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California Department of Parks and Recreation
The California Department of Parks and Recreation, also known as California State Parks, manages the California state parks system. The system administers 278 parks and 1.4 million acres (5,700 km²), with over 280 miles (450 km) of coastline; 625 miles (1,006 km) of lake and river frontage; nearly...
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Ahjumawi Lava Springs State Park
Ahjumawi Lava Springs State Park is a state park located in Shasta County, California. The state acquired the land from the Horr Ranch in 1975. This park is unique in the California state park system because public access is by boat only. There are...
Andrew Molera State Park
Andrew Molera State Park is a state park located in Monterey County, California, United States.
Situated on land previously owned by the Molera ranching family, the park is named in commemoration of Andrew Molera (died 1931), who introduced the...
Humboldt Redwoods State Park
Humboldt Redwoods State Park is located 30 miles (50 km) south of Eureka, California in southern Humboldt County, within northern California. Established by the Save-the-Redwoods League in 1921 with the dedication of the Raynal Bolling Memorial...
Año Nuevo State Reserve
Año Nuevo State Reserve is a California wildlife reserve located in San Mateo County.
Fifty-five miles (90 km) south of San Francisco and the Golden Gate, a low, rocky, windswept point juts out into the Pacific Ocean.
The reserve contains a...
Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve
The Antelope Valley California Poppy State Reserve is a state-protected reserve land located in the rural westside of the Antelope Valley in northern Los Angeles County, 15 miles (24 km) west of Lancaster. The reserve is at an elevation ranging from...
Area:
- 7.18904 km² (2.7757 mi² )
McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial State Park
Located approximately 6 miles (10 km) north of Burney, California, McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial State Park is the second oldest state park in the California State Parks System. The park offers camping, fishing, watersports, hiking and horseback...
Anza-Borrego Desert State Park
Anza-Borrego Desert State Park is a state protected land located in Southern California primarily within eastern San Diego County, with portions within Imperial and Riverside counties. At 600,000 acres (2,400 km) and one fifth of San Diego County...
Armstrong Redwoods State Reserve
Armstrong Redwoods State Reserve is a California state park, located in Sonoma County just north of Guerneville, California at 38°32′17″N 123°00′36″W / 38.538°N 123.01°W / 38.538; -123.01.
The park preserves 805 acres (3.3 km²) of the Coast...
Azalea State Reserve
Azalea State Reserve is a 30 acre (120,000 m²) reserve for western azalea (Rhododendron occidentale) located in Humboldt County, California. Each spring, a profusion of pink and white blossoms scents the air. The reserve offers a short self-guided...
Area:
- 120 km² (46.3 mi² )
Bean Hollow State Beach
Bean Hollow State Beach is a beach operated by the California Department of Parks and Recreation in San Mateo County, California near Pescadero. The beach features fishing, picnicking and beachcombing. Visitors can explore tide pools with anemones,...
Benicia Capitol State Historic Park
Benicia Capitol State Historic Park is a state park in Benicia, California. The park is dedicated to California’s third capitol building, where the California State Legislature and bureaucracy convened from February 3, 1853 to February 24, 1854. It...
Area:
- 0.0020235 km² (0.00078128 mi² )
Bidwell-Sacramento River State Park
Bidwell-Sacramento River State Park is a California state park located in Butte County.
The main activity to be enjoyed at the park is bank or boat fishing for salmon, steelhead and shad. The next popular activity is "cruising down the river" on...
Castle Rock State Park
Castle Rock State Park, located along the crest of the Santa Cruz Mountains, embraces 3,600 acres (15 km²) of coast redwood, Douglas fir, and madrone forest, most of which has been left in its wild, natural state. Steep canyons are sprinkled with...
Redwood National and State Parks
The Redwood National and State Parks (RNSP) are located in the United States, along the coast of northern California. The parks consist of a combined area of 131,983 acres (534.12 km) located entirely within Del Norte and Humboldt Counties and they...
Torrey Pines State Reserve
Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve is a coastal state park located in the California community of La Jolla, California, off North Torrey Pines Road (formerly a part of U.S. Route 101). Although it is located within San Diego, California city limits,...
Seacliff State Beach
Seacliff is a California State Beach located off Highway 1 in the town of Aptos about 5 miles (8 km) south of Santa Cruz, on State Park Drive. The beach is most known for the concrete ship SS Palo Alto lying in the water.
The beach was originally...
Old Town San Diego State Historic Park
Old Town San Diego State Historic Park, located in San Diego, California, is a state protected historical park in San Diego. The park preserves and recreates the old town of the city, from shortly after the Mexican War of Independence during its...
Area:
- 0.11768 km² (0.045437 mi² )
Portola Redwoods State Park
Portola Redwoods State Park is a California state park, located in San Mateo County. Peters Creek and Pescadero Creek meet in Portola, and are the park's primary watercourses, and feature numerous tributaries. Tip Toe Falls is a small waterfall...
Emerald Bay State Park
Emerald Bay State Park is a state park located around Emerald Bay, a National Natural Landmark, at Lake Tahoe, California. The park is home to Eagle Falls and Vikingsholm, a 38-room mansion that is one of the finest examples of Scandinavian...
Area:
- 5.92747 km² (2.28861 mi² )
Point Lobos State Reserve
Point Lobos is the common name for the area including Point Lobos State Reserve and two adjoining marine protected areas: Point Lobos State Marine Reserve (SMR) and Point Lobos State Marine Conservation Area (SMCA). Point Lobos is just south of the...
Mono Lake Tufa State Reserve
The Mono Lake Tufa State Reserve was established in 1981 by the California State Legislature, to preserve the limestone "tufa tower" formations at Mono Lake, in Mono County, California. California State Park Rangers were charged with protecting the...
Doheny State Beach
Doheny State Beach, protected as part of the California Department of Parks and Recreation, is a beach on the Pacific coast of Orange County, in Dana Point, Southern California. The beach is a popular surf spot located at the mouth of San Juan Creek...
Area:
- 0.25091 km² (0.096875 mi² )
Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park
Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park is a state park located in California. The park, established in 1927, is 6,400 acres (26 km) with approximately 50% old-growth coast redwood and 8 miles (13 km) of wild coastline. The park is a World Heritage Site...
California State Indian Museum
The California State Indian Museum is a California State Historic park located in Sacramento, California. The museum exhibits traditional items illustrating the varying cultures of the State’s first inhabitants. The native population of California,...
Cuyamaca Rancho State Park
Cuyamaca Rancho State Park is a state park located forty miles east of San Diego, California in the Peninsular Range. The park's 26,000 acres (105 km²) feature pine, fir, and oak forests, with meadows and streams that exist due to the relatively...
Grizzly Creek Redwoods State Park
Grizzly Creek Redwoods State Park is located 20 Miles east of Eureka, California then another 18 miles east of Fortuna, California on State Route 36. This low use park containing 30 campsites is sited on the Van Duzen River. The small park was...
Area:
- 1.57827 km² (0.609375 mi² )
Carlsbad State Beach
Carlsbad State Beach is a protected beach located in Carlsbad, California. It is a San Diego County beach with coastal bluffs. There is camping, swimming, surfing, fishing, and many other activities. Many people camp on the campsites on top of the...
Empire Mine State Historic Park
Empire Mine State Historic Park is a state-protected mine and park in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in Grass Valley, California. Since 1975, California State Parks has administered and maintained the mine as a historic site. The Empire Mine is "one of...
Area:
- 3.29179 km² (1.27097 mi² )
Lighthouse Field State Beach
Lighthouse Field State Beach is a protected beach as part of the California Department of Parks and Recreation, located in Santa Cruz, California.
John Little State Reserve
John Little State Reserve is a protected area on the Big Sur coast of Monterey County in California. It protects the rigged steep cliffs where Lime Creek meets the Pacific Ocean. It also has a cabin from 1917 where early conservationist Elizabeth K....
New Brighton State Beach
New Brighton State Beach is a 95 acre park consisting of a beach and camping grounds. The park is located on south of Santa Cruz in Capitola. The park is adjacent to Seacliff State Beach which is known for its fishing pier and sunk concrete...
Fort Humboldt State Historic Park
Fort Humboldt State Historic Park, is a California State Park located in the southern portion of the city of Eureka, California, just off U.S. Route 101. The North Coast regional headquarters of the California State Parks is located onsite.
With the...
Montaña de Oro State Park
Montaña de Oro ("Mountain of Gold" in Spanish) is a state park in California, United States. The park is located sixteen miles southwest of Morro Bay and seven miles south of Los Osos. The name "Mountain of Gold" comes from the golden wildflowers...
Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park
Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park is a state park, located in Humboldt County, California, near the town of Orick and 50 miles (80 km) north of Eureka. The 14,000-acre (57 km²) park is a coastal sanctuary for old-growth Coast Redwood trees.
The park...
Area:
- 56.65599 km² (21.875 mi² )
Annadel State Park
Annadel State Park, Sonoma County, California, USA is situated at the northern edge of Sonoma Valley and offers many recreational activities within its 5,000 acre (20 km²) property. At its north end, it connects to Spring Lake Regional Park in Santa...
Carpinteria State Beach
Carpinteria State Beach is a protected beach located east of the city of Santa Barbara, California, in the city of Carpinteria.
Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park
Jedediah Smith Redwoods Park, established in 1929, was named after the noted fur trapper Jedediah Smith, who visited its location during an 1826 expedition. It is located in the northern part of the U.S. state of California, nine miles east of...
Pacifica State Beach
Pacifica State Beach (also known as Linda Mar Beach) is the southernmost of Pacifica, California's large beaches, it is 0.75 mile long crescent shaped beach located at the mouth of the San Pedro Valley in downtown Pacifica off State Route 1, USA....
Pescadero State Beach
Pescadero State Beach (meaning "the place to fish" in Spanish) is a beach located 14.5 miles south of Half Moon Bay and 1.5 miles east of Pescadero off State Route 1, in San Mateo County, California.
The beach has a mile-long shoreline with sandy...
Montgomery Woods State Reserve
Montgomery Woods State Reserve is a 1,145-acre (5 km) state-owned park located in the Coastal Range in Mendocino County, California, United States. The Reserve occupies the headwaters of Montgomery Creek, a tributary of Big River, which flows into...
Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park
Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park is a state-protected park in Big Sur, located in Monterey County, California. The park is administered and maintained by California State Parks. It is located 37 miles (60 km) south of Carmel and covers over 3,000...
Area:
- 15.22492 km² (5.878375 mi² )
Richardson Grove State Park
Richardson Grove State Park is located at the southernmost border of Humboldt County, 75 miles (121 km) south of Eureka, California, United States, and 200 miles (320 km) north of San Francisco. The year-round park, which has approximately 2,000...
Area:
- 6.07028 km² (2.34375 mi² )
Morro Strand State Beach
Morro Strand State Beach is located two miles south of Cayucos on Highway 1 and is a coastal frontage park featuring picnic sites. A three-mile stretch of beach connects the southern and northern entrances to the beach.
Morro Strands State Beach is...
Los Osos Oaks State Reserve
Los Osos Oaks State Reserve is located on Los Osos Valley Road in the Los Osos Valley, just outside the town of Los Osos, about halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco.
This Reserve features ancient sand dunes covered with centuries-old Coast...
Tolowa Dunes State Park
Tolowa Dunes State Park is a 5,000-acre (20 km) California State Park located on California's far North Coast. Encompassing Lake Earl and Lake Tolowa and a significant portion of the relatively large coastal plain around it, this park - a sanctuary...
Area:
- 20.23428 km² (7.8125 mi² )
Santa Monica State Beach
Santa Monica State Beach is a California State Park operated by the city of Santa Monica.
The beach is located along Pacific Coast Highway in Santa Monica. It is two miles long, has a picnic area, shops, and pier, as well as manned lifeguard...
Pomponio State Beach
Pomponio State Beach is a beach located 12.5 miles (20.1 km) south of Half Moon Bay and 2.5 miles (4.0 km) east of Pescadero off State Route 1, California, USA.
This area provides access to miles of gently sloping, sandy beaches at the base of high...
Will Rogers State Beach
Will Rogers State Beach is a beach on the Pacific coast of Southern California. It is located at Pacific Palisades and is protected as part of the California Department of Parks and Recreation.
The beach extends one and three quarters miles along...
Pismo State Beach
Pismo State Beach is a beach on the Pacific coast of California, located in the city of Oceano in San Luis Obispo County, California. It is protected as part of the California Department of Parks and Recreation.
The area covers beach, dunes, and...
Caspar Headlands State Beach
Caspar Headlands State Beach is a protected beach on the coast of California, in Mendocino County, located in Northern California. It is located near the village of Caspar.
In the early part of the twentieth century, the area was used for logging....
Area:
- 0.28733 km² (0.11094 mi² )
Greenwood State Beach
Greenwood State Beach, also known as Elk Beach, is located in the unincorporated village of Elk in Mendocino County. It is located about 15 miles (25 km) north of Point Area on Highway 1.
The beach is located in Elk, a lumber town through the 19th...
Chumash Painted Cave State Historic Park, California
Painted Cave State Historic Park is a small sandstone cave adorned with rock art attributed to the Chumash people, adjoining the small community of Painted Cave on Painted Cave Road about 2 miles north of State Route 154 and 11 miles northwest of...
Gray Whale Cove State Beach
Gray Whale Cove State Beach (a.k.a. Devil's Slide) is a privately operated (as of 2001) beach with special regulations, schedules, and fees, north of Montara, California, USA, by Highway 1. It features a sheltered cove surrounded by abrupt cliffs,...
