All "Overnight Escapes" Stories in Southern CA

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  Malibu Creek State Park

  Yes, Angelenos, you can escape city lights and view the Perseid meteor shower at Malibu Creek State Park Campground—so close to the big city, but it feels like it’s a galaxy away.

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  Shealor Stunner

  Robust mountains, striking slabs of granite, and deep green pine reflections make Shealor Lake near Kirkwood resort a jewel of the El Dorado National Forest. Reach this alpine oasis on a 1.3-mile hike.

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  Great Is an Understatement!

  Tucked against the Utah border in eastern Nevada, Great Basin is a hiking wonderland of 13,000-foot peaks, ancient forests, sub-alpine lakes, and marble limestone caves.

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  Island Traverse

  As the largest of the Channel Islands, Santa Cruz also has bragging rights to two mountain ranges. For a grand (and grandly scenic) tour, lace up the boots and go on a 15-mile (one-way) backpacking trek that traverses the eastern side of the island.

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  High in the Angeles

  Yes, Angeleno—you can camp in beauty and solitude without having to leave LA County! Buckhorn Campground, high in the Angeles National Forest just 36 miles up the Angeles Crest Hig

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  Pretty View Campground

  Chula vista means “pretty view,” and whoever named Chula Vista Campground in the Los Padres National Forest was right on the mark. The views extend all around and even upward to th

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  Holcomb We Haven't Camped Here?

  Holcomb Valley is just a few miles north of Big Bear Lake, but this broad expanse of meadows and ponderosa pines feels far removed from all the lakeside hubbub. It’s the perfect pe

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  Kayak to a Remote Beach Camp

  Lava Wall. The name alone shouts adventure—and the place loudly delivers. This towering volcanic cliff is the backdrop to a remote beach campground on Catalina Island that you can only reach by boat.

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  California's Serengeti

  When people talk about our great golden state, rarely included in that conversation is the Central Valley’s Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, or, as we call it: California’s Serengeti. It’s home to some of the most spectacular concentrations of waterfowl in the entire continent, and fall and winter are prime times for viewing action.

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  Lighthouse ZZZs

  It’s the closest point of land to the Hawaiian Islands in the continental United States and it might well be the best view on the coast. The historic 115-foot lighthouse tower at P

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  El Lobo

  Embark on a 13-mile hike that takes you across part of Santa Rosa Island’s interior, down a canyon, and along a spectacular coastline of cliffs, coves, and tide pools.

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  This Skunk Doesn't Stink

  On Santa Rosa Island, an all-day hiking expedition to Skunk Point unfolds like chapters of a geographic fairy tale. You’ll cross several distinct terrains on a 11-mile lollipop loo

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  The Comeback Pine

  The Torrey pine is now the rarest pine in the United States. On Santa Rosa Island, you can visit one of its last seaside groves—with some trees dating back 250 years—on a 4.5-mile

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  Fisherman's Friend!

  Finding a secret hike and hidden campsite in one outing? Get outta here! No seriously, get outta here. Head to the southern part of Orange County’s Cleveland National Forest, where

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  Camp Right Beer!

  Camping + beer = better together! Pineknot Campground at Big Bear Lake in the San Bernardino National Forest closes for the season at the end of this month, so make haste and pitch

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  Lone Oasis

  Every summer, thousands travel to Whitney Portal in the Eastern Sierra to summit Mount Whitney, the highest peak in the contiguous United States. But thousands more are denied the

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  Old and Gnarly

  Few places will magnify your sense of time and space quite like the rugged White Mountains. A part of Inyo National Forest, this remote, seldom-visited range along the upper Owens

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  Glamp Camp

  So your idea of camping is barbecues, beach cruisers, and better-not-have-to-pitch-a-tent? Say hello to Autocamp! (Or what we call Autoglamp.) Set right in downtown Santa Barbara,

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  Lookout There!

  Perched at 4,900 feet in the Greenhorn Mountains amid majestic oaks and huge, cleaved boulders, Oak Flat Lookout in Sequoia National Forest (named for the Giant Sequoia groves and

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  High Sierra Sorensen's

  At the eastern edge of Hope Valley, just 20 minutes south of Lake Tahoe, is what you would call an elegantly rustic respite suited to all seasons.  Situated in an alpine valley rin

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