Where should I go camping outside of LA?

April 5, 2019 10:58 AM

I live in Los Angeles and my birthday is next weekend and I just want to go be alone in the wilderness for a night and two days, with minimal interaction and noise from other people. Where should I go?

Further details:

* Would love it to be within a two hour drive.

* Isolated car camping is fine.

* A hike of up to five miles into where I sleep is also good.

* If there's cold or even a little bit of snow left on the ground, I can deal with that.

posted by kensington314 to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (10 answers total)

2 hour drive gets you out of LA? Things have changed then since I lived there ;)

How about Joshua Tree?
posted by terrapin at 11:20 AM on April 5, 2019

Two options off the top of my head:

Mount Pinos
Bear Flats camping area on Mount Baldy (San Antonio) - features a nice hike in.
posted by lilies.lilies at 11:45 AM on April 5, 2019

Toward Lake Hughes, Lake Elizabeth, in the San Gabriels. I was on the backside of this, you can go across that amazing ridgeline drive above Santa Clarita, and get to those lakes. On the backside of that is a valley with the LA Aqueduct, but along that area up there there are places.
posted by Oyéah at 11:46 AM on April 5, 2019 [2 favorites]

San Marcos Pass I would drive up highway one along the coast for a beautiful ocean view and head for San Marcos. The sky is so beautiful and dark the band of the Milky Way shines in all its glory. Gorgeous change to hills and spectacular rock formations. Double check that all the road are open.
posted by effluvia at 2:23 PM on April 5, 2019 [1 favorite]

You might look at the Tehatchapi area, just past Lancaster, it's not quite as far as going to the Kern river.
posted by vignettist at 2:49 PM on April 5, 2019

You'll have a hard time finding isolation within 2 hours (lots of camping options that close, but you'll be right up against a lot of other people looking for isolation within 2 hours). In our time in LA, the best bets when we weren't booking weeks or months in advance were Malibu Creek (which unfortunately looks closed for some police matters), and Wheeler Gorge near Ojai. There's a lot of other stuff in Los Padres beyond Wheeler Gorge, too.
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 3:21 PM on April 5, 2019

Toad Springs campground 34°51'40.6"N 119°13'38.9"W easy to get to , fun drive up from Frazier Park, less then half an hour from the 5 .
posted by hortense at 12:41 AM on April 6, 2019

For isolation you'll want to get away from drive in if you can. I'd suggest you drive to Palm Springs, take the tram up and hike in to one of the primitive campgrounds. BUT make sure the tram is open, I heard it was closed recently.

The Angeles National Forest is pretty close too and it's a National Forest so you can camp wherever. I prefer to hike in there as people tend to treat the more well known and accessible campsites as party pads but if you do drive in Buckhorn is usually pretty chill.

If you are willing to drive to Los Padres, it's awesome. I've camped all over up there. There is tons of wildlife and less people. it's rugged and easy to get lost so be aware. And bring water.
posted by fshgrl at 8:45 PM on April 6, 2019

Rose Valley Falls is low key, near Ojai, beautiful. I've hiked but not camped there, but my sister's friend camps there by herself a lot and loves it.
posted by j810c at 8:51 PM on April 6, 2019

I assume this is too late to be useful for your birthday, OP, but maybe next year: 5 awesome campsites within about 2 hours of Los Angeles.
posted by caek at 4:13 PM on April 15, 2019