CALIFORNIA, USA — June 14-18 is California State Parks Week, and it's time to celebrate the more than 280 State Parks across the Golden State. Special events will be happening at different parks.
California State Parks preserves and protects the state's natural and cultural history. Public lands also play a big part in making Californians stronger, happier and healthier. Parks are places where everyone can connect with nature and find inspiration and joy.
California State Parks Week is a fun way to celebrate the wonder and sense of community that the outdoors provides to Californians and visitors from all over the world.
To celebrate State Parks Week John Bartell has put together a list of his 5 favorite California state parks.
Come see the extravagant home of media mogul William Randolph Hearst.
The main house has 115 rooms, a highly decorated Greek pool and acres of gardens. You won’t experience architecture like this anywhere else. After your tour make sure you pay a visit to the barking elephant seals at San Simeon State beach.
These majestic redwoods along the Santa Cruz coast are home to the banana slug, one of the largest slug species on the pacific coast.
If you walk through the forest, you may see their slimy trails on the trees.
Bowling Ball Beach at Schooner Gulch State Beach
At the southwest edge of Mendocino County, there is a geological phenomenon. Dozens of boulders have been shaped into round spheres that emerge from the shore during low tide.
There is only a hand full of places where you can see formations like this. The rocks were formed by erosion over a million years.
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This remote park is located along Northern California’s Lost Coast, a region so rugged Highway 1 had to be built around it.
The coastal cliffs and rain-beaten redwood forest is home to Roosevelt elk. The landscape looks nearly the same when the Sinkyone Tribe lived here.
See how flower and grain were processed during the Gold Rush era at one of the state's only working, all-wood grist mills.
Inside, you will see how the water mill grinds the grain, and you can even grind some flour yourself.
Here is a full list of all the State Park Week events. If you want to get into State Parks free this summer you can check out a State Park Pass at your local public library.
Like your lists a bit more hefty? Here are of all California State Parks that I've visited while out on the backroads:
Bowling Ball Beach https://youtu.be/HiJJyB2ygCs
Shasta State Historic Park https://youtu.be/aWA3sMzkXLk
Jack London State Park https://youtu.be/S5Mnm3Xsz_M
Big Sur State Park https://youtu.be/MuAeTvCLq78
San Simeon State Beach https://youtu.be/qmJi0Evx3dc
Hearst-San Simeon State Historic Monument https://youtu.be/l7paTKyhSoE
Folsom Lake State Rec Srea https://youtu.be/Kwi8OtVr0wQ
Bale Grist Mill Bothe State Park https://youtu.be/NCwLt15rzwM
Sinkyone Wilderness https://youtu.be/_YMVI1iWi1c
Bridgeport Bridge South Yuba River State Park https://youtu.be/2bVFR89EoZA
Citrus State Historic Park https://youtu.be/XNewyOpnwEA
Big Basin Redwood State park https://youtu.be/RRuqxhpaYeg
Coloma State Park https://youtu.be/uMrFdC_mWR8
Railtown 1897 State Historic Park https://youtu.be/yulDBhQzDgY
Columbia State Park https://youtu.be/j4HzdN01nfE
Fort Ord Dunes State Park https://youtu.be/gQOaVFX4r8Y
Ano Nuevo State Park https://youtu.be/MMoyA0J_zcg
Henry Cowell Redwood State Park https://youtu.be/cIO7S2jVtjQ
Donner Memorial State Park https://youtu.be/GuTy5_htF58
Allensworth State Historic Site https://youtu.be/G1taC7pI5Cg
Grover Hot Spring State Park https://youtu.be/Zzf0qBpd4Bc
San Juan Bautista State Historic Park https://youtu.be/2Ni9Hl_8gGA
Weaverville Joss House State Historic Park https://youtu.be/C9-mjVaLbh4
Redwood State Park https://youtu.be/2rd-l1j2iqM
Tufa State Natural Reserve https://youtu.be/2rd-l1j2iqM
Bodie State Historic Park https://youtu.be/1NhSFc5Rxus
Plumas Eureka State Park https://youtu.be/Dp4_Hckk3t4 & https://youtu.be/YGmhkjBX4BY
Malakoff Diggins State Historic Park https://youtu.be/Uwn6-MbfLPw
Adobe Ide State Historic Park https://youtu.be/83YvpTatH0s
Indian Grinding Rock State Historic Park https://youtu.be/JgoFprVM3JY
Angel Island State Park https://youtu.be/az6cEaILdws
Emerald Bay State Park https://youtu.be/OFX7UWJg0CE
Lake Oroville State Recreation Area https://youtu.be/sLtnPXuuAIU
Diablo State Park https://youtu.be/NF2xeniByB4
Calaveras Big Tree State park https://youtu.be/afGwTKcD4dA
California State capitol Park www.abc10.com/article/news/local/sacramento/how-the-moon-tree-ended-up-at-the-capitol/103-371986266
ANOTHER STATE PARK ON THE BACKROADS: The search for peace and quiet led one family of homesteaders to settle a remote stretch of California coastline, and then they put Big Sur on the map.