Sara Novak
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You may have missed me over the past few weeks. My husband and I did a whirlwind tour of the southwest and the pacific coast. It's likely not too much of a surprise that many of my favorite outdoor gems were in California. I was slightly turned off by the amount of visitors in Yosemite this time of year. We had to work very hard to find a place to camp because so many of the campgrounds were filled. And as a result, we discovered some campgrounds that we may never have found if we hadn't been looking so hard.
1. Mt. Whitney, Inyo National Forest
Mt. Whitney is the highest peak in California and while many California residents may be aware of it, for me it was a marvelous surprise. One evening after we had pitched a tent at our campground down the mountain we decided to explore. We were looking for a trail and started up the mountain. We went up and up and up. I couldn't believe that there were so few guard rails with views so dramatic. When we reached the top of the mountain it was as if we had entered another world. The air was impeccably clean, the red woods as big and tall as I'd ever seen, and a waterfall rushed down the side of the mountain. Whitney Portal Campground is immaculate with a quaint general store that welcomes campers with a beer out on the porch. It's a favorite spot for hikers excited to climb the state's highest peak.
Views from Mt. Whitney
photo: Sara Novak
2. Tuttle Creek Campground, Inyo National Forest
If you're looking for a virtually deserted campground, Tuttle Creek Campground is a great choice. Again, we found this campground because we were trying to find a place to stay in Sequoia. We were below the tree line in the mountains, in the midst of a desert-like eco-system, surrounded by a world of boulders.
This is the perfect area for an avid rock climber. The boulders dotted the skyline as if a wind storm of a thousand miles an hour had blown them in all at once. The campground itself had virtually no facilities so you'd better come prepared, but the cost was only $5 per night. It was the ideal spot to sit and read, journal, or just meditate on the gentle wind which kept the August air quite tolerable.
3. Rhyolite Ghost Town, Death Valley National Park
If you're a fan of the wild, wild west then the ghost towns of Death Valley are a great place for your imagination to run wild. I was so scared to drive into Death Valley (located in both Nevada and California), though more people in the park die from single car automobile accidents than have ever died from the desert, it's still quite exhilarating. A sign in the park directed you to turn off your air conditioning so that your car didn't overheat, so whether you like it or not, you're able to experience the true temperature outside when the car thermometer hits 110 degrees.
photo: Sara Novak
One of the most exciting parts of the park is the ghost towns. The largest is Rhyolite Ghost Town. The town was founded in 1904 to prospect quartz. One of the buildings in the town was three stories high and cost $90,000 to build at the time. According to the National Park Service, there were hotels, stores, a school for 250 children, an ice plant, two electric plants, foundries, machine shops, and even a miner’s union hospital. Today the buildings are in ruins but one of the coolest sites is a bottle house made of 50,000 beer and liquor bottles built by a successful miner Tom T. Kelly.
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More on the National Parks:
10 Best National Parks for Hiking
Visit America's Most Popular National Park, Celebrate the Smoky Mountains' 75th Birthday
Get Hiking: Start Planning for the Appalachian Trail
