Moon California Camping: The Complete Guide to More Than 1,400 Tent and RV Campgrounds (Moon Outdoors) Paperback – April 23, 2013

Tom Steinstra is one of the most enjoyable outdoor writers California has produced. Reading his work is simply a treat. He is at once amusing, self deprecating, and, most important, thorough and accurate. This new edition of California Camping combines the best of his writing in one volume and should be your first resource when looking to camp throughout the state.Besides a must read introduction covering such topics as how to avoid getting blisters and getting lost, strategies for keeping camping costs down, and how to limit bear access to your precious food supply, this book covers nearly every campground in the state from the Redwoods in Northern California to the Anza Borrego Desert in San Diego County. The book is divided into chapters, each of which covers a unique geographical province of the state. (These provinces match those found in Steinstra's popular book 'California Hiking' coauthored by Ann Marie Brown.) Each campground description includes a set of icons detailing nearby activities such as fishing, hiking, hunting, mountain biking, and swimming. The description also includes a list of scenic highlights near each camp. Finally, driving directions and the fees you can expect to pay are included. (Note: fees at state parks in particular go up regularly. Some prices listed will be outdated shortly after publication.)Some people have had a few problems with previous editions of this book. There is, for example, considerable disagreement over the "scenic" ratings Stienstra assigns to each campground. I think these are for the most part accurate, though one could always quibble with the details. (In Humbolt Redwoods State Park, for example, I would rate Burlington an 8 and Albee Creek a 7: Steinstra reverses these ratings.) As a rule of thumb, the more urban the site is, the lower the scenic rating. A KOA near a city will not get as nice a rating as a state park. Readers should be aware that noise level is not included in the scenic rating, and this can detract from the experience. To his credit, Steinstra notes locations where readers of past editions have complained about noise level.For me, the main benefit of this book is that it lists numerous free forest service and BLM campgrounds. Camping fees have gone up exponentially in the last few years (along with the cost of gas to get to the campgrounds.) I really appreciate Steinstra's careful listing of the obscure and remote campgrounds that are still available at no charge throughout the state. Although free, they are priceless, and readers looking for a nice base camp in California's many wilderness areas will find this book very useful. But then again, if you are looking for a place to park your RV or trailer, this book is also helpful. One of the great joys of comprehensive guides is that they contain something for everyone. Unlike most such books, this one is also very readable. Be sure to get it and have fun exploring this great state.

Positives1) This book has plenty of choice per area, so even though it does not have every site in existence it has plenty to choose from.2) It is easy to use when planning your trip as the maps are clear.3) It details in the intro to each site how generally popular the site is which enables you to focus in on the ones to check first (eliminate, book etc)4) Inspired me to try areas that I would have not considered on my tour.Negatives1) The only opinion that the author gives is the scenic rating. I would have loved the author to have gone into much more detail of the quality of the camp site - quality of restrooms, showers etcTherefore we planned our trip with the internet in one hand and the Moon book in the other. I'd select a site from the Moon book first and then research it on the net to get up to date reviews of RV sites (rvparkreviews.com) and of course the campground webpage.2) This book does focus on Nature focused Campgrounds. That means some very acceptable RV resort type sites are missed out which I did not realise at first. We wanted to camp in nature for the most part, but I found that to complete my round trip I had to use the Good Sam web site to find the more in town sites (eg. bakersfield, not a 'destination' but a very useful stop off.Update: The internet is really only a good planning tool as half the places we went to have no phone or internet coverage...therefore, I'd also recommend a paper copy of the GoodSam guide if you are in an RV, then if your plans change you'll have more choice.

I have been a fan of Tom Stienstra's California Camping book for over 12 years. First purchased the 8th Edition from Foghorn Press. This particular edition from Moon is not nearly as well set up as the Foghorn Press editions.The individuals maps are not as detailed, and much smaller print is used. The gridded "Chapter Reference Map" at the beginning of the Foghorn edition has now been replaced by a "California Regions" map not as useful. Foghorn edition also had a "Chapter Features" list of each numbered and named campground on each map, this is missing in the Moon edition. The foghorn edition also had a foldout California map in the back, quite useful if you forget to bring a map and this is also missing in the Moon edition.As the previous reviewer took exception to the "Scenic ratings" this was not an issue for me personally as this is only a subjective classification. What might be a 5 for some, might be a 10 for someone else. Beauty after all IS in the eye of the beholder. Over the years I have seen many classify McArthur Burney Falls as a beautiful place. I was there once it was hot, dusty, not much of a falls and in my humble opinion not very pretty at all. Anyway, you get my point on that, I would never visit a place solely based on someones view of it.All in all the Moon edition is useful if you have nothing else, but I for one am glad I retained my old Foghorn Press 11th edition, and oh Tom, if you happen to read this, please go back to Foghorn, and that format for the next edition

Es ist nicht zu gebrauchen, da keinerlei Adressen drin stehen. Nur Angaben wie: Fahren sie da ab, dann 400 meter geradeaus, auf der linken Seite steht ein Haus, dahinter biegen sie ab.... Was soll das? Ich will Adresse, Telefon etc. Sonst brauche ich da garnicht hin fahren wenn ich nicht weiß ob die was frei haben.

Der Reiseführer ist recht aktuell und gibt einen guten Überblick über die Lage, den Zustand und dei Ausstattung der einzelnen Campingplätze. Ich kann ihn sehr empfehlen.Ein Stern fehlt, da wir einige Campingplätze zusätzlich gefunden haben die nicht notiert waren...

Das Buch hat sich in den drei Wochen Kalifornien wirklich bewährt. Es brauchte aber ein paar Tage, bis ich die Funktionsweise des Camping-Führers wirklich durchschaut habe. Nicht ganz intuitiv nutzbar und deshalb wird ein Stern abgezogen.

Probably be better to write this after our campervan trip around California however for now it certainly appears informative with many, many sites fully reviewed.

Auf unserer Reise durch Kalifornien war dieser Führer eine riesige Hilfe. Man findet unkompliziert auch kleine Plätze und hat alle Infos übersichtlich parat.