#1 badlands bathed in pale pink and orange light from the setting sun

Death Valley National Park

CA, NV · 1.4M visitors/yr

Moderate Crowds

Death Valley's salt flats, singing dunes, and moving rocks reward October-to-April visitors with cooler temps and wildflower blooms.

#2 The sky turns hues of pink and purple over a field of Joshua trees.

Joshua Tree National Park

CA · 3.0M visitors/yr

Moderate Crowds

Two desert ecosystems meet where the Mojave's yuccas give way to the Colorado's slopes and granite formations split by ancient forces.

#3 View from forest floor looking straight up. Ferns as seen close up and redwood trunks meet.

Redwood National and State Parks

CA · 623K visitors/yr

Comfortable

The world's tallest trees stand in groves you can walk through on level trails, three hours north of San Francisco with a third the crowds.

#4 A deep canyon with a forested floor and steep granite cliffs

Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks

CA · 2.0M visitors/yr

Comfortable

The giant sequoias here include General Sherman, the largest tree on Earth by volume, anchoring a forest where trunks exceed 30 feet wide.

#5 Two tall waterfalls flowing down snow covered granite walls.

Yosemite National Park

CA · 4.1M visitors/yr

Comfortable

Granite cliffs rise 3,000 feet, seasonal waterfalls drop half a mile, and giant sequoias reach into the Sierra sky in this iconic valley.

#6 A frozen lake below snow-covered trees and peak

Lassen Volcanic National Park

CA · 358K visitors/yr

Comfortable

Lassen Peak's 1914-1917 eruptions left a volcanic laboratory where boiling mudpots and sulfurous vents still reshape the ground.

#7 Boulders in the Balconies Cave.

Pinnacles National Park

CA · 354K visitors/yr

Moderate Crowds

Volcanic spires rise above talus caves where you can crawl through darkness on designated routes. Half of Yosemite's crowds.

#8 Steep, rugged ocean cliffs extending in an island chain.

Channel Islands National Park

CA · 263K visitors/yr

Comfortable

California's Galápagos lies 12 miles offshore with 145 endemic species. Sea lions, island foxes, and rare seabirds inhabit five islands.