The sea otters are so close you can hear one munching a crab, making a cracking sound like a kid with a bag of sunflower seeds. It's a cool, gray morning near the tiny town of Moss Landing, Calif., and I'm sitting in a flatbottom boat with 15 other passengers, gliding across the waters of Elkhorn Slough. The otters—27 of them in this particular group—seem wholly unconcerned with us. A mother otter nurses her pup; another rolls in the water. Some are brown, some streaked with gold.
For thousands of years Miwok Indians came to the island to catch salmon, the Spanish named the island Isla de los Angeles, the Russians hunted otters, the Mexicans brought cattle, and etween 1910 an 1940 Chinese immigrants were detained here.
This is a great place to hike, bike, picnic, camp, play volley ball, baseball, fish or take a tour to soak in the rich but storied history. There are 13 miles of hiking trails and 8 miles of bike trails.
From mid-March to mid-May, blossoms can carpet this 1,760-acre sliver of land on the Mojave Desert's west edge in Antelope Valley. In good years, poppies, lupines, owl's clover, goldfields, and creamcups spread color along seven miles of easy trails. The colors of nature will absolutely awe you! For more information, go to: parks.ca.gov/?page_id=627.
You don't always need to trek into the wild to lose yourself in nature. Just 12 miles north of San Francisco you'll find one of the most extraordinary natural spots on the planet: Muir Woods, which becase a national monument 100 years ago. Amid its 560 acres of ancient coast redwoods you might see coho salmon running up Redwood Creek, some 200 varieties of mushrooms emerging after the first rains, or ladybugs clustered on the fronds of a horsetail fern.
