California State Parks
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The California State Parks System is vast. The system administers 280 separate park units on 1.4 million acres (570,000 hectares), with over 280 miles (450 km) of coastline; 625 miles (1,000 km) of lake and river frontage; nearly 15,000 campsites; and 3,000 miles (4,800 km) of hiking, biking, and equestrian trails. The California State Parks system is the largest state park system in the United States.
I've been to at least 56 or so (in 2020), and I still feel like I have only scratched the surface. The state park website offers detailed information about the parks (it is especially helpful to download brochures for the individual parks where they are available), but wikipedia has a really clear at-a-glance overview of the parks in chart form. Because I live in Northen California, I have focused my time and attention on parks in the north of the state. See below for parks visited. See further down the page for state parks that I plan to visit in the future! Most of the parks that I am interested in visiting are north of the lateral line from Bakersfield. |
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Parks Visited (click on photos):
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Andrew Molera State Park
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Angel Island State Park
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Año Nuevo State Park
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Armstrong Redwood State Natural Reserve
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Bean Hollow State Beach
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Big Basin (Main Campus)
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Bodie State Historic Park
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Brannan Island State Recreation Area
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Butano State Park
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Calaveras Big Trees State Park
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Carmel River State Beach
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Castle Crags State Park
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Castle Rock State Park
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Caswell Memorial State Park
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Del Norte Coast Redwood SP
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Ed Z'Berg Sugar Pine Point SP
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Emerald Bay State Park
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Fall Creek Unit of Henry Cowell SP
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Forest of Nisene Marks State Park
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Fremont Peak State Park
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Garrapata State Park
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Gray Whale Cove State Beach
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Half Moon Bay State Beaches
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Hendy Woods State Park
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Henry Coe State Park
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Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park
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Humboldt Redwood State Park
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Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park
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Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park
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MacKerricher State Park
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Malakoff Diggins State Historic Park
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Marina State Beach
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McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial State Park
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McNee Ranch State Park
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Mendocino Headlands State Park
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Mono Lake Tufa SNR
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Montaña de Oro State Park
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Mount Diablo State Park
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Mount San Jacinto State Park
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Natural Bridges State Park
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Old Sacramento SHP
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Pacheco
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Pescadero State Beach & Marsh
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Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park
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Pomponio State Beach
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Portola Redwoods State Park
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Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park
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Russian Gulch State Park
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Samuel P. Taylor State Park
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San Bruno Mountain State Park
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San Gregorio State Beach
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Sonoma Coast State Park
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Tomales Bay State Park
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Van Damme State Park
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Waddell State Beach (Big Basin)
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Wilder Ranch State Park
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State Parks to Visit:
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