well off the beathen path

Lotsa mid-western transplants typing in Google "Southern California Lakes". Well campers, I hate to break it to ya, but California has mostly reservoirs. Man-made lakes & river dams to supply our cities & crops with valuable water. The few more natural lakes in Southern California - Henshaw , Hemet , Cuyamaca nearly dry up in late summer. California is a dry state, the whole west for that matter. Face it, inland San Diego is almost a desert. It's right next to Baja & Anza Borrego Desert . If you wanna see clear mountain water, with trees, maybe pine forest views & hear bluebirds... with big rivers flowing & decent fishing, then you are gonna need to drive. When the crowds at Big Bear & Arrowhead annoy you, then the plan B is obvious. Drive further. Drive north, about half way up the Golden State Freeway I #5. About 6 hours from the busy hub of SoCal. For recreation lakes, alpine lakes, real lakes in California. The Sierra Nevada mountains

Brewer Lake Campsite , a photo by totalescape.com on Flickr. If you still need me to spell it out - in every photo, in every forest, at each lake, enticing descriptions - every year, year after year.... just so you can be inspired to go outside and enjoy California, I will do so repeatedly. Or you could just cruise thru the years of archives on this California Back Roads Blog . Some of my suggested destinations require a 4x4 to reach, but many do not. Maps are essential. Road trip ideas and cheap travels await. Please also visit my ancient totalescape.com web site. California LAKES LIST Eastern Sierra Lakes Lassen Lakes Sequoia Lakes Shasta Lakes Sierra Nevada Lakes Wilderness Lakes Yosemite Lakes

Maps can save your life. Maps can get you un-lost and can show you the way. Maps are your escape route outta the city. In a digital world where we are so connected w/ internet, smartphones and GoogleMaps, it is amazing that folks can find there way to real back roads of California. Don't be shocked when your digital signal drops at the wilderness edge and you are finally "away". Most online map sources are NOT accurate beyond the city limits, much less the forest boundary. Seriously folks, THEY don't want you out there. There is no place in the Wilderness to spend any money. Many have not properly logged the back roads yet, or perhaps they just won't make it available to the general public. You'll be lucky if they get the road number correct. BACK ORDERED / BACKORDER? OUT OF PRINT, OUT OF STOCK Availability of good maps is an ongoing issue. It's a unique factor in the map selling business. Although Total Escape carries a variety of Californ