28 Forests to Explore in California

This is a small urban forest with a year round creek. Filled with an abundance of rocks and sandstone boulders deposited there by an ancient landslide, and roofed by oak trees, the park affords a diversity of topography. The towering trees are lush and the park offers shaded picnic areas, short trails, and the area is strewn with large sandstone boulders.

A 9 mile round-trip hike along the Sespe Creek to a shaded riverside campground. The Trail starts at the end of a long, paved mountain road in clear sight of the impressive Piedra Blanca sandstone formation to the north. A National Recreation Trail splits north here and heads through the formation and into some deep canyons, but our trail followed the lowered but still flowing Sespe Creek into a nearly-shadeless chaparral brushland.

Sierra National Forest is a U.S. National Forest located on the western slope of central Sierra Nevada in Central California and bounded on the northwest by Yosemite National Park and the south by Kings Canyon National Park. The forest is known for its mountain scenery and beautiful lakes. Forest headquarters are located in Clovis, California. There are local ranger district offices in North Fork and Prather.

The Stanislaus National Forest is a U.S. National Forest managing 898,099 acres of land in four counties. Located between Lake Tahoe and Yosemite, the Forest landscape is a continuum of natural and scenic beauty that defines the Sierra. Amid soaring crests, sparkling mountain lakes, towering forests, and canyons carved by cool rushing rivers, visitors discover connections with nature and the spirit of the Sierra Nevada.

Stanislaus National Forest is a U.S. National Forest which manages 898,099 acres of land in four counties in the Sierra Nevada in Northern California. Stanislaus National Forest contains 1,4303.3 square miles of land within the Sierra Nevada Range. Most of the forest is within Tuolumne County, though it extends into parts of Alpine, Calaveras, Mono, and Mariposa counties. Two ski resorts, Dodge Ridge and Bear Valley, operate here under a special use permit.

This park is owned by the San Joaquin River Conservancy and managed by the City of Fresno. Amenities include restrooms, parking and river access for boating and fishing. Located along the San Joaquin River, east of Highway 41, the park is open Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, and state holidays from 7 a.m. to dusk.

Windy Hill is a popular and very enjoyable preserve that stretches from Portola Valley, at the base of the Santa Cruz Mountains, to Skyline Boulevard, at the crest. Access to the summit is easy from State Route 35, the ridge road along the Peninsula Range. Facilities focus on trails for hiking and mountain biking, with around 14 miles of hiking trails. The area is rich in wildlife.

A majestic national park surrounded on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. It is one of the largest and least fragmented habitat blocks in the Sierra Nevada, and the park supports a diversity of plants and animals.The park contains suitable habitat for more than 160 rare plants, with rare local geologic formations and unique soils characterizing the restricted ranges many of these plants occupy.