Places We Swim California: The Best Beaches, Rock Pools, Waterfalls, Rivers, Gorges, Lakes, and Hot Springs

Places We Swim California is a travel guide that explores California’s wilderness through swimming, documenting the state’s best beaches, hot springs, rivers, lakes, waterfalls, and canyons.

This beautiful book is divided into six distinct regions (Northern California, Sierra Nevada, Gold Country, Central California, Southern California, and The Bay Area) and covers more than 60 swimming locations, from river beaches in Mendocino to mountain lakes in Yosemite Valley, hot springs near Bishop and beaches on the south coast in San Diego. There’s also a selection of road trip itineraries that combine favorite swimming spots with other pit stops along the way.

California possesses an incredible range of climates and is home to some of America’s most iconic landscapes. Places We Swim California leans into the relationship between swimming, hiking, road trips, and other attractions - nostalgic diners, local breweries and coffee shops, smokey BBQ joints, and picturesque campsites. In many ways, swimming is really the perfect way to discover these places and landscapes.

Some key locations include Torrey Pines in San Diego; Big Sur River Gorge; Muir Beach in Marin County; Highway 49’s Hoyts Crossing on the Yuba River; the Grand Canyon of Tuolumne within Yosemite as well as Wild Willy’s Hot Spring in Mammoth Lakes.

Caroline Clements is an Australian writer and editor. She has produced cookbooks and travel guides with Australian publication Broadsheet, and has worked with global media brands such as The Guardian, The New York Times, Australian Traveller, Vogue and RUSSH.

Dillon Seitchik-Reardon is originally from New Mexico, USA, and lived and worked in Yosemite for many years. An environmental scientist and photographer, Dillon has co-written gardening books for the Little Veggie Patch Co. which have been translated into three languages. Together they have written and photographed two Australian best selling books, Places We Swim (2018), and Places We Swim Sydney (2020). Places We Swim California (2023) will be their third title.