12 WILD SITES

1. The big high

Tioga Lake, Inyo National Forest

For some, the phrase “east side of the Sierra” conjures almost everything we love about the mountains -- the wild open spaces along lonely Highway 395, the empty high-desert valleys and the big, big views.

And if you throw in the phrase “high country,” then you’ve also conjured up everything else we love about the Sierra: the Japanese rock-garden meadows and the crystalline streams and the mirror-like lakes, the sprinkled violets and yellows of wildflowers and the stark white of granite against the cobalt sky.

Perched right on the boundary of these two worlds, Tioga Lake offers the best of both experiences.

Two miles east of the Yosemite National Park boundary, Tioga Lake Campground is a safe distance from the overcrowded, hyperregulated tension of campgrounds within the park, but still in the heart of the region’s most beautiful terrain.

It also provides a front-row seat to the sweeping red-rock drama of Tioga Canyon -- pure “east side” country if ever there was any -- but without the slightly scary, drifters-on-the-high-plains atmosphere of campgrounds farther east, in the true desert.

But best of all, there’s not a prettier little patch of green grass, stretching into a prettier alpine lake, below a more spectacular cirque of peaks.

The place has it all, from pure mountain spectacle to the soothing lap-lap of wind-driven waves on the sandy shores.

Campsites: 12, not reservable, but best to wait until the snow melts

Fee: $15

Information: (760) 647-3044

-- Daniel Duane

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2. The big picture

Grandview Campground, Inyo National Forest

Imagine a sage flat under giant junipers and fragrant pinon pines, high and dry at 8,500 feet in the Eastern Sierra’s White Mountains. At the west end, a dramatic drop-off reveals the Owens Valley 4,500 feet below, and looming before you is the immense and jagged Sierra Crest. It feels as if you could take a running leap, soar across the valley and land on an icy peak.

This is Grandview Campground, within striking distance of the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest.

Now picture this perch at night under some of the clearest skies in the world. The telescopes setting up around you will make you want to become an astronomer for the evening, to get even closer to the thick band of stars glittering gently above your tent.

The view alone is worth the 4 1/2 -hour drive up Highway 395 to Big Pine.

Be sure to check out Schulman Grove at 10,000 feet. There, on the 4-mile Methuselah walk, is the oldest living thing on Earth, the 4,734-year-old Methuselah tree, protectively unlabeled by the Forest Service.

From there, continue upward 16 miles on a maintained dirt road toward the White Mountain trail head if you haven’t had enough stunning views already.

Campsites: 25, not reservable

Fee: $3 (voluntary donation) requested

Information: (760) 873-2500 or www.fs.fed.us/r5/inyo/index.shtml

-- Leslie Carlson

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3. The big fish

Big Pine Creek Campground, Inyo National Forest

Famed character actor Lon Chaney built his cabin retreat in Big Pine Canyon near this campground. He picked a good spot -- a piney Sierran slot with a frothy trout stream, good camping sites and an easy-to-fish pond for young anglers.

Located nine miles west of Big Pine, the sites at Big Pine Creek are carved into brushy areas beneath shading trees. It’s possible to pick one that feels isolated and quiet. You may hear only the gurgle of the creek, but be forewarned: It’s a popular destination.

A day’s hike from the camp puts you near the Palisade Glacier, southernmost ice field in the U.S., and a string of beautiful alpine lakes. There is a free hike-in campground called the First Falls camp, with tables, fire rings and a pit toilet. As back country work goes, the hike is on the easy side (though it’s at altitude).

Go during high summer or in the fall, when the leaves turn gold on the cottonwoods, the aspens quake, and fishermen skulk around the Big Pine trout stream alone, like Chaney, each a phantom in the canyon with a fly rod.

Campsites: 30, not reservable

Fee: $15

Information: (760) 873-2500 or www.fs.fed.us/r5/inyo/index.shtml

-- Darrell Kunitomi

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4. The big beach

Plaskett Creek Campground, Los Padres National Forest

The truth about Big Sur’s 90 miles of splendid, rocky coast is that many of its beaches aren’t very accessible. The beauty of camping at spacious Plaskett Creek Campground is that it’s a short walk to Sand Dollar Beach, the longest strand of sandy beach in Big Sur.

Many Highway 1 drivers whiz past Plaskett en route to Big Sur’s state parks north of Lucia, but this site has a lot to offer: Its tent sites are set around a meadow shaded by Monterey pines and cypresses. Most of the campsites are far enough from the road that you won’t hear cars, but you can hear waves.

To get to the beach, cross Highway 1 -- keeping your eyes peeled for speeding Winnebagos -- and take a short path from Sand Dollar’s parking lot down a staircase to the crescent-shaped beach. There’s a restroom and picnic tables up top, but no phones, lifeguards or concessions. Just glorious, wild El Sur Grande, with a view of 5,155-foot Cone Peak to the northeast, in the Ventana Wilderness.

Tide pooling is a must, but chilly water and riptides are usually not conducive to swimming. Launch a kayak or surf-fish for perch and rockfish, or do both by going kayak fishing. Surfers favor Sand Dollar and Willow Creek, two miles south. There’s also great hiking: The Kirk Creek trail head is five miles to the north, and the Prewitt Ridge Trail, from the Pacific Valley ranger station, starts one mile north.

Fall is fine here. Summer’s fog is gone, and you can join whale watchers and set up a chair on the bluff above the beach when the cetaceans enter Big Sur’s bays in feeding frenzies.

Campsites: 44, not reservable (except for group sites)

Fee: $20

Information: (831) 385-5434 or www.fs.fed.us/r5/lospadres

-- Julie Sheer

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5. The big schlep

Montana de Oro State Park, San Luis Obispo County

Not far from the buckled layers of eroded shale and clay that form mesmerizing rocky shelves at Montana de Oro State Park sits a quartet of remote “environmental,” or hike-in, campsites that offer a kind of hybrid outdoors experience, a sweet middle ground between car camping and backpacking.

Black oystercatchers forage for food on rough-hewn rocks, and the surf pounds 24/7 below Deer Flat and Badger Flat, two of the eco-sites on the bluffs of this 8,000-acre park, roughly six miles south of Morro Bay.

At the unfortunately named Bloody Nose and Hazard Grove, the other two, birdcalls and sometimes the yips of coyotes resonate amid the eucalyptus trees that dominate these inland sites.

Each campsite has a bathroom and a picnic table, but the amenities end there. There’s no piped-in water and virtually no way to find these wild sites in the dark. And there’s no fire ring or grill, so preparing food means bringing in a camping stove or forgoing hot meals.

Gear (including a full supply of water) must be ferried back and forth to the car, as much as a mile each way.

But there’s one glorious thing these sites lack: neighbors. Campers flee the boombox world with an entire spot to themselves -- and seven of their closest friends and family members.

Some extra foot power -- not horsepower -- takes you to Bluff Trail, which winds along the ragged coast or up to a high point at 1,347-foot Valencia Peak.

And you can always hop back in the car to dine out at nearby Los Osos or Morro Bay, or keep the secluded vibe going with a cookout at Spooner’s Cove, a day-use area in the park that’s right on the beach.

Campsites: 4, reservable (50 standard drive-in sites, reservable, at the state park campground)

Fees: $11 off-season, $15 high season (not including reservation fees)

Information: For reservations,(800) 444-7275 or www.reserveamerica.com. For park information, (805) 528-0513 or (805) 772-7434.

-- Mary Forgione

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6. The big shady

Davy Brown Campground, Los Padres National Forest

Hunkered down next to a gurgling creek in the hinterlands of Santa Barbara County, Davy Brown Campground is just down the road from the remote San Rafael Wilderness.

The camp, at 2,100 feet, features spacious campsites in a lush setting under pines, oaks and sycamores. It’s an old U.S. Forest Service camp that was originally a pioneer’s homestead in the late 1800s. There’s nothing fancy about it, but there’s plenty of shade and quiet.

Davy Brown Creek, a tributary of the Sisquoc River, runs through the camp and offers catch-and-release trout fishing. The state no longer stocks the creek out of concern for diluting the gene pool of native steelhead.

There’s plenty else to do. The Davy Brown Trail runs along the creek through Fir Canyon, three steep miles to Figueroa Mountain, a springtime flower-viewing mecca.

A roughly two-mile drive leads to a trail head into the San Rafael Wilderness, with the parking area just shy of the NIRA campground (Davy Brown is nicer). A prime gateway hike into the San Rafael is Lower Manzana Creek Trail, a popular backpacking route that follows the creek for eight miles and 40 creek crossings to the junction with the Sisquoc River, where there’s a trail camp and a historic schoolhouse from pioneer days. In spring, Catalina mariposa lilies spill onto the trail as it runs along the wild creek that carves a path through steep, deep green mountains.

Bring bug spray because the mosquitoes and deer flies are abundant this year. But don’t mind the shiny yellow banana slugs that crawl through camp. These denizens of the damp north coast also call Davy Brown home.

Campsites: 13, not reservable

Fee: None, except $5 Adventure Pass

Information: (805) 925-9538 or www.fs.fed.us/r5/lospadres

-- Julie Sheer

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7. The big breeze

Jalama Beach, Santa Barbara County

For wilderness lovers nothing beats a meandering country road, especially when it empties onto a lonely stretch of wind-scoured beach. Jalama, a 23 1/2 -acre county-run park 35 miles north of Santa Barbara, delivers on its Chumash name: blowing sand. One hundred and fourteen first-come, first-served campsites and RV hookups are tucked in shallow dunes swathed in lupine and copses of yellow coreopsis.

The showers are hot; there’s a small playground for kids and a funky, ‘50s-era beach store and grill but not much else.

Theme park groupies beware: Time slows to a crawl in this sun-bleached hideaway, and nightlife’s nonexistent. But if it’s the solace of open spaces you’re after, Jalama’s nirvana.

Whale watching is spectacular in March and September when the California grays migrate, and spring’s perfect for windsurfers.

After winter storms, sharp-eyed beachcombers can unearth troves of Chumash spearheads, shark’s teeth, “mermaid’s purses” (sea skate egg cases) and antique Chinese net weights. Sandstone cliffs yield fossilized whale bones, ferns and scallops.

Inshore fishing is excellent. Corbina, cabezon, halibut and starry flounder are reeled in year-round by anglers willing to brave howling onshore gales and foaming combers.

Warm hats and windbreakers are a must, and don’t forget kerosene to clean off the ubiquitous gobbets of tar that make beach walking a hip-hop fandango as you hustle down to the grill for a world-famous Jalama Burger perched on an Everest of fries.

Campsites: 114, not reservable

Fees: $18; $25 with electric hookup

Information: (805) 736-6316 (recorded); (805) 736-3504 (park office); or www.sbparks.orgto view a campground map

-- Susan Dworski

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8. The big easy

Buckhorn Campground, Angeles National Forest

About 36 miles from La Canada-Flintridge along Angeles Crest Highway, in the ear-popping altitudes of the Angeles National Forest, is Buckhorn Campground, a little patch of wilderness that will make you forget you are on the edge of the second largest metropolis in the nation.

Buckhorn’s 38 campsites sit at 6,300 feet above sea level, so the air is thin and crisp, and the sky is clear and bright, ideal for night sky watching.

The campsites, with fire pits and picnic tables, are shaded by Jeffrey pines, white firs and incense cedars, some as big and stately as cathedral columns. This winter’s near-record rainfall dumped so much snow on the forest that snowbanks the size of king-size beds still dot the landscape. The result of that extra moisture is lush, vibrantly colored foliage -- and a longer than usual seasonal closure (it’s expected to open by July 4).

But Buckhorn’s best feature is a shin-deep stream that bisects the campground and fills the air with the sounds of splashing water. The water, cold and clear as glass, spills over golden sand and stones.

If Buckhorn remains closed beyond July, try nearby Manzanita and Little Pines campgrounds at the Chilao Recreation Area, about seven miles to the southwest.

Campsites: 38, not reservable

Fee: $12

Information: (818) 899-1900, Ext. 228

-- Hugo Martin

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9. The big air

Appletree Campground, Angeles National Forest

Climb out of the car to begin Jeffrey pine aromatherapy at Appletree Campground, 6,200 feet altitude, about five miles west of Wrightwood on Southern California’s still frosty brow.

This year snowdrifts still dampen the forest near this eight-site gem, perched on a bend above Big Pines Highway.

Many will come for a picnic or just to play in the snow, while campers linger into the evenings around wood fires doubling as stargazer theaters. Then sleep and wake thankful for level graveled tent pads.

The sites, a short walk from the parking lot, have restrooms and water but no RV hookups.

The real treat of Appletree is the crash course it provides in California’s rumbling geology. The area draws rock gawkers and quake gapers eager to peer at the San Andreas Fault.

From the car you can glimpse the earthquake-born sag ponds at Jackson Lake, or the saddle eroded into the mountains at Big Pines Divide. Watch where roadways cut into slopes to see the “fault flour” representing pulverized landmass. Examples of the fault zone can be seen just a half-mile’s walk up a fire road extending from the eastern end of the campground.

Outcrops along the way are covered with reddish “slickenside,” signaling enormous heat below. They lead to the fault gouge, a steep, whitish escarpment ground into powder from sudden earth movement but still standing to bear witness.

Campsites: 8, not reservable

Fee: None, except $5 Adventure Pass

Information: (760) 249-3504 or www.fs.fed.us/r5/angeles/

-- Emmett Berg

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10. The big game

Little Harbor Campground, Catalina Island

At Little Harbor, on Catalina Island’s windward side, campers swim, bodysurf, snorkel and kayak by day. At dusk, bison sometimes graze near campsites, and moonlight fills the cove where smugglers once dropped anchor.

The site’s popularity is as timeless as the tides that lap its shore. Native Americans established a settlement here 7,000 years ago. Stagecoach passengers traveling between the city of Avalon and the island’s northwestern isthmus stayed at an inn near here a century ago. And more than one pleasure boat has run aground while trying to enter the sheltered harbor.

Little Harbor has two sandy beaches. On the south side is Shark Harbor, one of only two surfing beaches on Catalina. (Ben Weston Beach is the other.) The beach to the north offers calm waters for swimming, a reef for snorkeling and an anchorage for small vessels. Seasonal rentals of kayaks are available.

The campground, which stretches from the beach to the area’s rolling hills, lacks some amenities; there’s fresh water and barbecues, but no electrical outlets, hot showers or flush toilets. Hardships are more than offset, however, by the area’s natural beauty.

After dinner, scramble up a nearby lookout point to take in a spectacular Hawaii-like sunset to the west or the fading sunlight on the island’s two highest peaks, Mt. Orizaba and Black Jack Mountain, to the east.

The soft clanging of boat riggings can be heard in the distance as you roast marshmallows over a fire. But avoid bumping into bison. At night, they sometimes stroll among the tents, looking for grass to chew.

Campsites: 17, reservable

Fees: $12 a night, $6 for children 11 and younger (not including boat tickets to Catalina or ground transportation via the Safari Bus).

Information: (310) 510-2800 or www.scico.com. For buses, (310) 510-2800. For boats, (800) 360-1212.

-- Bill Sheehan

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11. The big sky

Palomar Mountain Observatory, Cleveland National Forest

The observatory campground stands 30 miles inland, close to the heavens and in one of Southern California’s best spots for stargazing. Sheltered in a forest of oaks, pines and cedars at 4,900 feet, it’s only two miles from Palomar Observatory, where groundbreaking astronomical discoveries were made in the middle and later 20th century.

Today’s Palomar skies are somewhat compromised by light pollution from San Diego and greater Los Angeles, but overnighters on the mountain can still marvel at impressively star-speckled skies whenever the moon is a negligibly thin crescent or absent. The north end of Observatory Campground is designated a “light-free zone” after 9 p.m., so don’t plan on blasting the place with your Coleman lantern or white-light flashlight.

For eight years running, the Explore the Stars interpretive program at the campground features gazing through the telescopes of local amateur astronomers, mainly those of the Orange County Astronomers. Upcoming programs are scheduled for July 9, Aug. 6, Sept. 10 and Oct. 8. On other nights, it’s possible to sneak a peek through someone’s telescope if you don’t bring your own.

During the day, a scenic two-mile hike along Observatory Trail leads to the observatory’s museum and visitor facilities. Or drive a few miles to Palomar Mountain State Park and piece together some looping hikes up to several miles long, or cast a line in diminutive Doane Pond.

Campsites: 42, not reservable

Fees: $12 to $20

Information: (760) 788-0250 or www.fs.fed.us/r5/cleveland/

-- Jerry Schad

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12. The big boulders

Borrego Palm Canyon, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

High up in Anza-Borrego’s Palm Canyon and under the brow of Rain-in-the-Face peak stands a rock refuge built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s. Camping at site No. 107 is as much about shelter as sky. Campers, especially in the desert, especially in the summer, don’t want to be exposed to the elements all the time.

Because the lower sites tend to be crowded with RVs, it’s best to head to the roomy upper loop, where there are three rock shelters along with newer wooden ramadas.

Here you can find a concrete table set beside a blackened stone hearth inside a veritable rock sculpture -- something artist Andy Goldsworthy might construct if he found himself in Borrego with idle hands.

It’s a perfect place to bliss out on the graceful lines of stone, contemplate the lost art of shelter building, and regard the cartoonish kangaroo rats that hop out of the rock walls to steal your crumbs.

The trail at your back door leads into Palm Canyon, where recent floods uprooted native palms, leaving behind a lumberyard of broken trunks. Outside the campground, the badlands and wind caves of California’s largest and least developed state park spread out in all their immensity.

Despite its primeval feel, this campground is eminently civilized; a San Diego magazine gave it the “best campground restroom” award.

There’s even a solar-powered shower (bring quarters), and for those who want to skip meal planning or perhaps have forgotten any of the 10 essentials, the one-street town of Borrego -- stocked with everything you need -- is just five minutes away.

Summers here are too hot for some campers. And any time of year the wind can blast down the canyon, so park your tent in the lee of the stone ramada and give thanks to the CCC boys for their sturdy work.

Campsites: 122, reservable

Fees: $20; $29 with hookups (not including handling fees)

Information: For reservations, (800) 444-7275 or www.reserveamerica.com. For park information, (760) 767-5311 or www.parks.ca.gov

-- Ann Japenga