dirt cheap
outdoor vacations

Plenty of travel sites cover the typical choices - chain hotels, timeshares, tropical islands and cruise ships. On the opposite side of the spectrum, Total Escape offers only local destinations, small towns, outdoor recreation, yurts, tent cabins and cabin rentals, rustic lodges and unique attractions. Local museums, farm stands, organic orchards, caves and caverns, historic railroads, hot springs resorts, bike or kayak rentals, alpine lakes, waterfalls, rivers, creeks, all parks and forests.

Site founder DanaMite is always working on the map shop, with gear now!

Outdoors in California, Sierra Waterfall Camping Dirt Roads

COUNTRY ROADS

take me home

Total Escape is California, off the beaten path

Farm Towns California has more variety of farms than any other state and the land mass to go with it. If you've ever dreamed of starting a backyard vegetable garden, or even living in a farming town, you too can escape the city life for nature, sunset walks and dark night skies.

Waterfalls, swimming holes; Wildflowers blooming above 4000 feet elevation, and summer holidays are here - which means camping season is in full swing. Sierra Nevada high-country bloom mid to late summer. The higher the altitude, the later the blooms.

DanaMite has also been documenting recent fires on out public lands. See the areas affected by wildfires.

#totalescape

Rural California Directory: Now that you've found this independent California resource, you can discover more local destinations online. Find your own rural place, a home way up in the hills, or just a good camp spot for the night. Discover that perfect desert spot for winter camping, petroglyphs, or the best small town museums. We list it here, all outdoors, all local. Travel the back roads of the west, on the cheap. Camp year round, without the fees, from Baja to Shasta. Find secluded spots. Historic, independent inns to remote yurt resorts, yoga weekends to primitive hot springs, RV resorts, or dispersed camp sites. Hiking trails, kayaking lakes, fishing streams, gold mines and ghost towns, and all the topographic maps to go with.

all local: updated monthly

ancient: 25 years online!

We're still here, thousands of pages and decades later. Way outside the city limits, beyond the county line. No wifi, no smart meters, no gaming addictions, no traffic lights, no city noise. Rural living in California still exist. Hike on the weekends, bike to work, boating mid-week, we have you covered for destinations. Find a new boulder garden, a big waterfall, trailhead or an ancient lava cave. Total Escape - Two whole decades online. Not quite obsolete.

Craving the Wild? Before the tweets, the constant memes and paralysis of our current culture, DanaMite started this travel web site way back in 1996. Catchy phrases like, FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) did not yet exist.

Total Escape features abundant real photos of real places. Secluded destinations, camping and lodging, examining the best back roads, side routes, the topo maps (to get you out there). Locals-only travel tips, gear reviews, festivals and events. This unique travel site is updated every month, for the past 25 years!

Juicy content specific only to California. Focusing on outdoor destinations, small towns and budget-minded travel since 1996, we've recreated the weekend getaway - without the crowds. Escape the matrix, the city life, the traffic jams and learn how to avoid the tourist traps. Drive on past the factory outlet malls and the water slides, we've got much more to show you. Way out there, on the back roads, and in the backcountry.

Wilderness in California - more nature, less people.