well off the beathen path

Cottonwood Canyon , a photo by totalescape.com on Flickr. Cottonwood Canyon on Hwy 166, between the Central Coast & the Tejon Ranch Hills. Kern County is getting more rain tonight. Old man winter is still moving thru this Spring in California. Hang loose & hold tight for spectacular wildflowers EVERYWHERE. Share your wildflower finds w/ Total Escape on Facebook

Would love to expand and offer you more information on all back roads around the entire SouthWest, but technology is expensive. After 14 years online, I can safely says I need to hire some help. Intuit is offering a hiring grant and we need your vote to make it happen.

hite cove trail poppies and South Fork of the Merced River below a photo by Mrs Rachel on Flickr. Is it happening yet? Have you seen them? Where? Zillions of web sites and pages referencing wildflowers in California. The best imagery can be found on Flickr searches, which landed me on this incredible shot by Rachel. Total Escape covers California wildflower reporting starting in March each year.

Get the California Ski & Snow Report widget and many other great free widgets at Widgetbox ! Not seeing a widget? ( More info )

Been there, done that. Way into the outdoors . If you know someone on your holiday gift list like this, maybe they need some new local areas to explore. Grab a new waterproof map from Total Escape , NatGeo, Tom Harrison, USDA, we have 'em all. If plastic durability is not a concern, then try the wonderful, accurate, large, overview atlas (book map) for every California road trip. Benchmark brand is the best with big, detailed, dirt road, hot spring, outdoor beauty. Way better than DeLorme.

Need to get a gift for the outdoor person in your life, well we can show you some great, inexpensive items. Stuff that every hikers or camper could use. Waterproof maps are by far the easy choice, but deciding on a local region might be a bit difficult. Yosemite maps and Sequoia are popular choices, but so is Death Valley. TIP: pick the next place you want to vacation with them. See all CAMP GEAR here. Below are some 'outdoor gift' items that DanaMite recommends.

More Pretty Cupcakes Originally uploaded by lilraindrops Gorgeous Cupcakes. More than half of your brain is visually stimulated. California Wilderness is like the icing on the cake. If you live here in the golden state, you most likely love the outdoors, like travel and budget, local weekends too. Total Escape - this goofy California back road web site is here for you to find YOUR California. Tahoe, Mammoth, Mojave or Anza Borrego... have it all A to Z