Transform your world in a warm Big Basin tent cabin

A cool night and a warm cabin in the redwoods can transform your world overnight into a life of freedom, leisure and play.

The best way I know to do that in the greater Bay Area is to book a night or two at one of the tent cabins at Big Basin Redwoods State Park in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

In winter, Big Basin (along with Point Reyes National Seashore) is one of the best parks for hiking in California.

Big Basin covers about 10,000 acres of redwoods and wildlands. The park has 80 miles of trails, waterfalls and an easy loop walk amid giant redwoods 1,500 to 2,000 years old.

The park is just far enough away — outside of Boulder Creek, about one to two hours for most in the Bay Area — that it requires an early wakeup on a weekend morning to do it right.

There’s a whole ’nother way to do it.

If you have been to Big Basin, you probably did not see the tent cabins. About 2 miles from headquarters and the main trailheads, off Huckleberry Camp Loop Road, 35 tent cabins are nestled in the redwoods.

The tent cabins are made of wood and canvas, and most measure 12 by 14 feet, with two full-size beds, a table and a wood stove. Wood bundles are available to buy for fires to make it toasty inside.

I bring just food and standard camping gear, including sleeping bags, lantern, flashlight, cooking gear and a cooler. If you do not have camping gear, you can rent just about anything you need there.

The cost is $99 per night for a standard cabin, $129 for a deluxe cabin and $159 per night for the cabin and camping package, which includes all the gear to make the trip work.

The coming three-day weekend is booked full, but there is space on weekdays this week, as well as throughout late winter and spring. As of Sunday, a few cabins were available for Feb. 23-24 and the following weekend. You can check cabin availability at www.reservecalifornia.com.

There might be no faster way to change your world than by making this trip.