Operation Hours: Park hours are 24/ 7/ 365
Exceptions - Camping requires a
permit and permits can only be
obtained during visitor center
operating hours.
Two
visitor centers:
Ventura & Santa Barbara
Open 8:30am to 5:00 pm, closed Thanksgiving
& Christmas.
Ventura - The Robert J.
Lagomarsino Visitor Center at Channel
Islands National Park
1901 Spinnaker Drive
Ventura, CA 93001
(805) 658-5730
Santa Barbara - Outdoors Santa
Barbara Visitor Center
113 Harbor Way 4th Floor
Santa Barbara, CA 93001
(805) 884-1475
Channel Islands National Park is comprised
of five islands: Anacapa Island, Santa Cruz
Island, Santa Rosa Island, San Miguel Island
and Santa Barbara Island. Being that
the park is so large and so much to cover at
VacationsNationalPark.Com we suggest
visiting the
NPS.Gov website for all the details.
Access to the islands is only by boat or
airplane. The official boat
transportation for Channel Islands National
Park is
Island Packersand access via
airplane is available through
Channel Islands Aviation. Camping is permitted on all islands
although at times ground restoration and
island repair projects close certain areas.
Please vistit the NPS.Gov website for
details of each location and for
reservations. Depending on the time of
year, Island Packers offers much more than
just a ride to the islands. Whale
watching, snorkeling, and island cruises are
also offered. Visit their website for
details.
Channel Islands National Park offers
everything any other park will offer with
the exception of bicycles are not permitted
on the Island. All islands, depending
on the time of year offer excellent views of
wildlife that include sea lions and many
species of seals. San Miguel Island is
one of the best islands for the view of this
wildlife although requires a 15 mile
roundtrip hike. Many species of birds
also exist on the island and fishing is also
permitted. Fishing license is required
plus all islands have protected habitats.
The NPS.Gov website has a link to a list of
all of those areas where fishing is not
permitted. Unique to Channel Islands
National Park is the tidepooling due
to the Islands' isolation are the most
attractive area for tidepooling in Southern
California offering the best of sea life
that include: Anemones, sea stars, urchins,
limpets and much more. The uniqueness
of these waters around the islands also make
the National Park very attractive for those
who enjoy snorkeling and diving with many
under water caves and sea life.
Campgrounds exist and backcountry camping is
permitted as well. Picnic tables and
pit toilets exist but, not water is
provided. Water must be brought in and
all campgrounds are located away from the
boat docs. Thus, all equipment must be
backpacked in to the campsites. This
National Park is definitely a two-day affair
for just visiting and for a vacation, the
Channel Islands National Park could easily
be a choice for a solid week vacation.
Crissy Field Center - Wednesday to
Sunday, 9am to 5pm, (415) 561-7690
Alcatraz Island - Open all year, (415)
561-4900
Marin Headlands Visitor Center - 9:30am
to 4:30pm, (415) 331-1540
Muir Woods Visitor Center - All year,
8am to sunset, (415) 388-7368
Pacific West Regional Information Center -
Monday - Friday, 8:30am to 4:30pm,
(415) 561-4700
Golden Gate National Park covers an area
of forts, museums, Alcatraz Island,
monuments, beaches and valleys spread over a
three county area. With so much to
cover, we ask our visitors to please visit
NPS.Gov
for details of each location. Our
focus will be on some choice camping spots
and vistas plus, of course, Alcatraz Island.
Marin County offers Bolinas Ridge, which is
one of the must visit sites in the park due
to the view. Details are available at
Golden Gate National parks Conservancy.
Marin County also offers three forts to
visit with in the Park system. So much
more just in Marin County we cannot detail
here but, some of the sites include Muir
Woods Nationhal Monument, Muir Beach
Overlook, Nike Missle Site and Point Bonita
Lighthouse. San Francisco county
obviously offers Alcatraz Island, which we
will detail in the next paragraph but, the
county also offers, within the Park system,
beaches, three forts and Crissy Field
Center. Within San Mateo county is
Milagra Ridge, Mori Point, Phleger Estate
and Sweeney Ridge.
Alcatraz Island intrigues many people and
thousands of people tour the island each
year. From first being a U.S. fort and
the first lighthouse on the West coast then
the penitentiary, the island is engulfed in
history. Occurrences that many now
generations are unaware of such as the
American Indians seizing the island for 19
months in 1969 are added history that is
included in the museum on the island.
Starting as a military prison in 1859,
Alcatraz is one of the ultimate historic
sites to visit.
Beyond Golden Gate National Park being a
tourist and history buff's joy ride, the
park does offer many scenic views and
camping. Many of the campgrounds are
small and reservations are a must. So
that all can share these ultimate camp
sites, camping permits are only offered to
visitors for three days per year. All
available campgrounds are in Marin
headlands. The first, Bicentennial
Campground is open all year. It is the
most accessible of all four campgrounds but,
only three sites are available, each capable
of fitting a tent with two people.
More backwoods type camping is available at
Hawkcamp, which is situated looking over the
Gerbode Valley, which is a beautiful view.
The campsite has two access paths one from
Marin Headlands Visitor Center, which is a
3-mile hike and from the Tennessee Valley
parking area, which is a 2-mile hike.
Three sites are available and each can fit a
tent for four people. Haypress
Campground is in the Tennessee Valley, which
is in the northern area of the Marin
Headlands. It is a larger campground
and only 3/4 of a mile from the Tennessee
Valley parking lot. With only five
sites though, reservations is a must and
groups can only reserve three campsites that
accommodate four people. The camping
site with the best view is the Kirby Cove
Campground and Picnic Area offering a
beautiful view of San Francisco, the bay and
Golden Gate bridge. So those who enjoy
museums, touring and or history or maybe
camping with the best of scenic areas will
enjoy Golden Gate National Park.
All year daily with the exception of
Christmas Eve (close at 12:30pm) and
Christmas day.
Opening at 9:00am and Closing at 5:00pm
May 29 to October 30 are extended hours to
6:00pm
Lassen Volcanic National Park offers four
fun filled vacation things to do: hiking,
camping, visiting hydrothermal areas and
scenic driving. A leisurely drive
through the park offers enough time in the
car or camper to enjoy the breath taking
views of the Cascades. Eight
campgrounds offer year round camping and 180
miles of hiking trails offer a never ending
choice of hiking. The two major
thermal areas are Bumpass Hell and Boling
Springs Lake.
At Bumpass Hell are four areas to visit:
Little Hot Springs Valley, Pilot Pinnacle,
Sulphur Works and Devils Kitchen.
Boiling Springs Lake offers two places to
visit, they are Terminal Geyser and Fart
Gulch. Bmpass Hell offers a three mile
hiking trail that takes about two hours to
hike. The elevation is 8000 feet, so
the view is breath taking as is most of the
park. Boiling Springs Lake Trail is
also three miles long and can also be walked
in two hours. The elevation is quite
as high at 5800 feet. The trail
crosses over a meadow, then into a forest
area of Incense-Cedar, Ponderosa Pine,
Douglas-Fir, White Fir and few other types
of trees. Then the trail leads around
the lake, which is a beautiful walk.
All of the information regarding the camping
areas are quite detailed and too much to
cover here. Please visit the
NPS.Gov website for details.
Most of the camping grounds offer picnic
table, campfire ring, bear-proof box (oh
my), toilets, drinking water, boat launches,
fishing and swiming. The eight camping
grounds are: Butte Lake, Butte Lake Group
Site, Butte Lake Stock Corral, Crags,
Juniper Lake, Juniper Lake Group Site,
Juniper Lake Stock Corral, Manzanita Lake,
Summit Lake North, Summit Lake South, Summit
Lake Stock corral and Warner Valley.
Many of the sites are by reservations only.
Lassen Volcanic National Park is an
outdoorsmen type vacation and a wonderful
family vacation.
The description from the National Park
website says so much in such few words,
stating the features that include, "More
than 700 caves, Native American rock art
sites, historic battlefields, campsites and
a high desert wilderness," which will
motivate anyone to take a look as a place
for a summer vacation. The caves are a
wonder to those who enjoy touring caverns
and caves and these caves are unique in the
tubular shape. Many of the caves are
hidden throughout the park and are self
explored but, some caves do offer ladders,
trails and walkways. The entire
landscape is a geological wonder from the
volcanic formations and is home to a large
bird and butterfly population. Lava
Beds National Monument is well known for
bird watching year round, especially during
the summer months. As with any
wilderness area, it is important to read the
warnings posted by the NPS. Hiking and
camping is a primary use of this park and
the NPS website offers a PDF file detailing
12 short and long hiking trails, which some
lead to the backcountry camping areas.
Guided tours are available and the NPS site
lsts the schedule of events that include a
Modoc War-era soldiers march. Nearby
attractions include: Klamath Basin,
Tulelake, Crater Lake, Oregon Caves and much
more. More information on attractions
in this area can be found on the California
National Historic Trail, which will be
featured in each state the trail exists.
For the pre-mentioned nearby attractions
visit the California National Historic Trail
in our Oregon National Park page.
Specifics on
Redwood National Park will be
coming soon. Operating
hours are not posted for they
are dependent on the weather.
For more information please
visit
http://www.nps.gov/redw.
Vacation in an
near Redwood National Park are
posted below.
Remainder of the park open 24/ 7/ 365 but,
winter months may have road closures.
Visit the
NPS.Gov website for road closure
info.
Reservations are required for lodging or
camping. Lodging/ hotel reservations
are available from the above link, which is
a direct link to Yosemite lodging and
accommodations. To make reservations
for camping, you can call the park directly
at (209) 372-0200. To make campground
reservations, visit
Recreation.Gov. This site is
the simplest and quickest route to camping
reservations.
Yosemite National Park is one of the most
desired, well known and visited parks in the
United States offering views of waterfalls,
rock formations that are beyond belief and
giant Sequoias; plus, like many other parks,
Yosemite has lakes, rivers, wilderness, the
Yosemite valley with so much to do.
Yosemite car touring is a day vacation in
itself plus the park offers backpacking/
hiking, biking, fishing houseback riding,
picnicking, rock climbing, water and winter
sports. One week is barley enough time
to enjoy the entire park but, the winter
months obviously curtail much of these
activities. The Park does offer
awesome ski resorts, which
VacationsNationalPark.Com will start posting
later in the year, 2010.
The scenic driving is outstanding at
Yosemite and the most popular scenic drive
is along Tioga Road with is a 39 mile
stretch from Crane Flat to Tioga Pass, which
is off of Hwy 120. The two main roads
to interest for a scenic tour of Yosemite is
Hwy 120 & 140. The map link above
offers a view of all the roads in Yosemite
plus the
NPS.Gov site offers many PDF
brochures that include maps of the park..
The brochures include camping locations and
hiking trails. The camping is
available without reservations, which
include: Camp 4 (Yosemite Valley - no RV/s
or trailers) Bridalveil Creek, Tamarack Flat
( trailers), White Wolf, Yosemite Creek (
trailers), Porcupine Flat and Tuloumne
Meadows. Details of all the
campgrounds including RV camping, the Upper
and Lower Pines, North Pines, Wawona and
more, visit the
NPS.Gov website. The NPS.Gov
website also has detailed information about
the hiking trails, which include Yosemite
Valley, Galcier Point Road, Wawona and
Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias, Hetch
Hetchy, White Wolf and Tuolumne Meadows.
Each of these hikes have more than one trail
and are too much to list here. Rainbow
Trout is the main fish in the park but,
regulations exist, so please visit the
NPS.Gov website before planning a
fishing trip. Rafting is popular in
the Merced River and raft rentals are
available. Safety regulations that
govern when the rivers may be used is listed
on the
NPS.Gov website. The summary
here of Yosemite is one of our more lengthy
summaries and we have barely scratched the
surface. So, visit the
NPS.Gov website for more details.
For best lodging prices, click on the "Area
Hotels" link above.
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