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Getting stoked for Steamers Lane (Timothy Archibald) Outside University: The Top 40 When it came to ranking North America's best places to learn, live, work, and play, we did our homework, canvassing hundreds of colleges and enlisting an able crew of undergrad reporters. Then we narrowed the honor roll down to 40 schools that turn out smart grads with top-notch academic credentials, a healthy environmental ethos, and an A+ sense of adventure. 1 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT SANTA CRUZ Santa Cruz, California LOCAL COLOR Beautiful beaches, great surf, redwood forests, coastal mountains, and a Mediterranean climate make UC Santa Cruz, on the northern tip of Monterey Bay, a hard place to study. Everything about this seaside oasis (pop. 55,000) is eclectic, from the surfers, farmers, students, and Silicon Valley refugees who call it home to the quirky early-20th-century architecture. On weekend mornings, you'll find kayakers on the Class III-IV San Lorenzo River, surfers paddling out to Steamers Lane, at Lighthouse Field State Beach, and scuba divers descending to the kelp forests in Monterey Bay. When the adrenaline wears off, the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk is the spot to people-watch. WORD ON THE QUAD Seventy percent of the 2,030-acre campus, which sits in the redwood forests of the Santa Cruz Mountains, is undeveloped. The largely native-Californian student population is a laid-back, liberal crowd that whizzes through the campus's elaborate 11-mile trail system on (what else?) Santa Cruz mountain bikes. UCSC's academic strengths are as diverse as the town: The Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems (a.k.a. the Farm and Garden program) teaches students to develop food sources that are environmentally sound and socially responsible; the Institute for Marine Sciences has backyard access to microscopic plankton and massive blue whales. The Office of Physical Education, Recreation and Sports offers everything from scuba lessons and surfing outings to day hikes and multiday backpacking trips in the Santa Cruz Mountains, as well as—how Cali—a variety of outdoor meditation arts. To continue reading you must be a member of OutsideOnline, a partner in The Away Network. Membership is FREE, and joining should take less than a minute. Click here to join now. If you're already a member of OutsideOnline, click here to log in. To learn more about The Away Network before joining, click here More Reasons to Join: In addition to unrestricted access to all content on Away.com, OutsideOnline.com, and GORP.com, you'll get: >> Monthly Special Issues: From Skiing and Snow Sports in October to our Ultimate Guide to National Parks in June >> Free Screensavers and Desktop Wallpaper: Inspirational adventure travel photos for your desktop >> Access to GORPtravel: The one-stop shop for thousands of active and adventure vacation packages >> Free Travel Catalogs: Featuring in-depth trip descriptions, schedules, and itineraries >> Travel Giveaways: New chances to win adventure vacations every month, plus free travel brochures and vacation kits for a variety of destinations advertisement