Back when I was a child, before my family left for the East Coast the summer I was nine, we were an adventurous bunch — mostly because my father was a biologist who specialized in reptiles and amphibians. That meant we packed the family tent and headed into the California wilderness to explore (and look for crawly critters).

We camped out in Yosemite, Sequoia, Joshua Tree and visited places like Death Valley and the Mojave Desert, to all the famous wild places in California. The ones everyone had heard of back then, and locals and tourists still visit today.

Then it was off to Washington, D.C., for my family. And while I always knew I would come back to live in California, it took me 30 years to return for good. When I got back, I was determined to head to parts of the state I’d never se

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