Ok. I took a road trip to Guerneville, CA (Sonoma County) and loved camping up there.

What are your favorite spots that are about 5-8 hours away? Let a noob know.

I'm looking to take off places this summer. Thanks.

Try to buy one of this if you want to http://www.4x4books.com/gtcan.htm
It has lots of info for trails and camping sites.

just my 2 centavos

I know of two other books you can check as well if you have my situation...

The Dog Lover's Companion to California - The Inside Scoop on Where to Take Your Dog

Great reference for camping at dog friendly places.

Also...

Day Trips with a Splash - Swimming Holes of California

It's really great and has some great places to visit or camp.

If memory serves me correctly, I picked 'em both up @ REI.

B.

Yosemite. Without a doubt. Slice of heaven that place.

As a matter of fact, I'm going later this month to do some climbing and camping (b4 it gets too hot).

Hit your local bookstore and look for some offerings about camping in the Eastern Sierra. There is so much there to see and experience; I try to get there several times a year if possible. It's the gateway to so many places that you'll never get bored finding stuff.

5-6 hours: Mammoth Lakes, Kings Canyon and Sequoia NP.

2-4 hours: Joshua Tree NP, Anza-Borrego SP, any number of State Parks along the coast north of Malibu, (Sycamore Canyon is my favorite), and through out the Santa Monica Mts.

Just beware of the desert parks, (late spring through early fall), - these are not happy places "off-season".

Joshua Tree and Anza-Borrego offer some of the best places to wheel.

The Mammoth Lakes region has plenty of fire roads to drive, natural hot springs and the scenery can be inspiring (watch out for the bears - I've seen one "open" a car to get at a cooler that was left uncovered).

Don't forget Death Valley, that place is awsome, The club was up there earlier this year and it was my first trip. I will for sure be back there.

Big bear is another good place to camp, wheel, bike, hike, geocache, etc. Just about anything mountainy or out doorsy.

You can always come up here to Santa Barbara, I'd be glad to show you up to the natural hotspring in the back country, plus in summer it's not gonna be too hot.

i'll second the 'watch for bears in the sierras'

my buddy and i were camping up there and he had his car dismantled by a bear going for the cooler that WAS covered... and welldisguised we thought... that damn bear took everything we had for 10 days worth of camping on night 1.

so we moved out of yosemite up to Tioga Lake... and ate fish and canned chili(we spent the money we save dby leaving yosemite on supplies) for 10 days...

best camping trip of my life.

How safe would a cooler be if your were to secure it to a laodwarrior every night. Are you asking for trouble?

Could very well be. Ice chests = candy bars for bears. Last time I was up at Whitney Portal, the rangers were coming by and issuing warnings just for having them ice chests visible, because the bears know them on sight, not to mention smell. Stowing the ice chest or even containers that resemble them in bear lockers at campsites is the best option.

I know that for hiking, there are a few bear-proof (supposedly) containers plus a sack for them that has dozens of feet of cord attached to them so you can hang them from a tree.

Orrrr you just use an Engel 12v fridge/freezer

Used the crap out of that sucker on my two week trip. Well worth the price. Was with a buddy who had a chest, and he prolly paid for 1/5 of the entire cost just in buying ice on that one trip.

I'll never leave home without it.

Yeah can’t go wrong with the national parks…but plan ahead and try to go midweek:
http://www.nps.gov/applications/parksearch/state.cfm?st=ca

Yosemite
Sequoia / King Canyon’s

If you have more time:
Lassen
Redwoods

CA has some great state parks like Big Sur
http://www.parks.ca.gov/parkindex/default.asp?tab=2

For me anything in the Sierra's...Rubicon is one of my favorites for wheelin.

Wolf…I'm saving up for the Engel's, is the ice maker a option? or did you guys rig something up?

Brian

has a temp setting.. 1 through 6. 1 is fridge, 2 is super cold, and beyond that starts freezing.

...and yet nobody has a problem camping while bears are around???

B.

um.. its called WILDerness for a reason.

if you have a problem with real life wildlife you should stay home and watch it on discovery channel.

I also vote Yosemite for summer but I prefer the high meadows to the main valley. Tuolomme (sp) Meadows is awesome. But anywhere in the Sierra is great. The area east of Yosemite, beyond Mono Lake, would be great to explore too.

Yeah, but when sombody asks if ice chests are safe, is it not ok to answer them? I guess you are right, telling them to stay home and watch discovery is a better idea. :rolleyes:

Somtimes I wonder about you.

i have no idea what your babbling about...

um... its the wilderness... the tips of how to handle ice chests was covered prior to BEAR5_0's post... it was obvious he was concerned about bears PERIOD, not about what to do with an ice chest.

obviously camping in areas where bears live is not something he would be comfortable with.

Trying to talk my brothers and father into backpacking in to Ten Lakes/Grant Lakes. It's up near Tioga Pass in Yosemite. Haven't been there in decades.

Tioga Pass and Specificly Tioga and Elery Lakes and the small stream that connects them is my single favorite place to camp and fish...

not favorite in CA, Favorite EVER...

the beauty of the area is simply stunning.

These are my personal favorite California books.
off road adventures:

Norcal http://www.4x4books.com/can4wd.htm

Socal 1 http://www.4x4books.com/cas4wd.htm
2 http://www.4x4books.com/bycd.htm

Hot springs

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1890880051/sr=1-2/qid=1150512578/ref=pd_bbs_2/102-5386869-6082546?%5Fencoding=UTF8&s=books

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0762736410/sr=1-4/qid=1150512578/ref=sr_1_4/102-5386869-6082546?%5Fencoding=UTF8&s=books

Personally...I had no idea that my little tongue-in-cheek comment would have such a backlash.

And nobody bothered to comment on my handle/nickname after I asked a question or commented on the safety of bears in campsites!!!!!!!!

OMG!

B.

Hey guys.....Jesus, i forgot i started this thread. THe book about swimming holes sounds really great. Im going to look for it on Amazon.

Thanks Chris for the invite to Santa Barbara. I think it would be cool to check those out. Im leaning on Santa Barbara or Big Sur (xtoolbox) this weekend. My buddy just got a new job and i want to go "Sideways" and take a road trip this weekend.

Again, i wish i would of bought a 4x4. I feel so limited with my 2WD.

Hey toolbox, you have any pics of Big Sur and things to do?
And if anyone has any pictures or things to do in the lower Sierras, that would be great. Sometimes its best to hear it from real people and not a book.

Thanks.

If you want a road trip this weekend, come on the club run in SD. This time it's 2WD friendly and will be just a fun time for everyone to hang out. Info's on www.sccxterra.com.

If you want to join us, post up and I'll bring the Eastern Sierra stuff I have for you to check out. I head up to the "Range of Light" a lot and have some materials I've collected over the years that you could check out that may be of use.

Hope this helps.

Hey, thanks a lot Bobby. Thats really cool of you. I've made arrangements that imma knock out two birds with one stone..... if i go up north im going to pick up my mother along the way and drop her off at an aunts house around Lompoc and pick her up on the way back, heh.
Maybe next time i can join you guys on a run. Sounds like a good time!
Thanks again!!!