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

F RIENDS AND FAMILY GET TOGETHER, and pretty soon somebody starts talking about going camping, fishing the streams, and hiking the high country, and suddenly everybody wants to go. Usually the proposed trip fizzles out the next morning because nobody knows quite where to go, or how to arrange it, and nobody wants to end up camping in a little tent on a slab of concrete surrounded by hard-partying RV-ers. Nobody knows a sure good campground, so the whole camping adventure dies on the vine.

Well, thats why you buy this book. Youll discover fifty of the most wonderful spots to tent camp in Southern California and learn how to reserve a spot if necessary, what to expect, and how to get there. All the campgrounds listed here are attractive, clean, safe, and well run.

The best are in the desert, along the coast, and in the mountains. Each of the campgrounds is rated in categories of beauty, site privacy, site spaciousness, quiet, security, and cleanliness, so you pick the best from the best. Theres not a loser here. Your choice will depend on what you like and what time of year you want to go camping.

I selected my campgrounds by going camping, by finding the tent-friendly campgrounds, by talking to rangers, and by buttonholing other campers or locals and asking them their favorite spot. I tried to be objective. I reined in my preference for big country pine and boulder-style campgrounds and gave the nod to some campgrounds located deep in the woods. I spaced out the campgrounds, I picked geographically as well as seasonally, and I stayed away from very small campgrounds because even if a few folks show up, theyre full.

When you get out and start camping, youll find your own hit parade of campgrounds. Youll stumble upon all the tiny gems with three or four sites and explore all the fantastic places in the mountains and desert where you can camp anywhere you want. Its a whole new world.

A Word about This Book and Southern California Tent Camping

D RIVE FROM A CAMPGROUND BELOW sea level in Death Valley to a campground 10,000 feet up by a glacier in the Sierras in two hours. This diversity is Southern California camping. The Big Sur coast is a wonder of the world. Anza-Borrego State Park is as big as Rhode Island. In the southern mountains, Mt. San Jacinto feels like little Switzerland. Near Julian, youd swear you were in Vermont. This is a beautiful, beautiful area, and the tent camping is superb. The beaches of the southern coast are legendary.

GEOGRAPHY

For the purposes of this book, Southern California is everything below a line drawn from Santa Cruz across the top of Yosemite National Park to the Nevada border. This area is divided into the Coast, the Desert, the Northern Sierras, and the Southern Sierras.

These four areas represent an amazing diversity in terrain. The Coast includes the 200 miles of sandy beaches north of the Mexican border to above Santa Barbara, and the mountains that parallel the shore above the Los Angeles Basin to Santa Cruz. The Desert, in the southeast corner of California, is a vast and fascinating area of three desertsMojave, Colorado, and Sonoranextending to the Colorado River. The Northern Sierras, or Sierra Nevada, the largest mountain mass in the United States, extends north from the Mojave Desert to Sequoia, Kings Canyon, and Yosemite. The Southern Sierras include the San Bernardinos and other minor ranges that extend southeast into Mexico.

WHERE TO GO AND WHEN

Pleasant camping can be found on the coast year-round. For winter and early spring camping, head for the desert. Between Death Valley National Park, East Mojave National Preserve, Joshua Tree National Park, and Anza-Borrego Desert State Park you could camp all winter and never stay in the same spot twice. Camp the Northern and Southern Sierras in the spring, summer, and fall. The southern beaches are a year-round affair. Never camp the desert in the summer, and camp the mountains in the winter only if you are prepared to go snow camping.

THE RATING SYSTEM

The best campgrounds are rated in various categoriesfive stars is best, and one star is acceptable. Use the rating system to select the wonderful campground that combines the elements that best suit you.

BEAUTY

While all the campgrounds in this book are beautiful, some are absolutely sensational. They rate five stars, with mountains, streams, waterfalls, and sunsets all conspiring for a drop-dead campground personality. One- to four-star campgrounds are no dogs, either, but possess a less-spectacular beauty that will grow on you.

PRIVACY

Some campgrounds are very well built. The sites are arranged to take maximum advantage of the contour of the land, and the vegetation gives each one the most privacy possible. Good architecture cuts down on the cringe factor when other campers pull in next door. It makes you feel at home from the moment you step out of your car. What a difference!