My wife, eight yr-old son, and I will be camping around the southwest this fall from Aug - Dec, with at least three months or so out of five dedicated to camping time. We'll have a place in Mammoth Lakes, CA to base out of. Any advice on must-see locations along this general loop or things/places to watch out for?
We will be using three jungle hammocks or a tent, will be geared to backpack, but will mostly be car camping. We've done a lot of camping in Florida, but this will be our first time out west. Any chance to ride a horse is welcome, if anyone happens to know a good facility on the route above.
For example, I envision taking about a month starting from Mammoth Lakes, and stopping at DL Bliss SP near Lake Tahoe, then up to Lassen Volcanic NP, then to Russian Gulch on the coast. We would eat our way down the "cheese trail" until we got to Salt Point SP, then back to Mammoth Lakes by way of the Stanislaus NF. It's about 1,000 miles round trip.
It looks like there is also a ton of good camping within a day's easy drive of Mammoth Lakes (Yosemite, Inyo NF, Sierra NF, Kings Canyon, etc.), so any recommendations there are welcome!
Also, we have what I call the "Grand Canyon Loop" yet to plan: seeing Death Valley, Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce, and then back to Mammoth Lakes...about twice as far as the NoCal loop above. I'll do a separate post on this as it develops.
Any advice or commentary on timing, route, camping locations, scenic stops, horseback riding, good places to stop, places to avoid, and places that aren't safe is welcomed!
This is a dup of a post in tent camping, hoping to tap into the CA camping knowledge base here! Thanks!
We will be using three jungle hammocks or a tent, will be geared to backpack, but will mostly be car camping. We've done a lot of camping in Florida, but this will be our first time out west. Any chance to ride a horse is welcome, if anyone happens to know a good facility on the route above.
For example, I envision taking about a month starting from Mammoth Lakes, and stopping at DL Bliss SP near Lake Tahoe, then up to Lassen Volcanic NP, then to Russian Gulch on the coast. We would eat our way down the "cheese trail" until we got to Salt Point SP, then back to Mammoth Lakes by way of the Stanislaus NF. It's about 1,000 miles round trip.
It looks like there is also a ton of good camping within a day's easy drive of Mammoth Lakes (Yosemite, Inyo NF, Sierra NF, Kings Canyon, etc.), so any recommendations there are welcome!
Also, we have what I call the "Grand Canyon Loop" yet to plan: seeing Death Valley, Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce, and then back to Mammoth Lakes...about twice as far as the NoCal loop above. I'll do a separate post on this as it develops.
Any advice or commentary on timing, route, camping locations, scenic stops, horseback riding, good places to stop, places to avoid, and places that aren't safe is welcomed!
This is a dup of a post in tent camping, hoping to tap into the CA camping knowledge base here! Thanks!
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