Big Trees

Get ready to look up—way, way up. California has the biggest, tallest trees on the planet. Discover them at outstanding parks and preserves dotting the state. Coast redwoods, some topping out at well over 350 feet (and still growing) live in a narrow coastal band from roughly Big Sur to the Oregon border. Giant sequoia, with trunks measuring more than 30 feet in diameter, grow on the west side of the Sierra Nevada, with some trees starting out as seedlings some 3,500 years ago. You can hike among them, camp underneath them, and experience the magic of “forest bathing” on an epic scale.