California June Roadtrip Suggestions

[frorider]

That's one place I've missed, I guess.
I stand by my assertion that tourists don't know what the Grapevine is.

It’s in Napa wine country, obviously

[The AD]

It’s the big pass on I5 outside of greater la that gets you to the Central Valley

Got it. I think Northern Californians are contractually obligated to say that Southern California sucks and there's nothing worth seeing there. Having just spent a couple days in Irvine I can understand the perspective, though.

[californiagrown]

That's one place I've missed, I guess.

Also, I'm only speaking as a tourist and giving advice to another tourist. I don't claim to be an expert on living in California since I never have. I stand by my assertion that tourists don't know what the Grapevine is.

Dont feel too bad, a lot of folks from norcal would only have a vague idea of that socal CF.


If OPs kids have never seen a volcano, then Mt Shasta is pretty damn impressive, but its pretty far out of the way too.

IMO, fly into SF. Take Hwy 1 down to Hwy 84 at San Gregorio and cut over to Sam McDonald park for some redwoods and banana slugs (go up to Alices for a lunch on skyline blvd or see if you can find the "no left turn unstoned" sign. backtrack to Hwy 1 and continue all the way down Hwy 1 to see santa cruz (boardwalk), Montery (pebble beach and the 17 mile drive, aquarium), carmel etc. Continue down Hwy 1 to Big sur. Keep going at a leisurly pace stopping where you see a cool beach/town (i liked cambria and morro bay, stop in cayucos for some kid friendly boogie boarding, and if youre into this kinda thing stop by for a tour of the Hearst Castle outside san simeon to see west coast robber baron wealth on display). Take your time, from Big sur on south to pull over and enjoy when you see something that catches your eye.

Keep going south to see pismo and santa barbara. Go to LA and do the hollywood stars/rodeo drive/etc thing for a day and maybe catch a dodgers game. Then drop the rental car off and fly home.

[dunfree]

Got it. I think Northern Californians are contractually obligated to say that Southern California sucks and there's nothing worth seeing there. Having just spent a couple days in Irvine I can understand the perspective, though.

As someone who moved to NorCal as a teen and wore a Brooklyn Dodgers hat I understand this, but now the two are far more similar than different. And the state of Jefferson far more different than either!

anyways, if you are in Santa Cruz or the Central Coast or most anywhere in California think that there used to be 1,000# grizzly bears roaming around fat on salmon and acorns or other numerous prey. It’s on the flag for a reason
https://www.amazon.com/California-Gr.../dp/0520205200


If you want to see a volcano Mt Lassen is a little closer than Shasta, and there’s bubbling things etc.

[billyk]

Lots of good suggestions. One thing I didn’t see mentioned (or maybe I missed it) is 17 mile drive. Definitely worth the drive, and the toll it costs. And if you are any kind of golfer, even if it’s just watching it on TV, Pebble Beach is worth a visit, especially around dusk. Stillwater Cove is open to the public and there are public parking spots next to hole 17. From there you can walk the beach below hole 5 and then walk 6, 7, 8 and so on. Lots of people are out doing just that, and you won’t get hassled. Just dress nice and act like you belong there.

[dunfree]

Point Lobos is the other side of Carmel Bay and worth a stop, it’s a SP and a bit more wild. While you are in the Monterey bay area get some artichokes because most of the us ones come from the there, same with Brussel sprouts. Driving by castroville on highway 1 point out Marilyn Monroe was the artichoke festival queen before she was anything.

edit to add: they called it 17 mile drive because the start and finish point was the Hotel Del Monte. The public beach at the bottom of Carmel used to be nice; it’s the one you see on the golf casts

[I Skied Bandini Mountain]

My input:

The eastern Sierras can be pretty interesting for kids. Bodie ghost town and Mono lake are a great way to spend a day with kids. Add in the Bristlecone forest and Devil's postpile and you can kill two days easy.

Yosemite when the falls are blowing up is incredible and will be a lifetime memory. Don't pass it up.

San Francisco is kinda iffy for me. Great town, lots to do, but it's open season on rental cars and cars with out of state plates. If parked in public, it will get broken into and your shit stolen, in broad daylight and with people around, and the cops won't do shit. If you can find a hotel with decent safe parking, Lyft it around town. Alcatraz is great with kids, and a ferry trip over to Tiburon and lunch at Sam's Anchor is awesome on a sunny day. A walk across the GG bridge is a must do, bring warm clothes.

Highway 1 south through Big Sur and north to Sonoma and Mendocino can be a bit tedious and sickness inducing for the crumb snatchers. It's beautiful, but chances are you'll get caught behind long lines of cars following a rental RV doing 12 mph and never using pullouts. Monterey is awesome, MBA is a must, and lots of beaches to explore. They might not have the road open yet south to San Simeon and Morro bay if going on highway 1 through Big Sur. If you're going north up to Sonoma/Mendocino, go up 101 to Santa Rosa and cut over on 116. Please be aware that 101 north out of The City will be bombed with commuters after 4 pm or so, so plan accordingly. Lots of coastline camping in Sonoma and Mendocino, and accessible ocean coves where shell picking is awesome. Lots of abalone shell and beach glass in spots. Bring food, camp store prices on the north coast are outrageous. The supermarkets in Gualala (locals pronounce it wa-la-la, like ooh la la) are pretty good for provisioning, but still pricey. If you want to splurge and stay somewhere nice on the north coast, lots of STR homes are available in the Sea Ranch. It's an unplugged kind of place, lots of trails and beaches, but not much else. Our kids always enjoyed it. A google search will bring up tons of options.

Good luck and have fun.

[old goat]

Stinson Beach north of SF--if you can find a dog friendly rental the beach in front of the private houses is dog friendly (but not the state park beach farther south). The water is marginally warm enough for a short swim. Pt Reyes allows dogs on some trails. Other than that dogs aren't allowed on most trails and beaches along the north and central coasts--only in campgrounds and paved trails. With a dog you are severely limiting your options.

[Not DJSapp]

I'll try to work up the rest of my mega compendium for Sacramento, Tahoe, Northern CA, and the North Coast tonight, and update a few things I missed (Alcatraz is good for kids, humpback watching tour in June in Monterey). I kept my list to things I have personally done, and would recommend to a family with a tween and a teen.

So I'm not going to recommend:
Any library
Any university
Scenic drives of more than 30 minutes unless it is on the way to something
Deep history lessons with required reading (I'm looking at you 4th grade mission report)
Churches in general (again, Missions)
Golf or golf courses

[MagnificentUnicorn]

Stinson Beach north of SF--if you can find a dog friendly rental the beach in front of the private houses is dog friendly (but not the state park beach farther south). The water is marginally warm enough for a short swim. Pt Reyes allows dogs on some trails. Other than that dogs aren't allowed on most trails and beaches along the north and central coasts--only in campgrounds and paved trails. With a dog you are severely limiting your options.

There’s a “hot” spring on Stinson. If you can find it, dig a little hole and have a soak


Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

[45hill]

Two things that really stand out in these three pages of suggestions. California is such a diverse state and 100% not a shithole.

Moaning Cavern by Murphys is cool. Sonora Pass should be open by mid June as a crossover route through the Sierra in central CA.

Hit me up if you cruise through Mammoth. I will get you a nice campsite.

[billyk]

Oh, yeah, artichokes. If you happen to pass by Castroville on the way to Monterey, be sure to stop at the “Giant Artichoke” restaurant, and get an order of fried artichokes. You might be able to get them elsewhere, but chances are those restaurants don’t have a building that looks like a giant artichoke.

[I Skied Bandini Mountain]

Phil's Fish Market is now in Castroville. Waaay better place to eat. I was just there two weeks ago and was so happy I almost cried.

[plugboots]

As long as everyone is suggesting great things for teens and tweens, you should probably get some hookers and blow.


Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

[AK47bp]

Hear they got good raisins there.

[billyk]

Phil's Fish Market is now in Castroville. Waaay better place to eat. I was just there two weeks ago and was so happy I almost cried.

Oh, yeah, I love Phil’s in Moss Landing. Great place, and I see they do have fried artichokes! Yeah, go there.

[hutash]

Life long VA resident (64 yrs), so happy to. answer questions and offer a shower if you are in the Ventura area. Feel free to PM me.

The coast north of SF is never and less crowded, relatively speaking as this is California. Kids might enjoy the insanity. of southern Beaches like Newport Beach, I did at that age...can't tolerate them now. Millions of little.hidden spots depending on what you like to do. Avoid the deserts, like Joshua Tree NP as they are pretty hot by then. Yosemite will be a zoo, but it is a must-see. I prefer to. spend the time I'm in Tuolumne Meadows, but I have been to the valleys a hundred times. Not prime season, the elephant seals are now nearly year-round residents just north of Morro Bay. A fun trip is out to Channel Islands NP. Even a day trip is cool and likely to see dolphins and whales.

[MontuckyFried]

Hear they got good raisins there.

Indeed!

[Not DJSapp]

So where was I...

A useful piece of mapping, click on the fire history box when planning to see what state things might be in. Many of our forests recently burned big and badly
https://caltopo.com/map.html#ll=36.1...9&b=mbt&a=fire

Stuff previously missed:

Point Reyes/Bodega Bay - It's a taste of the cold and grey North Coast without 3 hours of driving. Beaches are large and yet isolated and lonely. Might not find camping this close to SF, but it's possible
Alcatraz - It's actually a fun visit for kids, I enjoyed it in middle school
Marin Headlands, Fort Baker, Fort Point, Presidio - It's where every picture of the GGB was taken, and neat to see the old military battery placements to defend SF Bay at the choke point. Lots of good hiking and wildflowers, but June brings Karl the fog and is a very real thing.

Sacramento/Sac Valley
Gold Country in general - if gold rush history is interesting to your crew, there's a lot here
The State Capitol - if you've been to one, you've been to many of them. It's neat, but not truly unique
Folsom Dam - cheap thrills to see the spillways in action, they will be running in June for sure and it's pretty much right off 50.
Jelly Belly factory - another cheap thrills stop highway close in Fairfield. Also - great cheap road snacks with the big bags of misshapen defects.

North Coast
Admittedly, I haven't spent much time up this way. It's remote.
Mendicino/Ft. Bragg/Sea Ranch - Beautiful coast, nice drive, few people and you can find spots to camp. Redwood forests nearby, big trees, but not the biggest
Hendy Grove - Big redwoods without the big drive north. Can be done in a few hours
Navarro Redwoods - More coastal redwoods, easy access and a nice drive on 128
Pygmy Forest - an interesting slice of geology between mountain ridges, erosion, and soil nutrients. Huge trees on one side, and old tiny trees on the other.
Humboldt Redwoods - Back into some big ass trees again
Humboldt/Eureka/Arcata - used to be unique as it was weed country, but now the whole state is weed country.
Redwood National Park - It says what it is. Truly massive redwoods. Nothing much else like them, but you can get a sense of it further south too

North Norcal
Another part of the state I haven't spent a ton of time in

Lassen NP - Lassen is amazing and it's actually the least crowded of the major NP's in the state. Lots to see and do here with forests, alpine, and volcanic features, but a chunk of it burned two years back.
Shasta Lake - It will be full to spilling over. Not sure if they still do the dam tour, but I did that as a kid and it was actually pretty neat. The elevator was the star wars hyperdrive sound effect.
Mt. Shasta - Big ass volcano all by itself. Cool to see, but will be buried in snow so hiking options will be limited unless you're bring AT gear
Downieville - epic shuttle served mt. biking with full service outfitters. Top might be snowed in this year, but they'll just start you a bit lower down

Tahoe
Lots to do and TGR can tell you what's up. Will be crowded on all fronts in June as it is Sac and SF's mountain playground. South Lake is becoming Vailified and you wanted something different, right?

Alpine Medows will still be turning lifts
N* won't have lift served mountain bike operations up by then (most likely)
Lake water will be super cold
Still damn beautiful and could be worth a boat cruise from SLT to emerald bay, or just hike down into emerald bay from the road
Desolation Wilderness is amazing
Everything around there is amazing, but there is a lot that is similar to CO.

[gaijin]

DJ filling in all the blanks. Well done, homie.


Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

[canyonrider]

Huge thanks to DJ and others, this has been super helpful. We are looking hard at the north coast but may try to work in a stop at Yosemite if timing/route works out. Steering clear of urban/amusement park stuff this trip. Any suggestions on a good 2-4 backpacking route in the northern half of the state that is dog friendly and won't be buried under snow in late June this year? I looked at the Lost Coast, but it seems like they only permit for groups of up to three people(?).

[bodywhomper]

Part of hwy 120 in Yosemite (below snow line) is closed due to roadway failure. There are other routes accessing the park. FYI
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?sto...ibextid=qC1gEa

There are two stretches of the lost coast and each is managed differently. One north of shelter cove and one south. The northern section is usually all beach walking. The southern is along cliffs, scrub, forests, and coves. My experience on the southern area many years ago was a lot of poison oak on (and growing across) the trail. We encountered a dog with a group who warned us not to touch the dog because of the poison oak in its fur. Poison oak of trails varies from year to year based mostly based on trail maintenance. You may encounter poison oak in most backpack-able areas that are not snowy this June, unless you are in the desert. Just an FYI.

Sry, I do not have an answer about late June dog-friendly backpacking, but look forward to learning what others share. My family is also curious.

[LongShortLong]

Good news - USFS wildernesses allow dogs. Bad news, many will be pretty snowy this June. Ventana Wilderness oughta be entirely snow free. It's near Monterrey. If wet feet are ok, I remember a fun loop that included a few miles along the Carmel River. Expect a lot of chaparral, oak, poison oak, dry grass, some pine, probably wildflowers, hardly a flat spot anywhere - it's rugged. There's some redwoods though it's the southern edge of their range so not notably taller than any California tree (most conifers get pretty big here). Vegetation at Ventana grows like fire, so trails can be overgrown. There's surely storm damage too, though you'll see that everywhere this year. It's not my favorite wilderness, but it is a place to go before the snow melts elsewhere. You're sure to see poison oak, mosquitoes, biting flies, poison oak, maybe ticks, and... poison oak. The Pine Ridge Trail likely has the best maintenance and can be accessed from east or west. There's a campground with redwoods on the west end. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pine_Ridge_Trail

California backpacking requires a campfire permit (free, can be found online or get it where you get your wilderness permit). Also, I think kids under 16 fish for free. They used to. The poison oak I mentioned earlier generally does not grow above 4,000'.

For wilderness in general, there probably won't be much snow below 6,000' and and deep snow above 8,000'. I usually study satellite pictures and remote sensors to guess exactly where the snow line is. Some sno-tel sensors give a realtime depth reading. IME, 2-4 inches melt per day, and trails seem ok 2 weeks after melt-out. Ask a ranger too, but they usually don't know. You may be able to find a Sierra wilderness below the snow or mostly so (only one I use regularly is in Yosemite so no help to your dog). Last time there was a big snow year and we tried to backpack in the Sierras, we ended up driving to Arc Dome Wilderness in the middle of Nevada. Grouse Ridge Recreation Area near north Lake Tahoe might be mostly melted in June. Much of it is below 7k, so maybe not too much snow, and there's many lakes, pine forest, and some granite. Heavily used on weekends. Good trails, easy to make loops. (stop there on the drive home if you can't drive through Yosemite?)

And take 50 or 6 across Nevada. 80 is booooooooring. Watch out for free range cows / don't drive at night.

[bobz]

My main advice is don't spread yourself too thin. There are a ton of good suggestions above, so I won't add any. But a lot of the things suggested will be better if you settle into an area a bit. Case in point, the Sierra (Yosemite, or East Side, or Sequoia-KC)... it ain't Bryce, where you can drive there, step out into the parking lot, maybe hike for an hour, and you've pretty well experienced the place. In and around the Sierra, what you can see in a day only scratches the surface. I could say something similar about the North Coast, Bay Area, Central Coast, or just about anywhere else in the state.

[AK47bp]

Do yourself a favor and order their namesake roll “The California Roll”- it’s a delectable treat with unique locally inspired flavor and ingredients.