Every year, millions of visitors follow the same route: Golden Gate, Hollywood, maybe Yosemite. Wonderful places, all of them. But some of California's most memorable experiences are hiding a little further off the highway, and you might have them almost to yourself.
Bowling Ball Beach, Mendocino County
At low tide, rows of almost perfectly round boulders appear on the sand at Schooner Gulch State Beach, lined up as if someone had abandoned a giant's game. They are concretions, formed over millions of years and slowly freed from the cliffs by erosion.
When to go: Check a tide chart. The boulders only appear at a low or negative tide.
The Lost Coast
The coastline here was so rugged that highway builders gave up and routed Highway 1 inland. The result is the longest stretch of undeveloped coast in California, with black-sand beaches, steep green mountains and the multi-day Lost Coast Trail.
Russian Gulch State Park
Just north of the village of Mendocino, an easy forest trail leads through ferns and second-growth redwoods to a 36-foot waterfall tumbling over mossy rocks. Combine it with a walk around the Devil's Punchbowl, a collapsed sea cave on the headlands.
Bodie State Historic Park
High in the eastern Sierra sits a Gold Rush boomtown that was simply left behind. Bodie is preserved in a state of "arrested decay," with dusty bottles on the shelves and furniture still in the houses. Read the full story of Bodie.
Lassen Volcanic National Park
Lassen is one of the least-visited national parks in California, which is remarkable considering it has bubbling mud pots, steaming fumaroles, alpine lakes and a volcano you can hike to the top of in summer.
Pigeon Point Lighthouse
On the quiet stretch of Highway 1 between Half Moon Bay and Santa Cruz, Pigeon Point is one of the tallest lighthouses on the West Coast. Come for sunset, stay for the tide pools, and watch for whales offshore in winter and spring.
How to explore responsibly
Hidden gems stay special when visitors treat them well. Stay on trails, pack out everything you bring, respect closures and seasonal wildlife protections, and check road conditions before heading somewhere remote. Cell service is limited in many of these places, so download maps before you go.
