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50 Hikes with Kids California
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By Wendy Gorton
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Spark a Love of Nature!
California kids live in a magnificent natural playground, and 50 Hikes with Kids California helps them explore its beaches, deserts, mountains, and forests. Scavenger hunts for every hike make it fun for families to learn about the region’s geology, flora, and fauna. For successful adventures with even the youngest trekkers, award-winning author Wendy Gorton includes a detailed map, trustworthy and intuitive directions, a difficulty rating, restroom info, and places to grab a snack nearby for every trip.
Excerpt
On the Trail of 100 Giants in Sequoia National Forest
PREFACE
This is my love letter to California. I grew up in this mind-blowing state, hiking and camping with my family, cutting my teeth on it as I learned to rock climb its mountains, surf its waters, and roll on its hills on a mountain bike. Today, I act as a guide for the many adventurers and stewards of the future. I wouldn’t be the hiker I am today if it weren’t for the diverse landscapes of California and the family members who shared them with me—I hope I do them justice in the pages that follow and that your kids see this inspiration, too.
In 2007, I was dissatisfied with the small amount of science my fourth-grade students were exposed to and that little of it connected to the real world. I signed up to be a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) Teacher at Sea. For seven days, I lived aboard the research vessel Shearwater. We embarked from the harbor of Santa Barbara to find and count the Xantus’s murrelet, an endangered seabird. I used video to record our Zodiac (small, raft-like vessel) boat rides into remote caves, inviting viewers to help me count. I used the numbers and spreadsheets for students to compute real-world calculations and actually feel part of the adventure and scientific process. This is what University of Minnesota’s Dr. Aaron Doering calls “adventure learning.” It’s a philosophy I use with the students and teachers I work with today.
Then as now, I studied each day’s adventure with the eyes of a child—finding the nooks that delighted me, asking myself big questions, documenting things that interested me but I couldn’t identify on the spot, and pondering how to find out more about them. Twelve years later, I am thrilled to be writing this book for the kids of California, creating mini-adventures in my home state that will help them become their own intrepid adventurers. However, in much of the state, the 2018 spring and summer were plagued by wildfire—a reminder from Mother Nature that even though my goal is to share the beautiful California wilderness with parents, caregivers, and kids, she isn’t going to make it easy. That’s totally fine, because that’s the spirit of this book—not only enjoying getting out and getting dirty but learning to be okay with all kinds of weather, things not working out according to your original plan, and pivoting instead of giving up. I hope to impart this life lesson and spark this adventurous spirit in all kids, creating a generation of resilient, curious minds. As an educator, my mission is to make sure every child gets a chance to fall in love with something that resonates enough to make it his or her life’s work.
Trail signs point the way to adventure
The driving question behind this book is how we can design experiences that inspire wonder in our children. If we can provide a fun environment and the initial sparks of curiosity, we can—as educators, caregivers, aunties and uncles, grandparents, and parents—help children discover and explore the world around them and learn to appreciate natural beauty even from the youngest of ages. This guide is full of tools to help ignite questions on the trail, to teach kids that it’s great to stop and look at things instead of just rushing from point A to point B, and to begin to introduce a broader understanding of just how many unique places we live near in the Golden State and how they all connect. By simply venturing out and interacting with kids along the trail, we are helping them build the skills they need to question things they see around them—everywhere—and to look for answers.
Many of these adventures provide a taste of treks kids may embark on as college students or adults—imagine them summiting Mt. Whitney or backpacking the John Muir Trail in a few years. In the meantime, this guide will provide kids of all ages a curated selection of some of the most varied and interesting destinations in California, while reassuring busy adults about what exactly to expect from any given trail, the features they’ll see when they arrive, and the logistics that can make or break an outdoor excursion with kids. I hope you feel the love steeped in these pages—the love for outdoors, the love for adventure, the love for planning and preparation, and the love for family and community. My family members were my co-adventurers on every hike, tackling bathroom mishaps, downed trees, and often squeezing in up to four hikes a day to test and find just the right ones for this guide—no easy task. The number of “kid-friendly” hikes in California is staggering, but I developed a firm Kid Filter, which mandated awesome features, simple driving and turnkey instructions on the trail so you’re not second-guessing yourselves, honest-to-goodness dirt on the bottom of your shoes (not pavement), and no interpretive signs, giving you a more adventurous and hike-like experience rather than a sterile stroll.
Many of us have seen copious amounts of research about the benefits of getting kids outdoors and interacting with nature in an open-ended way. As you romp with your own crew through the outdoors, keep in mind that while the scavenger hunt items called out on each hike might help you to add excitement or provide teachable moments, finding them all should not be the main goal of your outing. I wrote this guide to help you get outside, spend time with your family, and have fun. Kids lead more structured lives today than ever before in history. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised when you see how much they enjoy simply being set loose in wide-open spaces. I hope this guide will help you foster curiosity and a love of nature in the kids in your lives, and that it helps to raise our next generation of naturalists by putting the guidebook in their hands. Experiencing the wonders around us creates lifelong habits of seeking out adventure, appreciating the gifts nature gives us every day, and caring about keeping our natural resources clean, beautiful, and accessible for many future generations. All the scaffolds you’ll need to build even more of your own adventures are here.
Adventurers take it easy at a summit
CHOOSING
YOUR
ADVENTURE
This guide is designed to help children become co-adventurers with you across the diverse Golden State landscape, so build excitement by involving them in the planning process from the beginning. Let them flip through and mark the pages they’d like to tackle in the future. Ask them what features they love to encounter when they’re outside. How hard do they feel like working today for their adventure? How long do they want to hike? Each entry includes info on the closest town as well as the closest adventure hub (what I call the larger Californian metropolises). For maximum success with younger kids, no hike is over 5 miles long or gains more than 900 feet—perfectly attainable for most little legs. This means there can be plenty of time for exploration, rest stops, snacks, and just taking in the sights and sounds around you. Remember—challenging means it’s going to be a little bit of extra work for young adventurers, but it’s not an adult level of challenging.
ADVENTURES IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
ADVENTURE | HUB | LENGTH (MILES) |
DIFFICULTY & ELEVATION (FEET) | HIGHLIGHTS |
1 Torrey Pines Beach Trail | San Diego | 2.6 | Moderate 342’ |
Cool trees, layered cliffs, pebbly beach |
2 Stonewall Peak | San Diego | 3.8 | Challenging 811’ |
Summit, views, wildflowers |
3 Annie’s Canyon | San Diego | 1.6 | Moderate 203’ |
Narrow canyons, ladders, birds |
4 Red Rock Canyon | Irvine | 4.3 | Challenging 504’ |
Red rock, blue sky, desert cactus |
5 Grotto at Circle X Ranch | Los Angeles | 2.7 | Moderate 402’ |
Awesome rock grotto, river, fauna |
6 Switzer Falls | Los Angeles | 4.3 | Challenging 515’ |
Big gaping canyons, river, pool, falls |
7 Big Horn Mine | Riverside | 4.1 | Challenging 523’ |
Old mine and mine adit (entrance), cave, big gorge views |
8 Heart Rock | Riverside | 1.4 | Easy 220’ |
Waterfall, cool rock shape, forest |
9 Castle Rock | Riverside | 2.3 | Challenging 555’ |
Summit, twisty stumps, views |
ADVENTURES IN THE DESERT
ADVENTURE | HUB | LENGTH (MILES) |
DIFFICULTY & ELEVATION (FEET) | HIGHLIGHTS |
10 Moonlight Canyon | San Diego | 1.8 | Moderate 353’ |
Roadrunners and bighorn sheep, spring wildflowers, colorful canyons |
11 Ghost Mountain | San Diego | 1.4 | Challenging 453’ |
Historical homestead, summit, views |
12 The Slot | San Diego | 1.4 | Easy 203’ |
Amazing geology, narrow canyons |
13 Ladder Canyon | Palm Springs | 3.8 | Challenging 517’ |
Ladders through colorful canyons, views |
14 Lower Palm Canyon | Palm Springs | 2.9 | Challenging 326’ |
Oasis, views, cool flora and fauna |
15 Lost Horse Mine | Palm Springs | 4 | Challenging 488’ |
History, former mine, fauna |
16 Kelso Dunes | Baker | 2.6 | Moderate 263’ |
“Singing” sand dunes, views, lizards |
17 Rings Loop | Baker | 1.5 | Easy 138’ |
Geology, fun rings to climb up, spring wildflowers |
18 Owl Canyon Tunnel | Baker | 1.5 | Easy 190’ |
Cave and tunnel, colorful canyon, lizards |
19 Natural Bridge at Death Valley | Baker/Las Vegas | 1.2 | Moderate 432’ |
Geology, massive red-rock bridge |
ADVENTURES IN CENTRAL CALIFORNIA AND THE SIERRAS
ADVENTURE | HUB | LENGTH (MILES) |
DIFFICULTY & ELEVATION (FEET) | HIGHLIGHTS |
20 Tokopah Falls | Visalia | 4.3 | Challenging 610’ |
River, tall falls, awesome rocks, marmots |
21 San Joaquin River Footbridge | Clovis | 2.1 | Moderate 391’ |
River, oaks, cool footbridge |
22 Sentinel Dome | Fresno | 2.4 | Challenging 420’ |
360 views, granite, the pride of summiting |
23 May Lake | Mammoth Lakes | 2.5 | Challenging 486’ |
Epic views, alpine lake, cool trees |
24 Convict Lake | Mammoth Lakes | 3 | Easy 62’ |
Big lake, super granite, history |
25 Rubicon Lighthouse | Sacramento | 1.3 | Moderate 224’ |
Emerald-green waters, historic lighthouse |
ADVENTURES ON THE CENTRAL COAST
ADVENTURE | HUB | LENGTH (MILES) |
DIFFICULTY & ELEVATION (FEET) | HIGHLIGHTS |
26 Piedra Blanca | Ventura | 2.5 | Moderate 181’ |
Geological wonders, swimming, creek |
27 Carpinteria Bluffs | Santa Barbara | 1.2 | Easy 74’ |
Seals, beach, bluffs |
28 Knapp’s Castle | Santa Barbara | 1 | Easy 115’ |
Historical ruins, views |
29 Gaviota Wind Caves | Santa Barbara | 2.9 | Challenging 618’ |
Windswept caves, views |
30 Montaña de Oro Bluffs | San Luis Obispo | 1.2 | Easy 91’ |
Wildflowers, beach, tidepools |
31 Limekiln Falls | Monterey | 1.9 | Easy 213’ |
Creek, bridges, waterfalls, historic furnaces |
32 Partington Tunnel | Monterey | 1 | Moderate 340’ |
Historic tunnel, beautiful cove and beach |
33 Andrew Molera Beach | Monterey | 2.3 | Easy 34’ |
Peaceful beach and meadows |
ADVENTURES IN GOLD COUNTRY
ADVENTURE | HUB | LENGTH (MILES) |
DIFFICULTY & ELEVATION (FEET) | HIGHLIGHTS |
34 Natural Bridges Cave | Stockton | 1.7 | Easy 297’ |
Geology, awesome cave, river |
35 Avery’s Pond | Sacramento | 2.6 | Easy 159’ |
Pond and lake fun |
36 Flume 28 at Independence West | Sacramento | 2.6 | Easy 98’ |
History, cool wooden water flumes |
ADVENTURES IN THE BAY AREA
ADVENTURE | HUB | LENGTH (MILES) |
DIFFICULTY & ELEVATION (FEET) | HIGHLIGHTS |
37 Uvas Canyon Falls | San Jose | 3.2 | Moderate 645’ |
Beautiful waterfall, canyon, creek |
38 Fern Grotto at Wilder Ranch | Santa Cruz | 2.9 | Easy 58’ |
Bluffs, birds, coastline, caves, ferns |
39 Wilbur’s Watch | Santa Cruz | 2 | Easy 272’ |
Coast, views and telescope, cool benches |
40 Owl Trail | San Francisco | 3 | Moderate 480’ |
Tidepools, bluff, owls, flora |
41 Lake Del Valle | Oakland | 2.5 | Easy 70’ |
Tarantulas, lake, swimming |
42 Abbotts Lagoon | San Francisco | 3 | Easy 62’ |
Birdwatching, lagoon, wildflowers, beach |
ADVENTURES IN THE SHASTA CASCADES
ADVENTURE | HUB | LENGTH (MILES) |
DIFFICULTY & ELEVATION (FEET) | HIGHLIGHTS |
43 Manzanita Lake | Redding | 1.8 | Easy 47’ |
Lake, volcanic views |
44 McCloud Falls | Redding | 4.5 | Challenging 316’ |
Three waterfalls! |
45 Heppe Cave | Redding | 1.1 | Easy 75’ |
Cave, chimney, fauna |
ADVENTURES ON THE NORTH COAST
ADVENTURE | HUB | LENGTH (MILES) |
DIFFICULTY & ELEVATION (FEET) | HIGHLIGHTS |
46 Yurok Loop | Crescent City | 2.2 | Easy 111’ |
Coastal views, secret beach, floral displays |
47 Fern Canyon | Eureka | 1.5 | Easy 288’ |
Sweet canyon with beautiful ferns |
48 Tall Trees | Eureka | 4.3 | Challenging 768’ |
Ginormous trees, slugs |
49 Trillium Falls | Eureka | 3.3 | Moderate 435’ |
Waterfall, huge chimney tree, elk |
50 Drury Chaney Loop | Eureka | 2.7 | Easy 42’ |
Bridges, tall trees, redwood sorrel carpet |
Brothers talk and trek along the beach
ADVENTURES BY FEATURE
Genre:
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“The perfect gift for the nature-enthusiast parent.” —San Francisco Chronicle
“The weather in California is almost always great and we love to explore the mountains and beaches as a family. This book is a great resource for families living here. There is so much to explore and this book is a great starting point.”—National Parenting Product Awards
- On Sale
- Oct 29, 2019
- Page Count
- 284 pages
- Publisher
- Timber Press
- ISBN-13
- 9781604698701
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