Foghorn Outdoors California Camping: The Complete Guide to More Than 1,500 Tent and RV Campgrounds (Foghorn Outdoors)
|
List Price: $21.95
Our Price: $3.69
Your Save: $ 18.26 ( 83% )
|
|
|
Average Customer Rating:  
|
|
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 917
EAN: 9781566916875
ISBN: 1566916879
Label: Avalon Travel Publishing
Manufacturer: Avalon Travel Publishing
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 936
Publication Date: 2005-02-04
Publisher: Avalon Travel Publishing
Studio: Avalon Travel Publishing
|
|
|
|
|
|
Spotlight customer reviews:
|
Customer Rating:
Summary: One to keep with you
Comment: We love this book. It has helped us sort through all the choices of campgrounds out there. Fun to read and imagine all the places we can go!
Customer Rating:
Summary: You gotta have it!
Comment: I have owned several editions of this book and have passed the old ones on to family and friends. Just the intro is wonderful for people starting to camp. (Key piece of advise from Tom - Schedule your camping time just like you schedule anything else, otherwise it won't happen.) It's fun to check out nearby campgrounds when you bring the book camping with you. I have enjoyed many nights turning the pages and deciding where to camp next. There are books like this for other states, but the California book is the gold stadard. The book will never be 100% accurate, but that's the nature of the beast. It would be great if this info was on a website with amazon-like feedback and google earth views of the campground, photos and maps -- plus a way to access it all in your car! Until then, this is the best. Get his California Hiking book, too. Thanks for writing them and keeping them up to date, Tom! They have lead to many wonderful, memorable trips and hikes for me, my wife and my camping buddies of various ages over many years.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Our Favorite Series of Campground Guides
Comment: As indicated by other reviewers, the Foghorn (Moon) series of campground guides is not without flaws. Even so, we know of no directories which do a better job of addressing campground aesthetics than these wonderful guides. In our experience, the look and feel of a campground is often the single greatest factor influencing the quality of a camping experience . . . and the factor totally ignored by nearly all other campground guides.
There are a number of directories which rate facilities, provide directions, tell you how to make reservations and give you an idea of the cost for a night's stay in a specific campground. This series gives similar basic information and then goes beyond that. The Foghorn (Moon)guides actually give you a feel of what it is like to stay in a specific campground - a bit of a narrative description and a "scenic beauty rating" for each campground plus information about nearby recreation opportunities. We like that a lot.
Have we found instances where we liked a campground more or less than the book's author? Of course. Tastes differ and things change over time. Even so, we would rather have an admittedly subjective rating of a campground's intangibles than to have nothing to go on but a recitation of facts and figures.
Are the Foghorn (Moon) Outdoors the only guides we carry? No. But they are ALWAYS the first place we turn when selecting a destination campground.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: The Bible of California Camping?
Comment: Maybe this Foghorn publication, California Camping by Tom Steinstra, is the bible of camping, at least for California, but it probably needs another good scrubbing or at least an editor. I have purchased this book twice, 03 and 05 editions, and a few things changed, e.g., when the listing for Palomar Mtn SP mentioned that Reserve America honored this park as one its Top 200 Family Campgrounds. This was a nice addendum to the last edition. But, in some cases, the editors, more than Steinstra, need to make the rounds, at least at the more popular sites. For example, California Camping mentions that El Capitan SB has one of the "best fishing" sites, but from what we have understood over the last few years is that fishing no longer even takes place in the nearby stream - due mostly to drought. Though, if someone said El Capitan is the best for Dolphin watching that would be entirely accurate. Also, Tillie Creek is rated "9" for scenery, apparently, but all the upper front and near the lake sites were closed this year not to mention there is no "creek running" in the summer. However, this book has proven over and over to be accurate in about 90% plus of its content which is great when you have kids. A couple of suggestions might help if, for example, in addition to the scenery rating, could there just be an overall rating, i.e. 1-10 based on Steinstra's standards or the type of campground? And, could the editors create a means by which campers and readers could report their findings back to the publisher? Could the editors make sure to get an accurate update from park rangers, agencies, and private campsites for any basic changes that might have occurred? Okay, so no matter what I say, California Camping is probably the best camping guide out there, in my opinion. I just would like author, editor, and publisher to make it a bit more current and relevent for the next edition, which, of course,I will most likely purchase.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Comprehensive and personal
Comment: I can't speak for the person who disagreed with some of the ratings. In my experience, this is an invaluable reference, and the personal descriptions of each campground are extremely helpful. Few references will go the extra mile to provide ratings and personal observations about each site like this one does. It's clear that the author has actually visited most of these sites, which is not always the case. It's a great book, and the anecdotes & camping advice in the introduction are very well-written. This book covers every kind of campsite in California, from hike-in primitive sites to RV parking lots. I highly recommend it.
|
|
|
Editorial Reviews:
|
Covering every worthwhile destination in California, this is the camper's guide to finding the best spots in the Golden State. Families, day-trippers, and seasoned campers looking for a change of pace will all find the perfect campground among the options selected by renowned outdoor enthusiast Tom Stienstra. Destinations vary from the Mojave Desert in the south to Redwood forests in the north, and beaches along the Central Coast. This guidebook provides updated, easy-to-use region and trail maps, descriptive keynotes for every geographical region, and facility and fee information. Detailed descriptions let campers know when they're near a waterfall, scenic overlook, or wildflower field. Foghorn Outdoors California Camping has the details on the best California camping available.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
