Central CA Recommendos?

[dustboy]

Hi all, long time wanderer, first time poster.

We are a family of four with a 5 and 3 year old, normally we would head for the Central Coast on our spring break, but with Hwy 1 and Nacimiento/Fergusson messed up there will be no Big Sur for us.

I did a solo trip to Carrizo last spring and I'd like to take the rest of the family to see the flowers. I understand that there will be a lot of folks out to see the big bloom, so maybe we will do that mid-week.

We are 2wd only, but our Transit van is set up for boondocking. We also don't tend to plan ahead far enough to get reservations at the more popular campgrounds.

Where else would offer some scenery and kid friendly activities? We are based in the SF Bay.

 

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

Welcome Dustboy,to the cult.

If you go to Carrizo during the week there should be less visitors.
There are places to boondocking there. Some members have camped there recently.

If you want a nice place to camp along the coast try San Simeon St park near Cabrria.
The Washborn site up on the hill in the rear of the park is quiet and an easy walk to the beach. Usually has a lot of sites open.
There is also the Montana Del Oro SP near Morro Bay. That one fills up so it may be hard the next week or so to get a spot.

The past couple weeks the Spring break time we have noticed a lot more people in our area here in the Monterey area.

Enjoy your trip.
Frank

 

[dustboy]

Thanks for the tips, Frank. The San Simeon site sounds ideal.

Last spring I had a killer boondocking spot in Carrizo, spectacular view. We will try to grab that one again, but I'm sure there are many others.

 

[Mark G]

In the winter I like to visit Caswell State Park near Ripon for a day or two, Pretty little riparian area on the Stanislaus River with old oaks, sycamores and wild grape vines. A couple of nature trails along the river too. Showers and flush toilets and close to town.

 

[ntsqd]

Waaay over on the other side of the State, but for a more typical type campground that ranks quite high on our list of such places (we vastly prefer to bivouac camp, but there are times when that won't work) try SCE's Shaver Lake campground. Shoot for one of the hard to get spots that back up to the lake itself.

A very pretty drive to get there is to go along the north shore of Pine Flat Lake and up that watershed, then come north past McKinley Grove (Sequoias!) thru Dinkey Creek (decent campground) and into the town of Shaver Lake. An amazing side trip is to look at the earth-filled dam that forms Wishon Reservoir. One of the tallest in CA, yet pretty much unknown. There is camping on the North shore of Wishon, but I've never been in there. The camping at Courtright Res. wasn't very impressive as seen from a distance.

 

[dustboy]

Great tips, all. I reckon Shaver Lake is under snow right now? Or has it moved on to mosquito season?

 

[Ronin]

Pinnacles is an option as you're heading south. I understand that you can access Hwy 1 by taking Nacimiento Fergusson Rd out of Fort Legget - if that's open you could camp at Kirk Creek or Lime Kiln. From there you can continue south down Hwy 1. I'm sure you could get to Dinkey Lakes but Courtright will be closed as well as anything over Kaiser Pass. Personally, I'd stick to the central coast if that what you're already thinking. One place I've always wanted to check out is San Luis reservoir but it had been down to about 5-10% capacity the past couple of years. It is now full to the top and should have some pretty awesome views. The visitor center there has a great display about the history of California's water system. Henry Coe State Park is also worth going to.

 

[Tuff Guy 62]

Morro Strand State Beach in Morro Bay, Cerro Alto USFS campground on Hwy. 41 between Morro Bay & Atascadero.

There is a private campground at Wind Wolves Preserve off Hwy. 166 about 20 miles east of the Carrizo Plain. Must call ahead for reservations.

If you want to sideswipe Pinnacles National Park I also recommend camping at either Sweetwater, Laguna Mountain or Conden Peak free BLM campgrounds located on the old Coalinga Road not to far from the east Pinnacles or Williams Hill BLM Campground for the West Pinnacles.

Heading to the Carrizo Plain this weekend myself. Plan on boondocking in the hills on the west side of the valley.

Have fun on your trip!!

 

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

Pinnacles is an option as you're heading south. I understand that you can access Hwy 1 by taking Nacimiento Fergusson Rd out of Fort Legget - if that's open you could camp at Kirk Creek or Lime Kiln. From there you can continue south down Hwy 1. I'm sure you could get to Dinkey Lakes but Courtright will be closed as well as anything over Kaiser Pass. Personally, I'd stick to the central coast if that what you're already thinking. One place I've always wanted to check out is San Luis reservoir but it had been down to about 5-10% capacity the past couple of years. It is now full to the top and should have some pretty awesome views. The visitor center there has a great display about the history of California's water system. Henry Coe State Park is also worth going to.

Great choices but I would check to see if the NF rd. Kirk Creek,Lime Kiln are open. I think hwy1 is still closed between Ragged Point and Big Sur. But Lime Kiln is a nice place the beach sites #1/12 are nice.
Frank

 

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

Just checked Limekiln SP,and Kirk Creek are open but only by driving NF rd. Once you get to hwy 1 you can only travel south to Gorda and north to Limekile SP.
There were restricted hours to drive the NF rd. but haven't heard what has changed.
Frank

 

[Ronin]

You might have better luck getting a site due to only having access by NF Rd. There are 2 other NF campgrounds at the top of the road. They weren't special places to me, but beauty's in the eye of the beholder, plus I still hadn't gotten over my disappointment of getting shut out of Kirk Creek.

 

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

Check out the Kirk/Plaskett creek sites there are openings ,a few at Kirk and more at Plaskett.

Frank

 

[dustboy]

Well we backed out of the driveway with EXACTLY 25,000 miles on the ODO and got home with 25,618. The first night was Williams Hill near Lockwood. Thanks for that one, Tuff Guy, that little campground is a real gem! Great views, clean toilet, quiet neighbors, and the picnic shades are a nice touch. It was the perfect easy stopover on the way to Carrizo.

We beelined the next morning for Carrizo as I wanted to be sure to get my favorite spot just above Selby Campground. We were a couple weeks late for peak bloom but there was still a whole lot of color to see.

The next morning we headed for San Simeon, Washburn was full so we ended up at San Simeon creek. The campground was good for the kids as they could ride their bikes around the loop, all the time in our sight. The neighbors were a bit noisy, some running generators for no reason (really, one genny was running for several hours in the campsite while the entire rig was somewhere else) and idling diesels for extended periods. Oh well, I guess we can't boondock on a cliff with a gorgeous view all the time.

We set out on the bikes toward Piedras Blancas to see the Elephant seals, but our course through the grassy hillside left us with cranky kids and a lot of ticks. So we changed course and just hung out at the beach, which was perfectly fine with the kiddos. As it turned out, the elephant seals were already gone anyway.

Everywhere we went, it was clear that spring was in full force, with green hillsides (not for much longer!) and flowers of all kinds everywhere.

 

[Tuff Guy 62]

de nada. Glad I could help.