Planning a trip to CA

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an RV or an interest in RVing!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
See posts with no answers
YAY! We made it to CA. and staying at Salton Sea State Recreation Area. We love the desert and the desert cities area.  Our next reservation was at Dogwood Campground, Arrowhead Lake  in San Bernardino Forest.  We decided to go check it out before driving the RV and thank God we did.  The mountain we had to climb was intense (remember I'm from flat Galveston, TX) and the sites where too short.  Somebody had  the wrong size in the ReserveAmerica computer.  After hours on the phone with them...I was able to cancel the reservation with a minimal charge.  We are now looking for a campground or private rv park north of LA on Hwy 5 but we still have time.
  NOW I'm very concerned about our next reservation at Pinnacles Monument Campground.  I know we have to enter on the East side up Hwy 25 to get to the campground.  I think we will be coming from LA via Hwy I 5, CA 198, CA 25, & CA 146.  I need to know if this trek will be difficult since we are in the 37 foot motorhome and pulling our car with a dolly?  Is there an easier way or should I cancel this reservation too?  Please advise....
Terry
 
Why don't you call Pinnacles N.P and talk to someone there.  They can tell you if you would be OK with your rig?

Here is the campground store telephone number:  (831) 389-4538.

Marsha~
 
atinmo said:
YAY! We made it to CA. and staying at Salton Sea State Recreation Area. We love the desert and the desert cities area.  Our next reservation was at Dogwood Campground, Arrowhead Lake  in San Bernardino Forest.  We decided to go check it out before driving the RV and thank God we did.  The mountain we had to climb was intense (remember I'm from flat Galveston, TX) and the sites where too short.  Somebody had  the wrong size in the ReserveAmerica computer.  After hours on the phone with them...I was able to cancel the reservation with a minimal charge.  We are now looking for a campground or private rv park north of LA on Hwy 5 but we still have time.
  NOW I'm very concerned about our next reservation at Pinnacles Monument Campground.  I know we have to enter on the East side up Hwy 25 to get to the campground.  I think we will be coming from LA via Hwy I 5, CA 198, CA 25, & CA 146.  I need to know if this trek will be difficult since we are in the 37 foot motorhome and pulling our car with a dolly?  Is there an easier way or should I cancel this reservation too?  Please advise....
Terry
Click to expand...

There is a campground at Valencia, CA on I-5 just north of the LA city limits at the junction of CA-126.  It is called Valencia Travel Village. 

Why in the name of all that is scenic are you taking I-5 to the Pinnacles?!  You get treat yourself to a descent down the Grapevine into the San Joaquin Valley and then a hundred miles or so of what I would characterize as the Armpit of California and then climb out of the Valley on CA198 on a two lane road that descends the west side on a 7% four mile long grade with a number of low speed tight turns.  (See the Mountain Directory.) 

Myself, I would take CA-126 at I-5 and head west to US101 and turn north.  The run is four lane most all the way, and runs thru a series of scenic coastal areas, attractive towns, wine country, and lots of tourist venues and RV campgrounds.  (There is an excellent RV resort at Buellton, Flying Flags, that provides a great base to explore the Santa Ynez wine country (remember the movie Sideways?)  Further north there are San Luis Obispo, Morro Bay and The Hearst Castler at San Simion.  There are Spanish missions at Ventura, Santa Barbara, Lompoc (La Purissima), San Luis Obispo, San Miguel, and San Antonio de Padua on Hunter Ligget Military Reservation (open to the public, just drive in). 
 
[quote author=Carl L]..... a hundred miles or so of what I would characterize as the Armpit of California[/quote]

Hey Carl,

All those stinky/smelly cows at Harris ranch alongside I-5 would be offended if they read that  ;D  Great suggestions.
 
We stayed at Paradise by the Sea in Oceanside.  A little far south if you are going to LA every day. We only went up there two days, so not so bad.  Amazing rv park and a 3 min walk to the beach.
 
While Dogwood does have really small sites, there is a federal campground in on Big Bear Lake called Serrano that can accommodate rather large rigs and has full hookups.  We went up in our 30 footer last fall but we saw 40+ foot rigs up there.

The Road:  There are several roads up that mountain some are worse than others.  Keep in mind you need to get from around 1000 feet to almost 7000 feet in elevation, so there is going to be a mountain road involved.  One way to do it is to climb it in stages going up from Palm Springs to Yucca Valley before turning off on to 247 to the 18, the way we go up is to take HW38 out of Redlands which is a pretty gradual climb.  HW 18 out of 330 out of San Bernardino are both really intense climbs, 330 less so but I think it is currently closed because of a landslide last winter. 

Just some ideas.
Jeff
 
OMG...we had the best time in California.  The people are so nice and I really loved seeing our son in LA, visiting San Francisco, and Napa Valley....  Thanks everyone for all the great info.    We are currently dry docking at a rest stop outside of Reno and enjoying every minute.  Our next stop will be at a Utah state park.  btw...our blog is http://rvingwiththerutherfords.blogspot.com/
 
I'm glad you enjoyed your trip. Don't let this be your last time out on the west coast. Next time check out Shasta and Redwood National. Check out this site for more info.
http://camp-california.com/
J
 
Glad you enjoyed your visit to my home state.  You sparked my curiousity about the Pinnacles campground.  I have never been there, but have always wanted to go.  Did you end up going there or not?
 
We changed our route and did not go to Pinnacles.  Currently, we leave Iowa today for Weston, Missouri to start our Host job beginning August 1st.  Our daughter lives in Lenexa, Ks  and we are so happy to be able to visit with her.
Thx to all.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Members online

Total: 637 (members: 15, guests: 622)

Forum statistics

Threads
131,964
Posts
1,388,308
Members
137,716
Latest member
chewys79
Back
Top Bottom