California RV & Tent Lakeside Campgrounds / A Few Favs!

[@TravelSmallLiveBig]

For anyone new stopping by, we are now full time in a new trailer! We have traveled through over 35 states in our Grand Design Imagine XLS 17MKE. For a taste of a new CA video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/iXa1e36LrdCZhKM

[@unowhotravelchannel]

Thanks for sharing some of your favourites, we too like peace and quiet and getting away from it all! Great video guys😎👍

[@TravelSmallLiveBig]

These were some quiet spots! Might be a different story on a summer holiday weekend... but our timing was obviously right!

[@WithinHikingDistance]

Oldies but goodies! You guys find amazing campgrounds to stay at and love going on a tour via your videos. Hope all is well with for you two and Sierra. Big hugs!

[@TravelSmallLiveBig]

All from different trips ~ all with awesome views! Sure wish we could be at one of these right now... We are well, but missing being "out" and dog is learning to live with us :) Hope you three are well and enjoying! Hugs back at ya!

[@tommieboi707]

I live in NorCal so this is close by. So many beautiful places to camp. I can't wait for the weather to get better. And for all my camping gear to arrive. Covid has certainly put a strain on going outdoors. Same with the fires. Thanks for the video.

[@TravelSmallLiveBig]

Loads of beautiful places in NorCal! A couple other favorites are Cattle Camp near the McLeod River and Indian Grinding Rock in the Sierra foothills. We left SoCal early August this year and traveled up CA to OR and yes, finding sites between Covid & the fires was hard. OR too... we have traveled back East now, so have some new videos up! Thanks for watching :)

[@earthcomedy]

what a contrast! big trees vs a naked landscape. Black Butte, i will add to my consider list. Just learned about New Melones earlier today.

[@TravelSmallLiveBig]

CA has so many different landscapes & habitats. Black Butte may be pretty dry right now… New Melones was lovely!

[@GillanTravels]

Beautiful campgrounds.. very informative! I love the deers going to the campground.

[@TravelSmallLiveBig]

They are beautiful! There were so many deer at Frenchman Lake and not afraid of us at all (and we had a dog!). The deer at Black Butte were a bit more skittish. Thanks for watching :)

[@DesmondsDonders]

Thanks for sharing your favourites. We managed to get out for a day trips today.

[@TravelSmallLiveBig]

Awesome you got out! We are still sticking close to home... hope you are healthy and well!

[@DesmondsDonders]

@@TravelSmallLiveBig We have to stay local and cannot overnight but it was great to get out.

[@TravelSmallLiveBig]

They are starting to open campgrounds, but other than me working and walking the dog, we go nowhere. And now riots... might be time to move to the UK.

[@poptart8310]

Your videos are awesome! Love your choices and love your trailer! Thanks for posting!

[@TravelSmallLiveBig]

Thank you so much for the kind words! I have a blast making these videos so it's nice to hear good things. We love our trailer too! I have a lot of videos on CA campgrounds as well as Oregon campgrounds. If you ever need any suggestions, let me know! Thank you so much for watching -Heather

[@poptart8310]

@@TravelSmallLiveBig Thank you so much! We just bought a motorhome last year and are getting ready to travel a bit more, so I might hit you up! :-)

[@TravelSmallLiveBig]

@@poptart8310 Congrats! How large is your RV and have you set it up for dry camping at all? If you have a little solar power it really opens up options. Also, do you drink wine at all? If so, and you don't know about Harvest Hosts, we have videos & a link on it. We love the Harvest Hosts program ~ I'm full of info! HA HA and I'm just super missing camping right now! Ey yi yi.

[@poptart8310]

@@TravelSmallLiveBig Hi, our motorhome is 24 feet, nice and small to fit in many places! Yes, we usually dry camp. We've done hook-ups before, too. We are going to Lopez next week and hope to get Cougar 6. Yes, we like wine! We live near Paso Robles wine country! :-) Is your video on Harvest Hosts posted? I can try to find it. Thank you!

[@markreynolds3850]

Thanks for sharing this video, nice place , very cool site.love there is nobody there. My kind of camping .

[@TravelSmallLiveBig]

Exactly! You know the kind of campgrounds we prefer and enjoy ~ same taste as you :)

[@ntv-thuthachmiennui6147]

🙏🙏👉🔔👍The scenery is so beautiful

[@TravelSmallLiveBig]

It is beautiful! California has a lot to offer!

[@AmericasParks]

Always enjoy ending my day with one of your videos. So relaxing! Great to see Lexie again. Beautiful sites and very thorough reviews. Where was 0:12? Alabama Hills? What a shot!

[@TravelSmallLiveBig]

Thanks Randy! Yeah, I'm so glad I took so many videos of Lexie... she was a sweetheart ~ the new one is a nutjob! Definitely beautiful places and yes, that was in Alabama Hills ~ am really missing that section of CA right now...

[@RamblinRalph]

Been to Buckhorn 4 times. Very nice there!

[@TravelSmallLiveBig]

We really liked it there! Would have been fun to have kayaks... the other two lakeside CGs are awesome as well. Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment :)

[@markreynolds3850]

This is a nice video, thanks for sharing this information.

[@TravelSmallLiveBig]

Thanks John ~ sure are beautiful places!

[@bosse641]

Lovely places :o)

[@TravelSmallLiveBig]

They are! Wish we were parked at one of them... stay safe John!

[@larrywoessner5756]

When you say “no hookups, dry camping” could you let us know if generators are allowed? Thanks. Great overview.

[@TravelSmallLiveBig]

Great idea! I am pretty sure all of these allow generators and have quiet hours when they need to be off. We have solar so rarely even think about a generator, although we just bought a smaller(ish) one (compared to the giant one we sold awhile back). We also put a soft start on our air conditioning so I am sure we will start using the generator soon! Thanks for watching :)

[@neomis0119]

Any of these places have a place where I could drop a line in to get water for a jolca hot water system, I think the hose is 50 feet or so.

[@TravelSmallLiveBig]

I don’t think that would work with the lake levels so low these days. I heard that the campgrounds around Frenchman Lake recently burned. Black Butte is most likely super low and New Melones was way lower than the campsites. Maybe at some of the launch ramps?

[@camvil11]

Do you dump at every dump station before you leave and you said dry camping but drinking water so do you fill up your water tank with water jug sour do they have water at the site? Great videos. I am a podder too.

[@TravelSmallLiveBig]

Hey fellow podder! We travel with some water in the tanks - depends on how far we are driving and if we have to go up any major grades. We have 3 five gallon jugs in the back of the truck, fill those before we leave and use those to fill the Rpod tank. We can use those at campgrounds to re-fill as well. We have a composting head, so don't have to dump very often. We will dump at a campground if they have a site or go to one at a rest stop. Thanks for watching & taking the time to comment - where do you base from? We are Southern California :)

[@camvil11]

@@TravelSmallLiveBig We base out of Socal too. Went to Utah this fall (fall colors) and have my first boondocking attempt in Rincon in December. We mostly will be in full hookup so don't see us going the composting route until/unless we really are staying a week or more at a time boondocking. She likes running water too much.

[@TravelSmallLiveBig]

@@camvil11 yeah the composting route is better for 2-4 weeks or more. We do a 3 week trip every summer (except this summer of course), so it’s nice for us. Stick with what you have for sure. The Rincon is fun and so pretty at sunset and then looking up or down the coast at night with fire pits burning. We are just down the road in Ventura!

[@Emuspaul]

I imagine these are closed now during the pandemic.

[@TravelSmallLiveBig]

I believe so, although a lot of campgrounds are starting to open this next week. Be safe Paul!

[@Emuspaul]

@@TravelSmallLiveBig I have been twice and going again Wednesday to Heise county campground with every other site open.

[@TravelSmallLiveBig]

Nice! Lucky you - where is that again? I watched your video of the campground, but I can't remember where it is.

[@Emuspaul]

By Julian in San Diego County

[@TravelSmallLiveBig]

We have not been up in that area for camping yet ~ would love to! We have driven the road from Tecate in through the mountains several times (used to be our preferred route from Baja back avoiding Tijuana).