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Northern California Road Trip
This road trip includes parks: Point Reyes National Seashore, Redwood National and State Parks, Lassen Volcanic National Park, Lava Beds National Monument and more!
Northern California Road Trip starts in San Francisco, California. We start our road trip in the beautiful city of San Francisco, California. If you have never visited this city, we recommend taking some time to explore before you head off on your journey. Some of the many famous points to visit in San Francisco would be the Fisherman's Wharf, Ghirardelli Square, Chinatown and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Once you have taken some time to visit San Francisco, it is time to start your road trip by heading to Muir Woods National Monument.
As John Muir eloquently stated about Muir Woods, "This is the best tree-lovers monument that could possibly be found in all the forests of the world." In the early 1900's Muir Woods was declared a National Monument by President Theodore Roosevelt.
Crater Lake National Park is most famously known for its spectacular blue color and gorgeous views. A summer visit, allows visitors to navigate the Rim Drive around the lake. Other opportunities for visitors include activities such as; boat tours on the lake surface, stay in the historic Crater Lake Lodge, camp at Mazama Village, or taking a hike on some of the park's various trails including Mt. Scott at 8,929 ft.
Lassen Volcanic National Park is located in Northeastern California at the southern terminus of the Cascade Mountains, approximately 50 miles east of Redding, California. Beneath Lassen Volcanic's peaceful forests and gem-like lakes lies evidence of a turbulent and fiery past.
Point Reyes National Seashore contains unique elements of biological and historical interest in a spectacularly scenic panorama of thunderous ocean breakers, open grasslands, bushy hillsides and forested ridges. Native land mammals number about 37 species and marine mammals augment this total by another dozen species. The biological diversity stems from a favorable location in the middle of California and the natural occurrence of many distinct habitats. Nearly 20% of the State's flowering plant species are represented on the peninsula and over 45% of the bird species in North America have been sighted. The Point Reyes National Seashore was established by President John F. Kennedy on September 13, 1962.
Lava Beds National Monument is a land of turmoil, both geological and historical. Over the last half-million years, volcanic eruptions on the Medicine Lake shield volcano created an incredibly rugged landscape punctuated by cinder cones, lava flows, spatter cones, lava tube caves and pit craters. These lava tube caves, of which there are more than 500 in the Monument, are a favorite underground destination for visitors to explore.
The Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA) is one of the largest urban national parks in the world. Established in 1972, as part of a trend to make national park resources more accessible to urban populations and bring "parks to the people", GGNRA's 75,398 acres of land and water extend north of the Golden Gate Bridge to Tomales Bay in Marin County and south to San Mateo County, encompassing 59 miles of bay and ocean shoreline. These lands represent one of the nation's largest coastal preserves and attract 16 million visitors each year, making GGNRA one of the National Park Service most highly visited units.
Just a few of the many sights along the Northern California Road Trip. From giant Redwoods, gorgeous coastline to Lassen Volcanic or Crater Lake, this road trip has tons to offer any outdoors enthusiast. Use this self-guided route to help you plan your adventure through northern California and southern Oregon. This is a self-guided road trip and can be altered to fit your available time.
You should check ahead of time regarding potential road closures and/or construction. Please note, some of our road trips do take you along some dirt roads. Please check a map so that you can alter your route accordingly. All our road trips are designed to be helpful guides to help you build an adventure to suit your needs. We don't recommend specific mileage, nor where exactly to stay due to everyones different needs for driving mileage, etc. We recommend plotting out your route on Google Maps and using ours as guides. Then add or remove locations to build the road trip of your dreams!
Maine ocean islands provide the only nesting sites for Atlantic puffins in the United States. Eastern Egg Rock in the midcoast region, Seal Island and Matinicus Rock at the mouth of Penobscot Bay, and Machias Seal Island and Petit Manan Island off the downeast coast provide habitat for more than 4,000 puffins each summer.