Overview: You'll find countless options for exploring California's signature redwood forests, but few equal the grandeur of Big Basin Redwoods State Park, in the Santa Cruz Mountains south of San Jose.

Coast Redwoods, the world's tallest trees, thrive along a narrow, 450-mile strip of the Pacific Coast from Monterey, CA, to southern Oregon. The tallest are over 350 feet, the oldest over 2,000 years. A few of these ancient giants survived the onslaught of California's settlement era and were preserved with the creation of Big Basin Redwoods State Park in 1902.

The redwood behemoths form a cathedral-like canopy over the trails, creeks and campsites of Big Basin. No matter many forests you've walked through, you'll find something utterly different (and nearly impossible to define) in the redwoods. Maybe standing next to such large living things somehow reaffirms our own existence; whatever it is, you have to be there to experience it.

Tips: What to bring:
Map: Buy one at the park HQ.
Layers: It's often very cool in the redwoods but warm in the sun.
Camera
Binoculars
Proper Hiking gear (and food/water) if you plan to hit the trails.

Poison oak lurks near narrow trails
Stay on established trails -- it's easy to get lost at Big Basin and it can be hard to get found.
The hike to Berry Creek Falls is a major haul; make sure you're up for it. Water in the park's streams must be purified before drinking.

Fees:
$6 to park; see www.reserveamerica.com to reserve campsites, which go for $25-$28 per night plus $7.50 service fee; call (831) 338-8860 weekdays, 10 a.m.-5 p.m, to reserve a backpacking site -- $5 reservation fee plus $10 per night per sit

Berry Creek Falls

Not easy to get to -- a strenuous 12-mile hike is required -- but it's worth if you've got the legs: A series of waterfalls in close succession culminate at Berry Creek Falls, which drops about 70 feet and flows all year (though flow is much higher during the winter rainy season.) Ask the rangers at the park HQ for advice on the best route. Locals often hike to the falls from Big Basin's Waddell Creek entrance north of Santa Cruz on California Highway 1.

Banana Slugs

You're bound to see these shiny yellow mollusks inching across the trails at Big Basin. Don't touch: the salt in your skin is hazardous to theirs. The creatures are such a fixture of nearby trails that students at the University of California-Santa Cruz made the banana slug their official mascot.