Camping in So-Cal?

July 31, 2008 4:05 PM

Nice, private campsites in Southern California?

So I'm looking to go camping in late August. As I'm subject to the whims of the other people I'm going with, we've decided that we'd like to camp someplace with grass and preferrebly near a river. Not really interested n glam camping, we'd like to pitch tents. I've heard that there's camping near the Kern river, and that Mammoth is also pretty good too. Anyone got any other ideas?

posted by PostIronyIsNotaMyth to sports, hobbies, & recreation (6 comments total)

Neither the Kern River nor Mammoth are in what's usually considered to be "Southern" California. But if you're open to that kind of travel, check out Mineral King, which, while it isn't empty, is a little off the beaten path.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 4:25 PM on July 31, 2008

We've gone camping at Lake Cachuma and enjoyed it alot. We've also gone to Lake Piru which I would say avoid, doesn't sound like your kind of thing and certainly wasn't ours. I have some more info on our Cahcuma stay over at our family's camping blog, that offers some more detailed descriptions and a few photos.
posted by mr.anthony337 at 4:44 PM on July 31, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Treebones 16 yurts and 5 campsites
Heated ocean view pool and hot tub
about 30 miles south of the recent fire
posted by hortense at 4:51 PM on July 31, 2008

FYI, I was looking for campsites in SoCal around end of august and found that all campsites within ~30+ miles of Del Mar are booked–there's a ginormous horse race going on during that time (2nd to last weekend) and then its a holiday (last weekend). It's a shame, because that part of SoCal is beautiful!
posted by iamkimiam at 5:56 PM on July 31, 2008

Kern is 4 or 5 hours from LA. There are places just up the river from Kernville where you can camp for free. You can park your car and then hike all your junk up or down the river to some pretty private spots. It seems like most of the people take the spots near the parking lot. I can understand why because it's a hassle to carry a huge ice-chest 1/4 of a mile through rocks and shrubs and sand.

There are also pay, park-right-by-your-site places in the area.

You need to get a fire permit to have a fire at the free places. You need an axe, a shovel, and a bucket, or the rangers will get mad at you.

You can go tubing on the river right there too. Just ask the guys that sell tubes where to go. The river was pretty low when I went a few weeks ago. I don't know how it is now. There's probably some site where you can check. We got tubes for less than $20 each. You can also find some natural rock water slides, but again, the river might be too low.

I think I accidentally took the wrong freeway home from Solvang and drove through Lake Cachuma. It was beautiful. I've been meaning to camp there.
posted by low affect at 6:25 PM on July 31, 2008

For the love of Mike don't try and do it in Angeles National Forest!

(I know it's an older article but have things gotten a lot better?)
posted by codswallop at 8:10 PM on July 31, 2008