California Camping
Book Review
Pacific Coast Highway Travel's California Camping book
review rates the 20th anniversary edition of Moon's complete guide to over 1400
tent and RV campgrounds.
Camping in California
One of the most viewed book reviews on our website is the
Moon Guide to West Coast RV Camping by Tom Stienstra. The same author has also
written Moon's guide to California Camping, and although this one covers the
whole state and not just the west coast, it will be incredibly useful to anyone
planning a west coast camping trip.
Over 1400 tent and RV campgrounds are covered in great detail in this mammoth guide of almost 900 pages, along with a wealth of other material and advice about camping in California. It includes money-saving tips, advice on campfires, and how to keep the critters out of your food, and out of your hair.
Moon California Camping Guide Sample Page
Best California Campgrounds
The author opens the book by listing his best California
campgrounds, using different criteria. Among the ones along or close to the
west coast are:
Best Scenic California Campgrounds
Best California Campgrounds for Families
Best California Campground Island Retreats
- Santa Catalina Island Boat-In
- Santa Cruz Island
- Two Harbors, near Los Angeles
- Santa Rosa Island, near Santa Barbara
- Angel Island State Park, near San Francisco
- Anacapa Island, near Santa Barbara
- San Miguel Island, near Santa Barbara
- Little Harbor Hike-In, near Los Angeles
- Parsons Landing Hike-In, near Los Angeles
Moon California Camping Guide:
Best Campgrounds
California Camping
Tips
There are then over 50 pages of camping tips, most of them general and a few applicable to camping in California. After these comes the main section, the descriptions of campgrounds, and this runs to almost 800 pages. It's divided regionally, starting with the Redwood Empire and ending with the California Deserts.
If you're looking for info on Pacific Coast Highway
campgrounds then there are sections on Mendocino and Wine Country, the San
Francisco Bay Area, Monterey and Big Sur, Santa Barbara and Vicinity, Los
Angeles and Vicinity, and San Diego and Vicinity.
Moon California Camping Guide Sample Page
California Campground
Descriptions
The biggest chunk of the book is, of course, the descriptions of the individual campgrounds. Each starts with a row of icons letting you know facilities, such as hot springs, pets permitted, swimming, fishing, or wheelchair access. Each site also gets a Scenic Rating out of 10, based purely on how beautiful the campsite and its setting are.
You're then given the rough location ('five miles north of
Crescent City'), and then the page number and reference for the map that it's
marked on - and there are lots of maps in the book, although they're not
detailed enough to enable you to find the exact spot. You'll still need
directions or GPS. Fortunately the campsite write-ups end with directions,
phone numbers, websites and any other practical information you might need.
Each campsite then has a long paragraph of general introduction, to give an overview and a feel for the place ('It is two miles away from the Turtle Bay Museum and close to a movie theater.') The next section of each entry covers Campsites and Facilities, while the final section tells you about Reservations and Fees. The current rates are given in dollars, with a note of any periods of closure, and whether reservations are accepted or not.
Camping in California
Comprehensive
California Camping!
The work the author put into this book must have been enormous. Imagine how long it would take simply to get the nightly rates for over 1400 places, let alone the other ton of information.
Oh yes, and the
author is no run-of-the-mill fact-gatherer, either. Tom Stienstra has been the
National Outdoor Writer of the Year twice, and California Outdoor Writer of the
Year five times. So as well as being filled with facts, the book is
well-written too.
If you're going to be a serious California camper, the book will more than repay the cost by saving you a huge amount of time. Essential. Buy it on Amazon.
Other books pages
101 free San Francisco attractions and things to do are in the Kindle guide, 101 Free Things to Do in San Francisco, in the Travel Free eGuidebooks series.
This John Steinbeck California Guide, A Journey into Steinbeck's California, shows readers how towns like Monterey, Carmel and Salinas influenced the author.
Pacific Coast Highway guides include our own printed book and ebook guides to the best hotels along the PCH, available in paperback, PDF and Kindle formats.
One of the best guides to West Coast RV Parks, covering campgrounds in California, Oregon, and Washington, is West Coast RV Camping from Moon Guides.
To John Steinbeck Monterey's Cannery Row was a place of sardine canneries, bums and honky tonks, but today the Monterey Aquarium attracts visitors.
Books About the Pacific Coast Highway in California, Oregon and Washington including travel guidebooks, route guides, restaurant guides, and many more.
Pacific Coast Highway Travel reviews the Pacific Coast Highway Road Trip Guide book covering the drive from Vancouver to San Diego.
Soul of Los Angeles from French publishers Jonglez is a travel guide to 30 Exceptional Experiences in California's largest city.
The Los Angeles travel guide book from Lonely Planet also covers San Diego and Southern California, including Palm Springs, Santa Barbara, and Disneyland.
Lonely Planet's Guide to Cycling the USA West Coast is a bicycling guidebook for anyone touring California, Oregon and Washington by bike.
Pacific Coast Highway Travel reviews the Pacific Coast Highway Road Trip guide from Moon covering California, Oregon and Washington
The Frommer's Guide to Seattle has good information about the city and side excursions to the Olympic National Park and elsewhere, plus free city and area map.
Lighthouses of the Pacific Coast, published by Voyageur Press, is a guide in words and pictures to historic lighthouses along the Pacific Coast Highway.
Greetings from California is a beautiful coffee-table book which describes the legends, landmarks and lore of California, including the Pacific Coast Highway.
West Coast Road Eats is a road food guide covering the Pacific Coast from California through Oregon to Washington, giving the best road trip food stops.
The Pacific Coast Highway in California book shows in historic photos the building of the Pacific Coast Highway from its earliest beginnings in 1911.
Pacific Coast Highway Travel's book review of Insider's Guide to San Francisco guidebook by Jill Loeffler, publisher of the San Francisco Tourism Tips website.
Pacific Coast Highway Travel reviews an Olympic Peninsula Travel Guide published by the Beautiful Pacific Northwest website.
The Washington State travel guide from Frommer's covers hotels in Seattle, driving the Pacific Coast Highway, Olympic National Park, where to eat and more.
Vintage Hollywood in Los Angeles is an extract from the Lonely Planets book Culture Trails.
The guide to California Bed and Breakfast Inns lists over 250 boutique hotels, wine country cottages and more.
The Best Coast is a west coast travel guide, sub-titled A Road Trip Atlas it doesn't use photos but instead has hundreds of beautiful illustrations.
Lonely Planet's Coastal California guidebook is the ideal travel guide for driving or cycling the Pacific Coast Highway from the Oregon border to Mexico.
Northwest Wine Country is a food and wine lover's guide to vineyards, fine dining, accommodation, restaurants in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, British Columbia.
Plant lovers can visit hundreds of gardens along or near the Pacific Coast Highway,ranging from lush gardens in the Pacific North-West to southern California.
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