Trinidad

On California's far north coast, Redwood National Park and three state parks, Jedediah Smith Redwoods, Del Norte Coast Redwoods and Prairie Creek Redwoods, together protect the tallest trees on Earth. The national park was created in 1968, the area became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980, and since 1994 the National Park Service and California State Parks have managed it jointly.About 96 percent of the world's old-growth coast redwood forest has been logged; these parks hold roughly 45 percent of what's left. The tallest known tree, Hyperion, stands about 380 feet, and its location is deliberately kept secret and off-trail. Beyond the forests, the parks take in prairies with Roosevelt elk herds, rivers and about 37 miles of coastline.Good to knowFees: The national park is free, with no entrance stations, and the scenic drives through the state parks are free too. You only pay at some state park areas, such as $12 per vehicle for Gold Bluffs Beach and Fern Canyon (waived with an America the Beautiful pass).Permits: Fern Canyon requires a free parking permit in summer, and Tall Trees Grove a free permit year-round. Both are online only and released up to 24 hours ahead.Time: With about 200 miles of trails, four campgrounds and five visitor centers, the parks deserve two or three days, not just a quick stop off US 101.Summer often brings fog and cool temperatures under the trees. Pack a rain jacket whatever the season.

The Presidio, the Marina and Lands End cover San Francisco's northwest corner, between the Golden Gate Bridge and the Pacific. This is where you spend time outdoors: on the beach at Crissy Field, on wooded trails in the Presidio and along the Lands End coastal trail with views of the Golden Gate.The Marina is an affluent waterfront neighborhood with the Palace of Fine Arts, the Fort Mason cultural center and Chestnut Street for restaurants and bars. Just west is the Presidio, an Army post from 1776 to 1994 and now part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, with museums in old barracks, the Tunnel Tops park and Fort Point under the bridge. Farthest west, the Lands End trail winds through cypress groves to the ruins of the Sutro Baths.Plan your day: Walk from the Palace of Fine Arts across Crissy Field to Fort Point (about 3 miles), then take the bus out to the Lands End Lookout.Weather: Fog and wind hit here first. Summer mornings are often gray, so bring a jacket.

Fisherman's Wharf, North Beach and Chinatown sit side by side in San Francisco's northeast corner, between the bayfront and the Financial District. On foot, you can work your way from Chinatown's dim sum bakeries through North Beach's espresso bars down to the piers in half a day.Chinatown starts at the Dragon Gate on Grant Avenue, the stretch of souvenir shops and restaurants. For everyday Chinatown, with produce stands and fish markets, walk one block over to Stockton Street. North Beach is the old Italian neighborhood around Columbus Avenue and Washington Square, full of pizzerias, delis and the bars where the Beat writers drank in the 1950s. Above it rises Telegraph Hill and Coit Tower. Fisherman's Wharf is the most touristy part of town: crab stands, T-shirt shops, Pier 39 and the Alcatraz ferry.Plan your day: Chinatown in the morning, lunch in North Beach, then up to Coit Tower in the afternoon and down to the Wharf. From the Dragon Gate to Pier 39 is about 1.5 miles.The Wharf: An hour is plenty for Pier 39 and the sea lions. You'll eat better in North Beach or Chinatown than at the waterfront places that live off foot traffic.

Oregon runs along the Pacific between California and Washington, packing rugged coast, volcanoes, waterfalls, and Crater Lake, the deepest lake in the country, into a single road trip. Most trips start in Portland, the state's largest city.East of Portland, the Columbia River Gorge cuts inland between basalt cliffs, with Multnomah Falls on its south wall and Mount Hood, at 11,249 feet the state's highest peak, rising above it all. About 80 miles west is Cannon Beach and Haystack Rock, and down in the southern Cascades, Crater Lake fills the caldera of a volcano that collapsed some 7,700 years ago.South of Portland, the Willamette Valley is known for its Pinot Noir. July through September is the best window for a loop, when even the high country around Crater Lake is free of snow.

Nob Hill, Russian Hill and the Fillmore are the hilltop neighborhoods west of Chinatown and North Beach: the railroad barons' grand hotels and cathedral on top, steep residential streets with stairways and gardens to the north, and Japantown and the old Fillmore Street jazz corridor to the west. Come for the cable cars, the views from the hills and Lombard Street, and stay for a drink at the Nob Hill hotel bars.Cable cars are the most practical way around here: the Powell-Hyde line climbs over Nob Hill to Lombard Street, and the California line crosses Nob Hill to Van Ness Avenue. Give Nob Hill and Russian Hill half a day, and save an afternoon for Japantown, Fillmore Street and Alamo Square with the Painted Ladies, a few blocks south.Nob Hill: Grace Cathedral, the Cable Car Museum, Huntington Park and the Fairmont and Mark Hopkins hotels.Russian Hill: Lombard Street, Macondray Lane and stairways with bay views.Japantown and the Fillmore: Japan Center and the Peace Pagoda, ramen and sushi, and on Fillmore Street, boutiques, restaurants and live jazz.The hills are seriously steep. If you're walking, allow extra time going up, and take the cable car or bus back.