The author and his partner spent six months with their toddler exploring the state’s wildest places in an old motorhome

As one of the most photographed, filmed and crooned about places in the world, California often feels like an idea as much as a state, deeply familiar even to those who have never been here. Yet the best of California is not what we have built. The source of California’s true power is its wilderness.

Wilderness gives us permission to be small, to be dwarfed by places that are greater than us and to feel awe at being part of it. Being in nature allows us to step into a timescale beyond ourselves, to unburden our cluttered minds and become totally engrossed in the present. That’s part of the reason why, after emerging from the depths of the pandemic, my partner, Caroline, and I bought an old motorhome and, along with our toddler, spent six months exploring and photographing the state’s wildest places.