DESTINATIONS CALIFORNIA NATIONAL PARKS THE US LEFT:
Redwood national park
RIGHT: Lassen
Volcanic
BELOW: Channel Islands
Channel Islands manages an exemplary long-term ecological research programme with a marine sanctuary extending for six nautical miles around each of the five designated islands. The islands shelter the only breeding colony of northern fur seals south of Alaska. Visitors can access the islands only by boat (which depart regularly from Ventura and Oxnard) or small plane, then hiking or kayaking is the only way to get around. Ancapa, with its atmospheric 1930s lighthouse, is one of the most accessible (just 12 miles out to sea), while
Santa Rosa is justly celebrated for the Lobo Canyon hike, with native flora, eroded sandstone formations and embedded pygmy mammoth fossils. (Yes, a 5ft mammoth once roamed here.) Stay: There are no lodgings within the park, and most visitors stay an hour north in pretty Santa Barbara. The Wayfarer Inn is a retro-chic motel with rooms from £49.
pacificahotels.com
w LASSEN VOLCANIC Best for: Hot springs, sulphurous mudbaths and geothermal plains. Legendary Yellowstone
national park in Wyoming might be the big-hitter when it comes to volcanic landscapes and geothermal action such as geysers and mud springs, but California has its own mini version in the shape of Lassen, an hour east of the town of Redding. The park’s famous volcano, Lassen Peak, last blew its top in May 1914, and although things have settled down, the spluttering mud pots and steaming sulphur vents regularly remind you that the landscape is alive. The brilliantly named Bumpass Hell, accessed via boardwalks, is a vast
sulphurous, spluttering plain. But Lassen is no one-trick-pony: volcanic soil has produced colourful wildflower meadows and dense forest, and sparkling Lake Manzanita is as enticing as Bumpass Hell is thrilling. Stay: Dating back to 1900, Drakesbad Guest Ranch offers rustic and charming lodges from £120 a person on a full-board basis, with access to a private hot pool. For campers, Manzanita Lake campsite is the prettiest in the park.
drakesbad.com nps.gov
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travelweekly.co.uk 21 January 2016
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