after its namesake range.

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  Suiho-en

  Never has an area downwind from a water treatment facility been so worth a visit for its utopian beauty. The Japanese Garden hidden within the Sepulveda Basin Recreation Area is ca

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  Best Dam Ever

  The backdrop for many films, it was at the Sepulveda Dam just south of Burbank Boulevard that an eye-patched Kurt Russell played Snake Plissken in the 1981 cult classic Escape from

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  Bike the Basin

  Oil up your metal steed and hit the bikeways at the 2,000-acre Sepulveda Basin Recreation Area in Encino. Pedal a 9-mile loop around the area's perimeter, or venture deep within on

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  Grand View Summit

  The moderately strenuous 6-mile Pine Knot hike in Big Bear is wildly popular in summer. But in winter, this trail is a kingdom of blissful isolation, and just as beautiful! Rent some snowshoes and poles and traverse the snow to explore.

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