Rincon Point, California

I was looking for a last minute adventure out of LA and found this epic view.  Easy backpacking trip for one night, no permits needed, less than 3.5 hours from LA, and secluded.  Go to REI and pick up your adventure pass for your car. Plug into your GPS "Davy Brown Campground" in Los Olivos / Los...

Reservoir Trail to East Meadow Trail Loop is a loop trail where you may see wildflowers located near Malibu, California

Ocean Overlook Loop Trail is a loop trail where you may see beautiful wildflowers located near Malibu, California.

Channel Islands National Park is California's least visited National Park. If you visit, you will see many unique plants and animals, including a rare native fox species, and Torrey Pines, only found here and in a small grove near San Diego. This adventure is not for the inexperienced. There is ...

You can get a wonderfully detailed description of what to expect from the Channel Islands/Santa Rosa Island and how to get there from fellow Explorer Michael Wigle's "Beach Camp on Santa Rosa Island" adventure (which I highly recommend you check out for the information and the photography, so I'm...

Unfortunately, the falls have been inaccessible for a while due to dangerous conditions from a mudslide. Contact the County of Santa Barbara Parks Division for more information. The falls are a great daytime getaway. Granted it's a quick, short hike, so you won't get the same workout or sweat go...

From the trailhead, simply follow the trail headed up the mountain. The first 2 miles is the hardest part of the hike, because of the steep ascent.  Continue on until you hit a junction. Turn left, and you will eventually see an old rusty gate, and a sign which says "China Flat Trail". You will ...

The National Park Service describes this hike in the following:  "Strenuous.  A spectacular canyon with wind- and water-sculpted sandstone cliffs, a year-round stream, riparian vegetation, and a spectacular coast at its mouth.  Well worth the effort." I couldn't agree more with the last sentence...

The vast diversity of terrain of Santa Rosa Island in the Channel Islands National Park is matched in uniqueness only by its own flora and fauna, in particular the endangered and endemic Torrey Pine. The best way to view and experience these strange, broad trees is via the Torrey Pines Trail, whi...

Words fail in describing the beauty of the Channel Islands National Park and Santa Rosa Island, the second largest of the Channel Islands and perhaps the most diverse in terms of terrain, flora and fauna, and also the only to allow backcountry beach camping. While the opportunities for exploratio...

One could a lifetime exploring, and attempting to describe, the beauty of the Channel Islands National Park and Santa Rosa Island in particular: its wildly diverse terrain, endemic flora and fauna, and also the only of the Islands to allow backcountry beach camping. While the opportunities for di...

Three waterfalls in one short hike?!...I'll take it! That's what you'll get if you make the visit to these falls in the Santa Monica mountains in Malibu. The trailhead starts on Kanan Dume road, which is also where the Backbone trail meets. Park in the designated (free) parking area and take the ...

Fair warning, it can get very hot in Malibu, especially in the summer or fall. We started at the Kanan Dume Road lot. It fills up quick, both directions offer beautiful hiking, but most people tend to go west, it seems. While that's beautiful, you end on a decent uphill, so if hiking is new or c...

About 30 miles north of Santa Barbara on the 101 is a small state beach in the 90 person town of Gaviota. Most people pass right on through to San Luis Obispo or don't even make it past Goleta, but this gem is worth checking out either for a day trip or to camp for the weekend.Since it is a state...

Caves and epic views...need I say more?! That's what you'll encounter on this short 2.5 mile out and back hike to the Gaviota Wind Caves in the San Ynez Mountains, West of Santa Barbara. The Gaviota Wind Caves are a sandstone formation located 1 mile from the Pacific Ocean. One good thing about t...

Starting in a dusty, generally empty parking lot, at about 2,000' ASL, you'll go immediately due north, up a few more feet before you drop down into another canyon covered in live oaks (and poison oak), thistles, ferns, and wildflowers. There's only one trail. It's windy, it's not hilly, it just ...