Just off the coast of Los Angeles, Channel Islands National Park is made up of five islands: San Miguel, Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz, Anacapa, and Santa Barbara. Rich in history, this park offers unique opportunities for everyone. Seafaring fans can enjoy stunning beaches, unparalleled diving experiences, and boating between the islands. Land-lovers can find spectacular hiking and campgrounds. History buffs can get their fix learning about the park’s more than 12,000 years of human history.

Who knew the famous 90210 ZIP code contains a national park? In fact, this and 25 more Los Angeles ZIP codes include land protected by Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, the world’s largest urban national park at 153,075 acres. True to the promise of southern California, there’s almost nothing you can’t do here: hiking, climbing, mountain biking, camping, and horseback riding are among the options.

Long honored, fanciful, and yes, even strange, the Joshua Tree is one of nature’s most peculiar and distinctive creations. Visitors can explore 800,000 acres of beautiful terrain in Joshua Tree National Park, where wildlife thrives in temperatures over 100 degrees. Although the park is open year-round, the weather is most comfortable during spring and fall when average daytime temperatures are in the mid 80's and fall at night to around 50 degrees.

Approximately 30 miles southeast of Bakersfield in Keene, California, within the property known as Nuestra Señora Reina de La Paz (Our Lady Queen of Peace), the Monument commemorates the home and final resting place of renowned Latino civil rights activist César E. Chávez. Visitors are welcome at the visitor center, the Memorial Garden in which César Chávez is buried, and the small Desert Garden planted nearby, all within La Paz.

Mojave National Preserve is one of the largest national preserves within the continental U.S. Rose-colored sand dunes, volcanic cinder cones, Joshua tree forests, and carpets of wildflowers are all found at this 1.6-million-acre park. A visit to its canyons, mountains, and mesas will reveal long-abandoned mines, homesteads, and rock-walled military outposts. For visitors looking for a break from nearby major metropolitan areas, the Mojave offers true peace and quiet.

Stark in appearance and haunting in name, Death Valley is a very-much-alive desert set between high, snow-capped mountains. The name doesn’t do justice to the vibrancy of Death Valley—the mysteries of the life sustained in this arid and isolated landscape capture the attention of adventurers. As America’s lowest, hottest, and driest national park, adventurous visitors enjoy its many extremes and mysteries, such as the sailing stones.

Honoring and preserving the memory of thousands of Japanese Americans who faced internment during World War II, Manzanar National Historic Site provides an opportunity to learn about the experience of over 10,000 Japanese Americans who spent all or part of World War II at Manzanar, as well as other eras of the site’s history, including early Owens Valley Paiute settlements and the influx of homesteading miners and ranchers in the mid-19th century.

Rising out of the chaparral-covered Gabilan Mountains, east of central California's Salinas Valley, the rock formations of Pinnacles National Park are the spectacular remains of an ancient volcano. With more than 30 miles of trails that access geological formations, spectacular vistas and wildland communities, a rich diversity of wildlife can be observed throughout the year. The Pinnacles' rock formations are also a popular destination to challenge technical climbers.

In 1542, Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo became the first European to step onto the West Coast of what is now the United States. Located in San Diego on Point Loma peninsula, visitors step back in time and rediscover the history of the city while taking in some of its most magnificent views.

Just outside of Las Vegas, Lake Mead National Recreation Area offers huge lakes for boaters, swimmers, and fishermen while its desert rewards hikers, photographers, and sightseers. Three of America's four desert ecosystems - the Mojave, the Great Basin, and the Sonoran Deserts - meet in Lake Mead. As a result, this seemingly barren area contains a surprising variety of plants and animals, some of which may be found nowhere else in the world.

Just beyond the glitz and glare of Las Vegas, Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument highlights a very different part of the Nevada desert, a rugged, seemingly barren badlands that holds prehistoric secrets. Here you’ll find the first national park to preserve and interpret the Ice Age (also called the Pleistocene Epoch).