Chill out, campers

Steven Sylber -- wearing a Lakers jersey, soaking up rays and sittin’ pretty -- will let you in on a secret, even though friends seated around him on lawn chairs are muttering for him to keep his mouth shut. If he’s going to talk, they would rather he say that the beach is packed, the weather is wicked, the kids are bored and there’s no way to get a campsite at Carpinteria State Beach without a reservation made last July.

Sylber ponders their concerns.

He and his wife, Julie, of Mission Hills are camping with friends in the midst of the three-day Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. They made their reservations a couple of weeks in advance and got their favorite Carpinteria camping spot, a corner overlooking a large grassy area. Temperatures have reached the 70s. “When the weather’s like this, we prefer camping in the winter,” Steven Sylber says. The others groan, but he continues: It’s less crowded, more relaxed and much easier to find a site. “But don’t tell anybody.”

If you’re willing to risk encountering winter-like conditions, the off-season can be a great time to go camping.

“It’s one of the best-kept secrets,” says Wes Chapin, interpretive specialist for the California State Parks Channel Coast District. “Off-season camping is a little risky in terms of the weather, but the rewards, I think, are certainly there if you don’t have to fight the crowds.” Chapin, who was supervising ranger at Carpinteria for more than 10 years, says October and April are prime off-season periods for beach camping. While the campgrounds fill up during weekends, reservations often are not needed Sunday through Thursday, he says.

During the summer, when sites are reserved up to seven months in advance, members of the Sylber party are likely to spend the entire day at the beach and in the water. During the winter, there’s usually a card game going on, a book or two being read, a guitar being played. A few sites away, Wesley and Kelsey Waters, 9 and 6 years old, from Winnetka, are itching to splash about in the unseasonably warm water. They are camping with their mom, Jade Waters, and their golden retriever, Max.

Tent camping in January is new to them, says Jade, although they have reservations at another campground for February. It took them awhile to figure out how to stay warm the night before. The sun sets early, and nights can be long and cold. “We froze,” Jade Waters says. She ended up crawling into a sleeping bag with Kelsey and using the third sleeping bag as a blanket over all three of them.

Of course, you could always leave the children at home. Jean and Hal Eldred of Yorba Linda decided to head up the coast the Sunday of the three-day holiday until they found a campsite. If worse came to worst, they could always stay in a hotel. Carpinteria was their fourth stop. While there were available campsites at the other places, “nothing grabbed us,” says Jean, a kindergarten teacher. At Carpinteria, they watched the sunset and dined on burgers, fried mushrooms and asparagus at their campsite next to the beach.

At Joshua Tree National Park, where the Colorado and Mojave deserts meet, the campgrounds tend to fill up during the weekends but are fairly available during the week, says Joe Zerki, chief naturalist-public information officer. The busy season there is spring, when wildflowers are in bloom.

At Lake Perris State Recreation Area, 11 miles south of Riverside, you can reserve a campsite, but it’s not necessary this time of year, even on weekends, says Kathy Weatherman, park superintendent.

“This is the absolute best time to come,” Weatherman says. “It’s beautiful. We have 431 campsites and maybe half are filled. It’s calm; temperatures are in the 70s. You can sit on your lawn chair at your campsite and look out on the San Gorgonio mountains with snow on them. It’s just beautiful.” If venturing to higher elevations, campers should be prepared for severe winter conditions, says Kathy Peterson, spokeswoman for the Angeles National Forest, where campgrounds above 5,000 feet are closed.

“The benefits this time of year are, you avoid the heat, the insects and snakes,” Peterson says. But care should be taken, as winter weather can move in quickly, triggering low temperatures, mudslides in burn areas and avalanches. Fire restrictions are in place in some areas. Campers should call the Forest Service before heading up.

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Camping connections

California state parks: www.parks.ca.gov

USDA Forest Service: www.fs.fed.us

Bureau of Land Management: www.blm.gov

National Park Service: www.nps.gov

The California Travel Parks Assn. has information about private campgrounds. (530) 885-1624 or www.gocampingamerica.com/california