 A good way to find good out-of-the-way campsites |
| Review Date: June 11, 2002 |
| Reviewer: camisdad, Berkeley, CA, United States |
There are many, many campgrounds in California, and we spent several years selecting the targets of our camping trips based on friends' recommendations, or CA State or National Parks descriptions. Unfortunately, our criteria were not often what people were recommending a campsite for, and there are so many parks in CA that a comparative selection based on raw data is overwhelming. What we wanted was:
1. beauty
2. quiet and serenity
3. less popular sites (to stay away from the crowds)
4. car-camping or near car-camping (we have a toddler).Bill Mai's guide enabled up to make some quick selections based on his descriptions and ratings. His campsites are a highly rated selection already (his criteria are pretty close to ours), the information is fairly good, he gives good input on the best season to go, and his descriptions are very accurate. We ended up going to several campsites he recommended last year and never were disappointed. This year we have plans for several others based on his input.
It is simply an easy way to choose good places to go without having to worry that the site will be less than what our expectations are for it. |
Carefully researched & well-organized guide for car campers.
|
| Review Date: May 21, 2002 |
| Reviewer: Outdoor Woman, Folsom, Ca United States |
| This is the perfect guide for campers who are trying to escape California's crowded, car-choked campgrounds. Arranged by region (the Coast, Sierras, & Cascade Range),this guide rates and reviews 50 prime campgrounds. Two to three page profiles describe the campgrounds features and include information on nearby attractions and activities such as hiking, fishing, boating, swimming, picnicking, and bicycling. An easy-to-read sidebar lists contact information, facilities, open dates, parking, fees, and regulations. Written in a friendly, upbeat style, this is an enjoyable and informative read . However if you have the first edition, skip this one. The second edition updates the information but covers the same campgrounds. |
This book is very accurate and has become our camping bible.
|
| Review Date: September 15, 1998 |
| Reviewer: S. Harle, Marin County, California |
| We have used this book to take us to areas we have not previously discovered and are very grateful to have it as our guide as it has really made our summer exciting by discovering more of California's wilderness areas. The descriptions of the sites were accurate for the most part and we liked the humorous sidenotes the author included. I even saw a friend at one of the remote camps, turned out she had the book too! |
An excellent book for car campers!
|
| Review Date: July 4, 2000 |
| Reviewer: Darren, |
| My family and I love this book. The narratives are interesting, insightful and up to now - accurate. Sometimes it's a bit repetitive in its advice - but that's okay too, as it continues to make the point about camping essentials. So far, the campsites have been exactly what we have been looking for - quiet, peaceful and perfect for car camping. |
made our camping vacation
|
| Review Date: September 29, 2006 |
| Reviewer: Philip Bewley, San Francisco, ca. United States |
We just got back from a car camping vacation transversing the Northern Sierras from North to South. We used this book exclusively and it was spot on. We stayed at Warner Valley in Lassen National park by hot springs of Drakesbad,Salmon Creek by the unbelievably dramatic Sardine lake in the Gold lakes region, Woods lake by Carson pass: a true Gem in the high country with wildflowers, and Wahakaluuhepyou on the Stanislaus river where it was hot and the swimming holes were refreshing. It was a perfect vacation with especially nice campgrounds in remarkably scenic areas.
I liked the fact that only the authors favorites were included in this guide. I have another camping book which lists all the California campgrounds which is just too confusing. This book has a focus."Proof is in the pudding" applies to this invaluable guide to the "Best in tent camping": we used it and discovered places that exceeded our best dreams.
Highly recommended! |
Best Campground Guide
|
| Review Date: August 15, 2005 |
| Reviewer: Rebecca L. Petrella, San Francisco, CA |
| We love to camp, but like so many families, both parents work and we don't have a lot of time to go driving around on the weekends to find good campgrounds. That's why this book is so great. It tells you all about the best campgrounds in Northern California - the roads in, the sites themselves, the amenities, the phone numbers of the office/ranger stations, EVERYTHING! We have found it to be a valuable addition to our comping gear! |
emphasis - "car camping"
|
| Review Date: March 23, 2003 |
| Reviewer: , santa clara, ca United States |
| A good book for car campers going on a road trip. I refered to this book on my trip to Oregon around mid-March(just before peak season) and yes, some of the campgrounds were out of they way to the point of almost being eery, But, in a good way :) If you're thinking these campgrounds are somewhere amidst the wild, you're mistaken and need to look elsewhere though. Very good for quick reference for last minute camping en route. The map included indicating locations of the campgrounds is very helpful.
The book requires some updating as far as availability of campgrounds goes (year round/ seasonal),but that will probably happen in the next edition.
I would recommend this book handsdown. |
Good information, but difficult to navigate
|
| Review Date: July 28, 2005 |
| Reviewer: Lucid Dreamer, |
| This book is a very thorough review of northern california campgrounds. I visited several of the campgrounds listed, and found each review accurate and thorough. Additionally, the synopsis of each campground touches briefly on the surrounding towns and recreation areas. Especially helpful are the listings of the best campsites in each park. However, the campgrounds are listed alphabetically, which can make finding the correct campsite difficult. Basically, if you are looking for a campsite in an area you must turn between two maps to find the location and then name of the site. Needs better layout - sites grouped by geography. |
Good guide, poor index
|
| Review Date: December 21, 2006 |
| Reviewer: Stephen Spiker, Oakland |
| Overall I really appreciate this guide book but it's continually frustrating to try to match up the map page to the actual index and chapters- there's no logical connection, very annoying. But the overall content is great, recommend this one! |
Great Insider Information
|
| Review Date: February 26, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Cal Party Planner, Bay Area California |
| Overall, this book is definitly worth buying. I wish it had better maps. Perhaps an area map next to each campsite listing. That would help with planning. |
Why two books for the Sierra Nevada?
|
| Review Date: July 11, 2008 |
| Reviewer: R. Chen, San Francisco, CA |
Pros:
(1) Clean presentation and well organized information for each campground
(2) Reliable recommendations
Cons:
(1) This is pointed out by other reviewers too: the cross reference of map, index page and the actually location of the campground information is cumbersome. Simply reverse the order of index page vs map, and prefix the campground index to each campground name in the description pages will help a lot with navigation.
(2) My main complaint: dividing the Sierra Nevada by CA 108 seems quite arbitrary. I hope it is not done to making buying the Southern California Tent Camping book necessary. Note to author and publisher: why not combining the two books? The combined book can still be very handy field guide if the fonts and
layouts are made more compact. This also makes perfect business sense: every reader pays a bit more to get the benefit of a combined book. |
It May Be a 5 Star Book
|
| Review Date: July 26, 1998 |
| Reviewer: , |
| I have not relied on it enough to warrant five stars; however, the narrative was accurate for the two campgrounds I visited. I look forward to using it again. |
eh.
|
| Review Date: May 15, 2007 |
| Reviewer: hail to raw food, San Francisco, CA |
| This book was just "okay." Only 50 sites were reviewed, and really, for Northern California, that's not even a drop in the bucket. Still, the layout is easy to read. |
Good suggestions; some dated information
|
| Review Date: August 16, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Thomas Goffinet, Florida |
| I bought this book used from Amazon. It was useful to have along on a recent car-camping trip to northern California. Some of the information was dated, and we wondered if the authors had actually visited one campground (swim in the stream?-- it was freezing, even in August), but the camping suggestions from the book we used were good ones, and not obvious to newcomers to northern California. |
I agree with Mr. Glaser's review
|
| Review Date: July 30, 2001 |
| Reviewer: GypsyPilot, California, USA |
| The author, Mr. Mai, needs to rework the sub-title of his book since most of the sites recommended are not exclusively for tent-camping. It's misleading. But since you're reading these reviews, you won't be among the misled. He has selected campsites that are a bit more out-of-the-way so you have a better likelihood (but by far NO certainty) of avoiding campers with loud stereos. This book is for car-camping. It is not for backpackers (a point Mat Glaser made in his review). A second edition is now in the works and due to be released in September. We'll see if the author takes our comments into account. |
Title is misleading - not for backpackers!
|
| Review Date: February 10, 2000 |
| Reviewer: Mat Glaser, Berkeley, CA |
| I bought this book hoping that I would find some nice backpacking spots and get away from the crowds. WRONG! Oh well, it was worth a shot... Many of the spots in this book allow RVs, and the rest are for car campers only. If that's your thing, then you might be okay - but if you like to get away from people, stick to word of mouth and the favorites of the locals. |
wrong wrong wrong
|
| Review Date: August 18, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Eric Hollingsworth, Castro Valley, CA USA |
Okay, I really would like to write a positive review. But we went to Highland Lakes campground because Mai gave it his highest praise possible -- 5 stars in each category: beauty, site privacy, site spaciousness, quiet, security, cleanliness. And, because he said it was his personal favorite campground in the area. Well, beautiful it was, twin pristine lakes at 8000'. And the sites were not tiny (not large either -- why pack so many sites in one area?? why not spread them out??). And yes, no one actually robbed us.
But, we drove 4 hours to get there, Sunday afternoon, and the last 4 miles is on a VERY bumpy, steep dirt road. So we thought we would be in for an off-the-beaten-path experience of peace and quiet. Instead, we entered campground hell! There were RV's and trailers and pick-up campers everywhere! (I have no idea how they got those big trailers up that road.) There were family reunion groups of campers, fueled by lots of beer, that were boisterous long past the "quiet" curfew -- and there are NO onsite park rangers. Kids riding their bikes up and down the roads, kids screaming all day. People walking through our campsite the whole time we were there. The sites are far from private!, our fire ring was within a few feet of the road, and other campers. Worst of all, the campers across the road from us were blaring their Jeep CD player for hours, country/bluegrass music all evening, until at 9PM I finally asked him "How long are you planning to play your music?" and was denounced, for disturbing him! We left after one night, even though we had already paid for two.
So this campground is hardly how Mai described it. We wondered if he had ever actually camped there. Most ironic of all, the book says on its cover, "The Best in TENT camping", subtitled, "for car campers who hate RVs ... and loud stereos" ... which is clearly false advertising. We did see some beautiful High Sierra mountain lakes, and an astonishing night sky (thank you Lord), but we will not trust this author again. He steered us to an RV-infested campground. |
Don't trust it!
|
| Review Date: September 1, 2003 |
| Reviewer: , |
| We packed up and camped at Castle Crags State park because Mai gave it a great review - despite that it was right near I-5 near Mt. Shasta - but he said it was great and not noisy so we believed him. The campsite was seriously RIGHT OFF THE HIGHWAY. You could see cars going by! The noise was deafening from every campsite, especially late at night when the trucks would brake and woke us up several times. We packed up and went to Lassen Volcanic Park and camped at the forest service sites for some peace and quiet and managed to save our vacation. Do not trust this book! I am never using it again. |
Don't trust it
|
| Review Date: April 12, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Tanya in NorCal, |
This is not camping!
We've been to many of the campgrounds listed in the book. Even campgrounds he rates high for spaciousness and privacy are essentially parking lots with a few trees in between. In a campground with a five star rating for both we were about 40 feet from the nearest surrounding RVs and parties with load music. The campgrounds are always full even in the "off" season, in the rain, in an area fairly remote (example: northern coast by Crescent City).
The way to truly tent camp out of a vehicle in California is to off-road it in the Trinity, Six Rivers, or other National Forests using a map of the logging and forest roads. Otherwise, no matter what campground you go to, it is essentially a parking lot. The only other alternative to get into nature and actually camp is to backpack. These campgrounds are good for last minute "we just have to stop for the night" trips, but not to get away from noise and other people (tough to do in California in general). |
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