Forest Towns In California (San Francisco, Glendale: to rent, crimes, college)

[wildintheforest]

I live in Southern California and would like to relocate to Central/Northern California. I am looking for a quaint, affordable, forest town with an abundance of healthy food (farmers' markets / healthy produce) and trees. I also like friendly, open-minded people. I'll be driving to northern California in February (with a stop in Santa Cruz) and exploring towns along the way. Any suggestions on places?

[Natural510]

Places like Arcata & Redding would fit what you're looking for, just keep in mind the more affordable towns in California usually are tough if you are looking for work. A lot of places in Sonoma & Napa counties would fit the bill also (Sebastapol, Guerneville, etc) but are becoming increasingly expensive thanks to Wine Country.

[Snort]

Forestville.

[Ruth4Truth]

Explore all the towns in the Santa Cruz mountains while you're there, OP. You can't find more abundant trees than there, and parts of the Russian River area north of the Bay Area. Check out Felton, among others, and pay a visit to Big Basin State Park (a redwood forest) up the road from Felton.

Marin County, across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco, has some nice redwood-y towns (Mill Valley. Get out of your car and walk around town.) It really depends on what you can afford. (Probably not Marin County.)

Farther north, closer to the Oregon border, you'll find plenty of trees and health-minded people. (Arcata & environs, as someone mentioned, Crescent City.) Also, there will be more water up there; it's rainier of there than farther south, where the weather's been very dry for years. And it'll be a bit more affordable up there, too. Understand that "affordable" is a very relative term when you're talking about anywhere near the coast in CA.

[nightlysparrow]

You're going to be looking from the perspective of the 101 on this trip, but maybe on a future trip consider the perspective of the 5 going north of Redding, like Mt. Shasta and the mountain towns up there.

[Tolerance999]

Originally Posted by Snort

Forestville.

No. meth. Stick to incorporated Auburn, Folsom, and El dorado Hills, and Truckee, Tahoe. Otherwise you'll get your stuff stolen.

I really like the north shore of Tahoe and Truckee. It's very safe and most of the meth and associated crimes is in south lake Tahoe.

Redding, also has a huge Meth problem, such as near whiskeytown lake.

Mt. Shasta city is a Buddhist, hippie, yuppie enclave and a peaceful place to live, with a Meth problem on the edges

San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara have oak woodlands around them and both are very safe. Same with thousand oaks, ojai, and the Santa Monica mountains.

Mammoth lakes is relatively affordable to rent, with beautiful pines.

[OwlKaMyst]

When traveling 101, take a parallel detour along Avenue of the Giants. Pass by Philipsville, but have a look at Miranda and Weott. There is not much for quick commerce there as the main hub is Redway/Garberville (check those out too).
Arcata is a college town. I have friends there and used to work there. It was nice 5 years ago, but friends tell me that with in the last three months there have been several stabbings. That was unheard of before. Not saying it's not safe. I'm fairly certain that the stabbings were nothing done upon a random person, likely a beef between two low life's. Still it's a bit unsettling.
If you enjoy the ocean, even if it's cold, check out Fortt Bragg area and Trinidad.

[semispherical]

Auburn, Colfax, Meadow Vista, Alta, Forestville, Cool, Grass Valley, Penn Valley, Nevada City

[wildintheforest]

Thank you for sharing your knowledge. This information is great! I will definitely explore the Santa Cruz area, as well as Sonoma County, Mendocino and towns near the Oregon border. Mt. Shasta has been on my list for a while so I want to check out that area too. The Avenue of the Giants sounds lovely...thanks for the suggestion. Grateful for all the handy recommendations.

[TheDragonslayer]

Along 299 between Arcata and Redding are many tiny hamlets in the woods; Willow Creek, Weaverville, Salyer, Hawkins Bar and quite a few more, just east of Arcata is Blue Lake, Glendale and Korbel. Weaverville and Willow Creek both have views of parts of the Trinity Alps or Mount Shasta all of which are covered in snow this year down to about 3500 feet and lower. 299 starts at 101 between Arcata and McKinleyville and goes for 143 miles east to Redding through the mountains.