Camping
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Somewhat Local
Pinecrest Lake
Limekln SP
I recommend Limekln SP near Big Sur to everyone. It has access to the beach and 3 small hiking trails from the campground. It's great for family camping.
Henry Coe state park
One of my favorites - that is very close (largest in CA). You may still be out of luck for this weekend for car camping spots, but if you're looking to backpack in there are both destination campgrounds (assigned day of) as well as free camping in the Eastern/South parts of the park. You'll likely have to carry water ...
Big Sur
There are plenty of places in the state that offer first-come, first-serve camping. If you feel like getting up and out early on Friday, you might get lucky. A few campgrounds in Big Sur operate this way -- try Plaskett Creek or Kirk Creek. In fact, all of the campgrounds operated by Parks Management are first-come, first-serve. If you don't get a spot, you can always spend the day at Sand Dollar beach... could be worse.
Yosemite
- start here: http://www.nps.gov/yose/pphtml/camping.html which directs you here: http://www.nps.gov/yose/trip/camping.htm
- http://www.koa.com/
- yosemite tends to be so crowded, so I typically only backpack there.
Other
- In Lake Tahoe .. go for http://www.camprichardson.com/ . They have cabins as well as Tent campsites. Right next to the lake.
- I really like the mokelumne wilderness near kirkwood. they have great wildflowers, which can been seen on hikes from the woods lake campground. that's one of my favorites. there are a few other campgrounds in the area too.
- also near kirkwood I enjoyed camping by the blue lakes. nice day hikes to lakes like granite lake.
- loon lake offers decent camping too, off of highway 50, bordering the desolation wilderness.
- a less crowded cool area is the area near downieville, sierra city, and bassett's. there are a ton of campsites around the yuba river and it's tributaries. you can have great hiking up the sierra buttes. packer lake, salmon lakes are cool. there's some cabins around there too, with canoes to rent.
- the Whiskeytown campgrounds in Redding, CA are good but their website is down at the moment.
- About 2 years ago a bunch of my buddies went to tuolumne meadows. It was by reservation i believe and we got a real secluded spot. There were plenty of bike trails and rafting areas not too far. We went down Cherry Creek. Anyway it was fun, you should check that place out.
