Volcanoes to the Sea

California’s state capital is undergoing an energetic renaissance. Young adults looking for an urban vibe are moving into this low-key city, with microbreweries, gastropubs, and trendy boutiques popping up to serve them. Award-winning chefs are gaining attention for their focus on hyper-local ingredients, and relationships between restaurants and surrounding farms and ranches have become not a novelty, but the norm. Hot summer days create some of the nicest evenings anywhere in the state, where locals sit on porches in elegant Victorian-era homes, and kids scamper in leafy parks until the sun goes down.

As the state capital, there’s plenty going on, and gatherings of various colorful groups around the cupola-topped Capitol are common. Museums are centered largely around the Capitol Mall area and in historic Old Sacramento, the renovated area along the Sacramento River that was a core hub during the Gold Rush. Getting around to all these different locations is easy, and traffic jams are fleeting. Granted the gold award for bike-friendliness by the League of American Bicyclists, Sacramento is also a great place to explore by bike, with wide designated lanes, and paved trails along the American and Sacramento Rivers. There’s also a convenient light rail system to linking popular sites around town.

The leafy city of Chico makes an inviting destination. It’s home to a state university, and where there are college students, there is likely beer—in this case, very good beer.

Get a taste for where California’s current craft beer craze began with a visit to Sierra Nevada Brewing's expansive tasting room/restaurant/brewery complex. Take a self-guided tour, or join a guided one—offerings include a sustainability tour showcasing California’s largest privately owned solar installation, and an in-depth exploration of the brewery’s inner workings. Cool off with a frosty pint in the trellis-shaded Taproom & Restaurant. Sierra Nevada Brewing has been the catalyst for other small-batch breweries to open in the area. Stop by the Handle Bar for a great selection of craft beers on tap.

Steaming sulphur vents, splattering mud pots, boiling springs—these lively features at Lassen Volcanic National Park prove that our planet is a living entity. Start at the outstanding Kohm Ya-mah-nee Visitor Center, then head out to explore some of the park’s remarkable and safely accessible features, such as the geothermal site Bumpass Hell (open seasonally, check website for details). An easy, well-marked trail travels past roaring fumaroles and hissing vents (3 miles round-trip and worth the effort). Along the way, a short spur trail leads to a stunning panorama of peaks—actually the remnants of a massive volcano called Mount Tehama, which exploded some 500,000 years ago. The park’s signature volcano, Lassen Peak, last blew its top in May 1914. Today, things have settled down, and trails and overlooks let you safely see and learn about volcanic activity. In the park’s southern reaches, you’ll find two easy-to-reach waterfalls: 50-foot-high Kings Creek Falls is accessed by a downhill tromp through a verdant meadow, then a descent on a rocky staircase alongside Kings Creek. Mill Creek Falls plunges 75 feet over a moss-covered cliff (to see it, hike 1.5 miles from Southwest Campground).

Burney Falls, the 129-foot-tall, fern-draped cascade, 60 miles northeast of Redding in McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial State Park, is one of the most spectacular waterfalls in the western U.S. It’s no wonder 26th President Teddy Roosevelt dubbed it “the eighth wonder of the world.”

As you approach the main overlook, you’ll have to raise your voices to talk (or be happy in silence)—the broad wall of water faces you head on—splashing down the fern-covered face, tossing gushers and shards of rainbows left and right—finally plunging into a clear pool.

Continue down the path to the pool—where you are likely to look but only briefly touch: the water never goes much above 42 degrees. Fishermen don’t seem to mind; the big pool at the base, and Burney Creek above and below the cascade, are popular for catch-and-release fly-fishing.

Spend the day exploring California’s largest reservoir. A typical summer day finds the crystal blue waters sprinkled with fishing boats, jet skis, inner tubes—almost anything that floats. Nearly 370 miles/595 kilometers of shoreline wrap around coves ideal for dropping anchor to cast for bass, crappie, catfish, and sturgeon.

Plan an overnight (or longer) stay on a deluxe houseboat. Rentals range from basic models with comfortable accommodations to multi-tiered, floating palaces, with whirlpool spas, gourmet kitchens, and master suites with flat-screen TVs.

Other worthwhile stops around the lake include a free tour of 602-foot/183-meter Shasta Dam, the second largest concrete dam in the country. Prime your visit by listening to “This Land is Your Land,” Woody Guthrie’s ode to America, which he wrote while helping build the dam’s arch barrier. Or take a guided tour of Lake Shasta Caverns, a fascinating underground world 250 million years in the making—only accessible by boat (boat ride included with tour).