california travelers-->suggestions?

okay... so i am 18 years old and this summer i am on my own.. i have grown up all over the states and im not really sure what to do with my life, but i feel like i need a spiritual clensing, and have for sometime. ive was thinking of a way i could live in nature without having to deal with government and society much, if at all...

my dream would be california.. to live somwhere in the redwoods perhaps, or maybe just hitchhike all down california and see what i like. im a very adventurous person, but im not sure where to start? suggestions on hitchiking/camping in california?

 

http://www.pcta.org/

 

thanks zoomie

 

Well I've lived in California my entire life and go camping every summer, it depends on what part of California and what season you'll be visiting.

The national parks are all a must-see, Sequoia, King's Canyon, Yosemite (visit in the spring to early summer while the waterfalls are still full, they get quite dry by the end of summer). You could take the John Muir/Pacific Crest trail which follows the Sierra Nevadas, and actually goes from Mexico to Canada on foot.

Redwood is beautiful year-round, I'd say go there in the late summer. I especially like the coastal redwoods, something about the giant trees perched atop a cliff with crashing waves down below is so surreal.

Mount Shasta is one of the most spectacular looking peaks imo, it stands by itself in this valley and just looks like the biggest mountain in the world when you're looking up at it from the freeway. It's not too long a drive from the redwoods so you could do those around the same time.

San Francisco has to be visited at least once, the Golden Gate Bridge, take a ferry and a tour of Alcatraz island, check out Fisherman's Wharf, and drive up the crookedest street in the world.

L.A. is really nothing special. But if you come down that way check out Hollywood and if you enjoy real stargazing, visit the newly rebuilt Griffith Park Observatory. The La Brea Tar Pits are worth seeing once, these are natural tar pits with real fossils and dinosaur bones, some have been excavated and pieced together, and some are still left in there.

If you like marine life check out Dana Point, and Sea World in San Diego. If you make the San Diego trip it's worth seeing the San Diego Wild Animal Park, where they've built their own African Savannah with giraffes, elephants, hippos, monkeys etc roaming "free" instead of being in cages or pens. There's a fun exibit where kangaroos and wallabes will come up and eat from your hand.

If you like beaches, Santa Monica Pier is worth visiting, as well as Laguna Beach (also check out the art museums there, some of the finest and richest professional artists in the world live here), and Corona del Mar if you like Bodyboarding. Huntington Beach is nice if you want to have a bonfire at night with friends.

If you like skiing/snowboarding check out Mammoth Mountain in the Sierra Nevadas, awesome resort town full of awesome people. There are also a couple national monuments within like 15 miles on a windy mountain road. Devil's Postpile and another I can't remember.

If you visit the Long Beach area, consider taking a 1-2 day trip to Santa Catalina Island, boats leave from here and you can even take a "glass bottom boat" to view the natural marine life on the way, we saw a couple of sea lions last time. Catalina itself is a touristy place, but its worth taking the tram tour of the island to see the wild bison, and the view from the pass where you can see both sides of the island at the same time.

If you're into mountain biking/rock climbing Joshua Tree National Park is probably the best spot in Cali for that, altho you have to be ready for a very dry/hot desert climate in the summer.

Last but certainly not least... you gotta backpack up to the top of Mt. Whitney (highest point in the U.S. except Alaska) at least once in your life, be prepared for a 2-4 day strenuous hike though unless you're in great shape (marathon runners can do it in a day). Reservations for the Mt. get booked up as early as january but if you go in the early-mid fall you don't need a reservation.

And right across freeway is the turn off for Death Valley, lowest point in north america (visit this in winter for sure, temps have been clocked over 140 degrees F in the summer)

Hope that helped! California is an amazing place.

 

I have done quite a bit of traveling around California.

Southern Cali is a lot of big city and never ending suburban wasteland. There is good spots in Southern Cali but they are few and far between, plus the crime rate sucks.

Northern Cali is nice tons of spectacular things to see especially around the coast.
Santa Cruz and Arcata are the main hippy towns on the northern coast.

Santa Cruz does have a good amount of meth heads now days it is not a good place to hang out on the streets. But tons of cool stuff to see if you stay away form those elements.

Arcata is really nice rains a lot in the spring and winter if you are camping, Awesome beaches and Redwood forests.

You do have to be careful traveling around Cali there is a lot of meth heads and just sketchy tramps that wander around also. But if you keep an eye out and avoid seedy places it really nice place to travel.

Personally I wouldn't recommend hitchhiking, I hitchhiked the entire coast before years ago but I wouldn't want to do it again. I would defiantly not want do it if I was a female. Lotta crazy wingnuts that wander around that part of the country. Also it is illegal to go on parts of the hwys so you can get stuck in fucked up little yuppie towns and the police will come hassle sometimes.

 

thank you guys.. yeah i would like to hitchhike, but i am hesitant because i am a young pretty girl.. wish i had a partner to do this with, but at the same time i dont want one because i dont want to have to compromise with anybody and i think it would take away from my personal trip...random one... you should be my personal tour guide.. thanks for the tips both of you.

 

If you have the money, get yourself a motorcycle. California is a big place with lots to see. I suggest you start with the gold rush areas. That's a good area to ride. <(^o^)>

 

That was a lot of good info Random!

 

If you need any help on your journeys in California, lemme know.

 

Good luck with your journey. Having grown up in California and lived in both the north and the south, I can only say that SoCal really sucks. Crowded, Dirty and full of annoying people. Try Northern California. Besides ... the Weed up here is way better

 

Northern California above San Francisco is still pretty rural. You can find a lot to do up here. Lakes, mountains, farm country. Be careful though, a lot of illegal growing going on, and it can be dangerous to your health to accidentally happen on to one of these sites. Learn some basic spanish just in case.

 

I have been working North of Sacramento for a couple of months now. I have wandered around checking stuff out up here, and it is pretty cool. Northern CA is definitely better than Southern Cal. But in my opinion if you want to wander around with no government intervention like you say, California is not the place for that. I have never been to a place with more stupid piddly annoying laws. There are parts of the state that are phenomenally beautiful but if it weren't for work, I would have seen some of the sights and left by now. I have to agree with the other replys about the number of tweakers up here. I have found Yuba City, Marysville, Oroville, Eureka, and Chico specifically have a ton of them.

 

Yeah livin the land in cali would be awesome thats where im headed now, i went from ohio to florida back to ohio now, and headed west, its been far out thats for sure, mostly taking busses, chillin outside the cities,smoking..

Ill be your partner, i dont like travelin alone

 

There is an awesome monistary in big sur CA we broke down their and went to mass they really helped us out but they are really secluded on a cliff overlooking the ocean but noth CA and south OR are my fave places to be but they are pesky on the coast about places to camp out but if you go up the smith river there are some cool free camp spots and over in the Trinity area is cool laid back too

 

im not sure when i wrote this post but it was well over 6 months ago... since then i backpacked with my bf down the east coast, back up the east coast and then west to cali. we got in about 30 miles south of sacramento in some crappy town called lodi... anyway from there, near the edge of town we got a ride from a volkswagon van all the way to the coast... and from there, shit was absolutly wonderful... stayed at bolinas beach for a while then made out journey north on route 1 to humboldt county... im now back in nebraska and have been crying and dreaming about california since the day i left anyway.. thanks for you posts and peace to all of you..

 

we are headed back that way soon well west anyways not sure about the coast but would love to might have to now now I'm homesick for the ocean and the dessert weird right I'm from MT and dont want to go anywhere near there