A YEAR OF LIVING ADVENTUROUSLY

“I love you, California, you’re the greatest state of all I love you in the winter, summer, spring, and in the fall.”

— “I Love you, California,” the official state song

There is no shortage of studies that conclude we’re happier and healthier when we spend more time in nature. Good news, Bay Area: We live in a place where we can cut loose year round.

Take your pick: mountain ranges, redwood forests, plunging waterfalls, wild rivers, placid lakes and a gorgeous coastline that touches the largest body of water on Earth — each place offers an escape from our pent-up lives.

Our premiere issue of Outdoors 365 takes you through four seasons’ worth of trips and adventures in counties throughout Northern California. Some are familiar (river rafting and skiing in the Sierra, hiking in the coastal hills) and some are offbeat (surfing with dogs, forest therapy, a frigid Pacific plunge). Activities range from low key to family friendly to action packed.

Your guides are Chronicle writers and contributors who together know the West better than anyone else. This is a collection of their favorite adventures near and not so near. Award-winner Tom Stienstra, California’s most traveled outdoors writer, reveals his favorite hikes and trails. Plan a weekend around one of our scenic road trips; follow the fall foliage, explore national parks and monuments, pitch a tent in the woods or on the beach. Learn to surf or ski. Go wildlife watching. Or simply embrace summer’s fog.

This is our invitation to come outside and play. Use it as a guide as well as inspiration to explore your backyard, and maybe even check off a box on your bucket list.