The Best in Tent Camping: Southern California A Guide for Car Campers Who Hate RVs, Concrete Slabs, and Loud Portable Stereos

by Huber, Jane; Mai, Bill

• ISBN13: 9780897325813
• ISBN10: 0897325818
• Edition: 3rd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-09-01
• Publisher: Menasha Ridge Press

Summary

From the aromatic pine woods and cascading streams of the southern Sierra Nevada to the starkly beautiful desert landscapes of Death Valley, The Best in Tent Camping: Southern California is a guidebook for tent campers who like quiet, scenic, and serene campsites. It's the perfect resource if you blanch at the thought of pitching a tent on a concrete slab, trying to sleep through the blare of another camper's boombox, or waking to find your tent surrounded by a convoy of RVs. Whether you are a Southern California native in search of new territory or a vacationer on the lookout for that dream campground, this book will help you unlock the secrets to the best tent camping that Southern California has to offer.

Author Biography

Bill Mai spent his childhood summers camping with his family. A resident of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, he lived in California for many years where he wrote screenplays.

Table of Contents

(1) Introduction (2) Andrew Molera State Park (3) Fremont Peak State Park (4) Kirk Creek/Plaskett Creek (5) Lion (6) Malibu Creek State Park (7) Manresa Uplands State Beach (8) Montana de Oro State Park (9) Morro Bay State Park (10) Point Mugu State Park (11) Ventana (12) Arroyo Salado (13) Cuip Valley (14) Little Blair Valley (15) Mesquite Springs (16) Mid Hills (17) Saddleback Butte State Park (18) Vallecito State Park (19) White Tank (20) Atwell Mill (21) Big Pine Creek (22) Buckeye Flat (23) Cold Springs (24) Dorst (25) East Fork (26) Fairview (27) Four Jeffrey/Sabrina (28) Horse Meadow (29) Lower Peppermint/Camp 6 Fire Safe Area (30) Minaret Falls (31) Moraine (32) Princess (33) Quaking Aspen/Peppermint (34) Rancheria (35) Redwood Meadow (36) Shake Camp (37) Tillie Creek (38) Trapper Springs (39) Twin Lakes (40) Vermillion (41) White Wolf (42) Wishon (43) Dark Canyon (44) Doane Valley (45) Hanna Flat (46) Heart Bar (47) Laguna (48) Marion Mountain (49) Paso Picacho (50) William Heise County Park

Excerpts

Fremont Peak State Park is deliriously beautiful in April and May, when the spring grasses are green and feathery, and the flowers are blooming. It's a great place to go when the coast is socked in with fog. Climb to the peak and look out over the richest farmland and the richest marine area in the world.

The drive up to the park from San Juan Bautista is alternately lovely, chilling, and lovely again. At first, you take a winding, old country road out of the valley and up into oaks draped with mistletoe. Then you burst into Road Warrior country. On the left is the Hollister Hills State Vehicular Recreation Area, where off-road enthusiasts bring their vehicles. It's a land of tire-ripped hills and torched brush. Scary. But persevere and you arrive at the mountaintop to enter Fremont Peak State Park with its oaks, pines, and incredible views.

The camping here is primitive and best suited for tents. All the sites are roomy, grassy, and shaded by oaks. There is potable water, and each site boasts an incredible view of Monterey Bay. How-ever, it is best to avoid the area in the summer, when Gavilan Peak is overrun by nasty, little biting flies.

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Excerpted from The Best in Tent Camping: Southern California, 3rd: A Guide for Campers Who Hate RVs, Concrete Slabs, and Loud Portable Stereos by Bill Mai
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