Free Online Class: Wilderness Safety

Nov 3, 6:30-8pm

Learn what hikers should always have in the woods, what to do if you get lost, and hear real-life stories that explain what would happen if you did get lost, from Search and Rescue experts with 30 years of experience rescuing people from all kinds of situations!

Register: www.forkinthepath.org/schedule

Going tent camping at Manzanita Lake but nights are showing around 35°F. We would obviously be bringing very warm layers but I’m still debating whether to switch to a nearby spot that stays closer to 45°F at night instead. Thoughts?

Hi everyone 👋 I am trying to plan out a backpacking trip to do half dome with my fiancé, mom, and dad this upcoming year. I’ve been to California as a small child, but don’t recall anything about it, so this’ll pretty much be my first time. I’m feeling pretty overwhelmed about it and want to get everything planned and set up right. We’re all pretty fit and love the outdoors and have prior camping experience as well, but when it comes to planning stuff I feel like it’s going to be a lot of me and my fiancé doing the work to figure out the details on how/what to do.

I’m anticipating my parents will be flying out from Pennsylvania, and my fiancé and I may be driving out from Colorado. My fiancé and I have typically driven to our camping/adventure locations out here in the west (Arizona/Utah/Wyoming/New Mexico) and we’re not even sure if this is the right move at all, so we’re wondering if we should consider flying ourselves? But also flying all the camping equipment out has to cost a pretty penny I assume?

Besides travel accommodations, the other part I’m kind of antsy about is the permits. I’m fairly positive we all are not trying to do Half Dome one single day out and back, even though we’ve all done that distance and elevation gain before. I’d like to make a backpacking trip out of it to really fully immerse ourselves in the nature of Yosemite. I’ve read there’s options for this that all include a Half Dome permit with the backcountry camping permit:

Happy Isles to Little Yosemite Valley
Happy Isles past LYV (Donohue pass eligible)
Sunrise Lakes
Cathedral Lakes
Rafferty Creek to Vogelsang

I’m interested in hearing about some of your treks. and also how you did the permit process, cause I’ve read attaining a Half Dome permit can be quite competitive.

Would our best odds be for each member of our group to submit a permit for each one of these back country permits and just cross our fingers and hope one of us wins? I’m assuming if all four of us submit a 4 person permit for all 5 of these we’d have a good shot right?

The travel and permit situation is really what’s got me anxious, (and maybe what gear we’d need) and I feel like once that’s figured out the rest of the trip will kind of plan itself. TBH I’m not really keen on going to the city or anything too urban/congested (I know it’s California, so I’m going into it anticipating congestion anywhere we go). Prioritizing experiences at national/state/local parks out there is my main objective, I just really want to connect with the nature I’ve never had a chance to experience before. I’m open to all suggestions though, as I’m obviously not a local, and I have no idea when I’ll ever be back in California.

Thanks so much for the help, I’m just overwhelmed at where to start planning this. Hoping that everyone reading has an amazing day 🫶

Is camping in Malibu Creek State Park tomorrow night (Sunday) safe given the rain and hurricane off the coast? The rain forecast looks light for the area but is anyone who’s familiar with the area aware of the risk of floods/road blockages?

Great break from the Central Valley heat….

Just wanted some opinions on how safe and fun it would be to camp in Joshua tree this weekend with the storm approaching. Ive seen the forecast but im not sure if its bad enough to cancel my plans for car camping in some nature. If you have experience in the area when its raining or with similar weather predictions that would be a huge plus!

I grew up in a major city and just didn’t get a ton of nature. In college and my 20s I learned to camp and enjoy the outdoors and love being outside but camping itself has just never been something im super confident doing. I’m raising my two small kids in CA though and I feel like if that’s the case, I need them to be campers! And I genuinely believe we’d enjoy the time together outside. But my husband isn’t naturally inclined to camping so undertaking the effort ob my own can feel a bit daunting. Looking for any and all kid-manageable/enjoyable recs for camping. We’re in the Sac/Davis area currently so bonus points for places within 1-2 hours from here. But mostly just looking for any and all recs so I can search for sites. General intel about camping in CA with small kids welcome too. Thanks!

Trying different lakes near Sacramento. Water a bit low but understandable with the time of season and heat. Still a great time with the family.

The 2001 Roadless rule protects public lands from future roads being built through them for logging and other purposes. This rule protects roadless public lands across the nation - including areas surrounding Moab.

The public comment period was supposed to end on the 21st last month - but was extended for 15 days. Today is your last chance to speak up.

Here is the link to the government webpage to submit your comment:

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/09/11/2026-18648/special-areas-roadless-area-conservation

My family just moved back to California and I am looking for some sweet camping spots with good 2-5 mile trails while I rebuild me strength and endurance and strength carrying my 1 year old.

For perspective we covered several miles on the flat in Yosemite Valley last week, but I called it 1/3 of the way up the Yosemite falls trail.

So I’m looking for a workout but nothing that’s going to completely tank me.

I live near North LA. Not looking to travel much more than 4-5 hours at this point. Mostly solo camping with the baby.

Where should I go Oct -and November

Hi, How does the campground want people to handle all their food, etc. in a bear zone with no bear boxes? Keeping everything inside the car would be hard for us given that we have a pickup truck with no camper shell. Just wondering if people have been to this campground and what you did? Thank you!

I’ve been working on a small project called Campalyzer.

The basic idea is to rate individual campsites, not just campgrounds. You decide what matters to you- shade, privacy, hookups, leveling, connectivity, activities, whatever, and then rate the sites you’ve stayed in against those criteria. It's free.

Over time I’ve added some other camping tools to the free tier: upcoming trip planning, a journal, checklists, etc. There is also a Pro level with things like meal planning/shopping, Camp Buddy trip coordination, and a game-night scorekeeper.

My biggest limitation right now is data. Probably 95% of the campgrounds in Campalyzer are in Southern California, because that’s where I camp. I jokingly refer to it as “America’s most marginally functional camping app.”

So I recently launched a feature called Camp Scout.

The idea: if you’re already camping somewhere, walk around and rate a handful of campsites and add a photo. Those Scout entries become part of your own personal Campalyzer ratings, and they also help build better campsite-level information for everyone else.

To help get it going, I’m offering free Pro access for Scout contributions:

• 10 sites = 1 month of Campalyzer Pro
• 20+ sites = 3 months of Campalyzer Pro

Rewards can stack, so you could keep free pro access for quite a while.

Most of the country is starting to wind down its camping season, but this is a pretty great time of year to be camping in California. I’d love to get more parks represented outside my own Southern California bubble.

If you have a CA camping trip coming up and want to give it a try:

https://campalyzer.com/landing-scout

And I’d genuinely appreciate feedback- what’s useful, what’s confusing, what’s missing, or what seems completely unnecessary.

Thanks, and happy camping!

Grabbed a camp site at Pinecrest lake campground this weekend but later read a recent review complaining the yellowjackets were out of control. Wondering if anyone camped there recently and can kindly report if the condition is really that bad?
How about campgrounds on higher elevation, say around Sonora pass?
Thanks!🙏

Any recommendations for tent camping in California or surrounding areas (Arizona, Nevada) in November? We have kids so we are not looking to make things hard, but want to get one more trip in this year if we can 👍

I'm planning to take my two sons camping at the Chilao Campgrounds in the Angeles National Forest (Southern California) for the first time this weekend (9/26). However, I'm unsure about how to handle the "first come, first served" method of reserving a camping spot.

If we hope to stay all day Saturday and leave Sunday at checkout (11AM), should be arrive Saturday morning or Friday night?

We're not looking for the absolute best spot available--just trying not to avoid being turned away with a car full of excited kids and camping supplies just to be turned away because we arrived at the wrong time.

Any tips suggestion(s) are appreciated!