All "Dog Friendly" Stories in Southern CA

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  Picnic with a View

  When early autumn arrives in the mountains, you never really know what you’ll get … hot days, rainy afternoons, snow. Good thing the path to Picnic Rock on the Tahoe Rim Trail is a

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  Idyllic Lake Fulmor

  High up in the hills near Idyllwild, quaint and charming Lake Fulmor—not too big, not too small—is just right for relaxing in the cool, quiet shade. It’s not a place to go to be su

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  Look Out—It’s Tahquitz!

  The hike to 8,846-foot Tahquitz Peak in the San Jacinto Wilderness boasts awesome views and an intriguing legend. The peak was named by the Cahuilla Indians after a powerful, evil

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  Rancho Enchanto

  SoCal was once a land of Spanish ranchos, whose rancheros brought along cows, horses, wheat, mustard seed, oats, and other nonnative species to the Santa Monica Mountains, forever reshaping the landscape that we see today. An example is Peter Strauss Ranch in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.

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  Coming Up Roses

  Looking to spice up your hiking life? Give your partner a rose—Mount Rose! The 10-mile out-and-back peak hike goes up to one of the grandest views in all of Lake Tahoe. Get ready f

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  This Is Paradise

  Granite mountain-scape, superb sunset views, crystal lakes, and shoreline campsites … the trip to Paradise Lake in Tahoe National Forest lives up to its idyllic name.

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  El Capitán, My Capitán

  The best part about camping at El Capitán State Beach? It just might be sunset. The campground, perched on a forested bluff above the beach, gives you the best seats in the house for watching the sun settle down into the Santa Barbara Channel.

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  Dune It on the Beach!

  Here’s where camping on the beach means … camping on the beach! Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area is famous for its broad, flat beach, rolling sand dunes that seem to st

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  Down Doheny Way

  For the best beach camping in SoCal, come down Doheny way, where everybody’s gone surfin’, surfin’ USA! Doheny State Beach, that is, situated on 62 acres of coastline in Dana Point

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  Jenks for the Memories

  Name your passion! Whether it’s kayaking, fishing, hiking, barbecuing, or relaxing in a hammock beneath tall ponderosa pines—Jenks Lake in the San Bernardino Mountains is the place for a perfect lakeside summer day.

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  Heavenly Devil's Hole

  Recipe for the perfect swimming hole: cool pool in a mountain stream, remote mountain setting, great approach hike. Just add a few friends and a sunny summer day, then hike, stir,

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  Malibu Rooftop View

  Mesa Peak isn’t your standard summit ascent. For one thing, the peak is 147 feet lower in elevation than the trailhead. But this is not just some downhill stroll. It’s a great up-a

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  A Valido Point of View

  When you reach Aliso Peak via Valido Trail in Laguna Beach, you’ll be close enough to the blue Pacific to see the detail of the waves crashing upon the shore, but high enough for a

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  Rancho PV Seaside Spree

  Here’s a hike where the payoff comes with every step you take, not just in a hero view from a summit perch. The oceanside trails of Rancho Palos Verdes keep the dramatic Pacific in

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  Hunt for the Hot Springs!

  Wanna find hidden hot springs? Hunt for them! Tucked alongside a creek in the Madhesi Valley an hour from Burney Falls and 5 miles from the nearest town of Big Bend (population 102

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  Carson Calling

  Along the banks of the East Fork Carson River, brushing the California–Nevada border, sits a series of hot spring pools surrounded by high desert. The springs have for years been a

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  San Gabriels Sojourn

  To overnight at Sturtevant Camp is to relive Southern California’s “Great Hiking Era”—the 1880s to late 1930s—when millions flocked to the San Gabriel Mountains to hike, fish, and

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  Riverside's Wild Side

  Wilderness trails inside Riverside city limits? Amazing but true. Sycamore Canyon Park Trail is a 4.6-mile loop that winds through dramatic boulder formations and traverses 450 fee

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  Fancy Camp

  Wanna go rugged on the coast, minus the whole pitching your own tent and sleeping on the ground bit? Mendocino Grove is spot-on for upgrading your roughing-it experience, with beautifully appointed tent-cabins set across the bluffs overlooking Mendocino Bay.

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  Bluffing Seals

  We love aquariums, but there’s something special about viewing adorable, blubbery harbor seals in their natural habitat—namely Carpinteria Bluffs Nature Preserve and Seal Sanctuary

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