Best Tent Camping: Northern California

Wendy Speicher’s love affair with the outdoors started in childhood, as she was growing up on her parents’ 10-acre farm in rural Northern Michigan. Memories of nights spent in the popup camper in the state’s sandy campgrounds and of campfire-cooked dinners of baked potatoes, corn on the cob, and sirloin steaks are still some of her fondest. Wanderlust runs deep in the family gene pool, and it drew Wendy to Northern California’s Yosemite Valley on a summer break between college semesters. After that, there was no turning back. Wendy studied journalism at beautiful Humboldt State University and cut her teeth in the business covering sports, recreation, food, and entertainment at a variety of newspapers, magazines, and websites in the Lake Tahoe–Truckee and Sacramento areas. Her first book, Day & Section Hikes: Pacific Crest Trail: Northern California, was published by Wilderness Press in 2010. As a young mother, Wendy has temporarily retired her long-distance hiking shoes in favor of the car-camping experience, which allows her the convenience of introducing her son, Archer, to outdoor living without the burden of a fully loaded pack. Spending time outside with Archer and her husband, Greg, is the joy of her life. As a true jack-of-all-trades, when she isn’t writing, Wendy is a professional massage therapist and yoga and fitness instructor and enjoys helping people attain new levels of health and well-being. Learn more at wendyspeicher.com

Overview Map


Map Legend


Acknowledgments


Preface


Best Campgrounds


Introduction


The Coast





Big Basin Redwoods State Park Campgrounds
Butano State Park Campgrounds
Salt Point State Park Campgrounds
Van Damme State Park Campgrounds
Russian Gulch State Park Campground
MacKerricher State Park Campgrounds
Nadelos and Wailaki Campgrounds
Patrick’s Point State Park: Agate, Penn, and Abalone Campgrounds
Elk Prairie Campground
Mill Creek Campground
Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park Campgrounds


Wine Country





Sugarloaf Ridge State Park Campgrounds
Hendy Woods State Park Campgrounds
Albee Creek Campground
Shasta-Trinity and Surrounding Areas
Mary Smith and Cooper Gulch Campgrounds
Antlers Campground
Tish Tang Campground
Castle Lake and Gumboot Campgrounds
Dillon Creek Campground
Tree of Heaven Campground


The Cascade Range



Warner Valley Campground

Juniper Lake Campground

Crater Lake Campground

Aspen Grove and Merrill Campgrounds

McArthur–Burney Falls Memorial State Park Campgrounds

Mill Creek Falls and Blue Lake Campgrounds

Fowlers Campground

Hemlock Campground

Indian Well Campground

The Sierra Nevada



Oak Hollow Campground

Wakalu Hep Yo Campground

Pine Marten Campground

Highland Lakes Campground

Silver Creek Campground

Blue Lakes Campgrounds

Silver Lake East Campground

Woods Lake Campground

Grover Hot Springs State Park Campgrounds

Wrights Lake Campground

D. L. Bliss State Park Campgrounds

Sardine Lake and Salmon Creek Campgrounds

Wyandotte Campground

Upper Jamison Campground

Haskins Valley Campground

Yosemite



Twin Lakes Campground

Minaret Falls Campground

Benton Hot Springs Campground

White Wolf Campground

Saddlebag Lake Campground

Buckeye Campground