• RV Parks & Campgrounds
  • RV Sales
  • RV & Outdoor Gear
  • RV Maintenance & Repair
gs logo
  • Categories
  • Campgrounds, Parks & Places
    Campgrounds, Parks & Places
    America’s Most Scenic Drives
    8 Great Summer Getaways Across America
    Indiana’s Ceraland Sports Park & Campground Rolls Out Recreation Fun
    Oceanside RV Resort: Experience the Best of San Diego
    Aerial shot of resort
  • Subscribe

Little Known Central California Camping Locations

author image
Bob Difley
  • Nature & Wildlife
  • and RV Life: Travel
November 2, 2015

    November 2, 2015

    Forestiere Underground Gardens

    Forestiere Underground Gardens

    The middle third of California covers a lot of territory, with RV destinations you may have missed when headed for San Francisco and Yosemite, Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks. Check out these unique locations. Visit Good Sam Camping for nearby campgrounds.

    • More than 30 miles of hiking trails wind through Pinnacles National Park, America’s newest national park. This property encompasses caves, dramatic rock formations, precipitous cliffs, meadows, ridges, a sycamore-shaded creek, reservoirs and one of the few places in California where you can see giant California condors. On Highway 25 south of Gilroy (East entrance) or Highway 146 East from Highway 101 south of Soledad. Note that there is no road connecting East and West entrances.    
    • Check out Forestiere Underground Gardens in Fresno. Sicilian immigrant, Baldassare Forestiere, spent 40 years sculpting a 10-acre underground compound in the early 1900’s. The retreat he created for himself includes a labyrinth of rooms, passageways, patios and courtyards—still fully intact—including plantings of fruit bearing trees and vines. Forestiere patterned the abundance of stonework and building techniques after Europe’s Roman catacombs and includes underground micro-climates with temperature variations of 10 to 30 degrees.
    • The 11,249-acre Kern National Wildlife Refuge (off Hwy. 46 between I5 and US101) is an invaluable refuge for birds using the Pacific Flyway (best viewing October through March, but closed for waterfowl hunting Wednesdays and Saturdays, October thru January). A six-mile, all weather, gravel, road auto tour is open daily sunrise to sunset. Just Northeast of Kern NWR, the Pixley NWR is home to thousands of sandhill cranes from November through February, an impressive sight and sound experience as the huge cranes soar into the refuge at dusk all croaking their distinctive call.
    • The cornerstone for Mission San Juan Baptista was laid in 1803 with the last interior floor tiles (imprinted with animal prints made while the tiles were left outside to dry in the sun) laid in 1817. A cat door carved into the blue side door in the Guadalupe Chapel allowed cats access at all times to catch mice, which were serious pests eating much of the harvest. The mission has the only original Spanish Plaza remaining in California. Two miles East of Hwy 101 on Hwy 156 near Hollister.
    • Indian Grinding Rock SHP spreads across an open meadow scattered with valley oaks in the Gold Country town of Pine Grove eight miles east of historic Jackson in the Sierra foothills. A large population of Miwok lived here as evidenced by the 1,185 morteros, the largest collection in America, where the women ground corn and acorns to feed their families. Along with a museum of Sierra Indian artifacts, a reconstructed Miwok village includes a large roundhouse used for park programs and by local tribal members. Take State Route 88 from Jackson to Pine Grove, then left on Volcano Road.

    You can find Bob Difley’s RVing ebooks on Amazon Kindle.

    Follow on Facebook and Twitter

    Vorad Collision Radar Review Previous
    Fun Fall Trips in the West Next
    Bob Difley

    Bob Difley

    Bog Difley has taught classes to fellow campers and has written destination and nature articles for several magazines, including Good Sam publications.

    Leave a Reply

    Parks & Places
    NAMENEWEST

    • Campgrounds, Parks & Places
    August 15, 2024

    America’s Most Scenic Drives

    Good Sam Camping avatar image

    Good Sam Camping

    LOAD MORE

    Subscribe

    Enter your email address below and get the latest posts delivered straight to your inbox.

    For questions, please see our Privacy Policy & California Privacy Rights.

    We are Social

    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Youtube
    • Rss
    • Pinterest
    • Instagram

    Good Sam Club

    Privacy Policy  |   California Privacy Rights  |   Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information  |   Targeted Advertising Opt Out  |   Terms of Use

    © 2023 Good Sam Enterprises, LLC. All Rights Reserved.