Spirited Adventures

Time to get weird! Yes, it’s the season for visiting the undead in a living ghost town, getting lost in a corn maze, and hiking to an iconic jack-o’-lantern atop a local mountain. Nothing too creepy—just good weird fun in the spirit of Halloween!

Week: 10.19.2017
Regions: Southern CA

Picnic at Pumpkin Rock

Halloween Hike to Pumpkin Rock in Norco

“‘This is Halloween, this is Halloween,’ pumpkins scream in the dead of night,” intones a chorus of disembodied voices in Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, whose protagonist is Jack Skellington the Pumpkin King. Now that the Pumpkin King has reached iconic status as th
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What a (Road) Trip!

Humboldt County Road Trip to the Redwoods

Humboldt County coast
You’ve gotta love a road trip: it’s spontaneous and gives you the freedom for loads of explorations. The hardest part is figuring out where to go. Humboldt County is a road-tripping mecca perfect for an autumn getaway. All you have to do is drive north! First stop: the Lost Coast
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Face It: You're Lost!

Fall Fun at the Big Horse Corn Maze in Temecula

You smell the kettle corn, you hear the farm animals, you feel the Halloween spirit … but let’s face it: You’re lost! Actually, you’re in Temecula’s Big Horse Corn Maze and Harvest Festival, the place to be for fall fun. That includes a zipline, pony rides, corn-shooting air cann
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The Undead Ghost Town

Visiting the Living Ghost Town of Randsburg

Every Halloween, the worlds of the living and the dead blur together. In the “living ghost town” of Randsburg, that condition is permanent. This strange gold-rush town near the El Paso Mountains in Kern County popped up in 1895. More than 3,500 people lived here in its thriving—a
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Trending Stories NorCal

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  1. Sequoia Re-opens Crystal Cave

    Step inside Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Park's hidden world by visiting the newly re-opened Crystal Cave—the only cave in the parks open to the public. Closed for four years, this rare marble karst cavern is welcoming visitors once again, but only through the summer season!

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  2. Afternoon on the Island

    What is it about tiny islands in the middle of lakes? There’s something that just draws you in. It’s even more fun when getting there is half the adventure because you have to reach it by canoe, kayak, paddleboat, or a ranger-guided boat tour!

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  3. Easiest Best Hike in the World

    Choose the easiest and most view-rewarding hike in Yosemite. Okay, we’ll go first: the combination of hiking to Sentinel Dome and Taft Point. Both of these lookouts are within a couple miles of each other on Glacier Point Road

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  4. Hiker in the forest at Mount Sutro in San Francisco

    San Francisco's Middle Earth

    No need to travel to New Zealand to visit Middle Earth. San Francisco’s Mount Sutro Open Space is practically Hobbiton—a hidden “shire” in the middle of the city. Okay, maybe not quite as magical, but still an incredible place to take a hike in city limits.

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Trending Stories SoCal

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  1. Locals' Feature: Jim Litchfield, Owner of Reno Fly Shop

    If there's a river, you're likely to find Jim Litchfield there. As the owner of Reno Fly Shop, Nevada's premier fly fishing outfitter and shop, Jim's passion for rivers knows no bounds: he's fished in places near and far, including Alaska, Bolivia and Christmas Island. But home is beautiful Reno, where he has been running Reno Fly Shop and leading tailored river float and fly fishing adventures (including beginner-friendly options) for over a decade.

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  2. Can't Top This

    San Francisco’s Presidio was already a fantastic place to hang out for the afternoon, a beautiful site within the largest urban national park in the United States (the Golden Gate National Recreation Area). And Presidio Tunnel Tops is like a cherry on top. Make that two cherries on top, with the newly opened (July 2025) Outpost Meadow, a 1.5-acre green space located at Old Mason Street across from the Crissy Field Marsh in the Presidio.

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  3. Volcanic Activity

    Northern California is home to one of the most unique ecosystems in the country: Lassen Volcanic National Park. The region features geothermal areas, including the largest dome volcano in the world, Lassen Peak. Hike to the top of this active volcano on a 5-mile out-and-back.  

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  4. Oh Ryan

    Sure, it’s those whimsical trees that give Joshua Tree National Park its marquee billing; but this beautiful landscape also has surrounding mountains and its night sky—one of the darkest in Southern California and designated an International Dark Sky Park. Joshua Tree has four allowable stargazing parking lots, and a newly opened haven for spending the night nearby...

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