San Bernardino National Forest: Heart Bar Campground

At Hwy 38 & Forest Road #1N02 is a huge, pine forested valley, right next to San Gorgonio Wilderness. Heartbar Campground, Heart Bar Horse Camps, RV Dispersed Sites. Highway 38 – SE of Big Bear Lake; Hiking & Equestrian Trails with ridges of 10,000′ elevation.

Heart Bar Campground reservations

Big Bear Discovery Center & Camping Info
909-382-2790

Bring the horses – Equestrian Camp Reservations

Big Bear HEART BAR: This valley is a developed recreation area w/ 94 camp sites, plus big equestrian area. Picnic, hiking, mountain biking, horseback trails, plenty RV spots, even a creek. (Oooops I meant the Santa Ana River) Highway 38 is kinda the long way into Big Bear Lake, up thru Angelus Oaks.

Forest Service Rd #1N02 – the dirt road is graded & leads back to Coon Creek Cabin.

San Bernardino forest maps:

• San Berdu National Forest Map (USDA NFS)
• San Berdu & Barstow OHV Trail Map
• San Gorgonio Trail Map (Tom Harrison)

nearby mountain communities:

Heart Bar Camp: Forest Road #1N02 – San Bernardino National Forest

Heartbar Campground, Hear Bar Horse Camps, RV Dispersed Sites, Coon Creek Cabin. SE of Big Bear Lake; Hiking & Equestrian Trails

Hwy 38 , the long way into Big Bear Lake, up thru Angelus Oaks CA. Heartbar Campground is a developed recreation area, right up front. 94 camp sites, plus the recreation goes on & on. Big equestrian area. Picnic, hiking, mountain biking, horseback trails, plenty RV spots, even a creek. (Oooops I meant the Santa Ana River)

Heart Bar is large pine valley w/ alpine meadows, great camping, San Gorgonio looms overhead with ridges of 10,000′ elevation.

Forest Service Rd #1N02 – the dirt road is graded & maintained. Many of these roads can close due to heavy snows or rock slides. Best traveled in the warmer months. Winter can be questionable with open road access. Large open sites, with tables & moderately level dirt access. Seen RV campers way back here. RV’s beyond 30′ are not recommended in the last half of Heartbar Road. At end of this 5 mile route is a hiking trail to Big Morongo Canyon & also, a really neat historic place called the Coon Creek Cabin.

Totally worth a visit, if you plan on driving to the end of the road – just for the heck of it. Cabin area can be reserved for small group camping in summer months.

COON CREEK CABIN reservations
909-794-4861

San Bernardino forest maps:

• San Berdu National Forest Map (USDA NFS)
• San Berdu & Barstow OHV Trail Map
• San Gorgonio Trail Map (Tom Harrison)

nearby Big Bear mountain communities:

Spanish Creek, Quincy, CA

Plumas Camping

Listed below are primitive campgrounds w/ minimal facilities or open camping areas in Plumas National Forest. Plumas has excellent fishing as the big rivers & numerous creeks run thru this northern Sierra Nevada landscape. Open camping is allowed on almost any dirt road w/ a current campfire permit.

Brady’s Camp
[on Pine Creek near Argentine Rock] Hwy.70 Quincy, go 4 mi. west on Hwy.89/70. Head east on Squirrel Creek Rd. & go 8 mi. to the campground. Elevation 7200′ / Open May – October

Deanes Valley
[along Rock Creek] Hwy.70 Quincy, go 3.5 mi. west on Buck Lake Rd. Head south & 7 mi. to the campground. Elevation 4400′ / Open April – October

Ohio Valley – Seneca Road
[off Hwy 89 to southside] Primitive forest camping near Lake Almanor. ATV trails, hunting. Creeks and river camping closer to Seneca. High clearance or 4WD may be needed on these dirt back roads – depending on snow and mud. There is plenty dirt roads back here to explore.

Snake Lake
[good fishing area] Hwy.70 Quincy, go 5 mi. west on Buck Lake Rd. Head north & 5 mi. to the campground at the lake. Elevation 4200′ / Open April – October

Snake Lake, California

Highway 78 cuts right thru the middle of the largest State Park in the lower 48. Anza Borrego Desert State Park is a place that must be visited more than once to really take in all the beauty it has to offer. North-South: San Diego County Road S2 skirts the western border with Laguna Mountain towering above. It starts at Ocotillo @ Interstate 8 and heads Northwest to Lake Henshaw at Warner Springs. East-West: a major route S22, connects Montezuma Valley to the Borrego Valley, and continues East to the Salton Sea. The center of the parks is pretty much the town of Borrego Springs. County Road S3 leads from Hwy 78 down the the town of Borrego Springs Valley. developed campgrounds:

• Agua Caliente Hot Springs, S2
• Blair Valley Camping (free), S2
• Borrego Palm Canyon Campground
• Bow Willow Campground (free), S2
• Butterfield Ranch RV Park, S2
• Culp Valley Campground (free), S22
• Fish Creek Campground (free), off Hwy 78
• Ocotillo Wells OHV Camping, Hwy 78
• Stagecoach RV Park, S2
• Tamarisk Grove Campground, S3 @ 78
• Vern Whitaker Horse Camp, Borrego
• Vallecito County Park Campground, S2

free camping: While the camping facilities listed above provide picnic tables and toilets, or more luxury camping… Total Escape thinks the best part of camping in Anza Borrego Desert is the vast amount of free, open camping available on most back roads. Hundreds of dirt roads lead off in all directions, so you can find the peace and solitude that few inside busy campgrounds ever experience.

San Diego Backcountry Map

Many routes are sandy washes, dirt roads, some for high clearance vehicles only, or 4WD in several canyons. Have a good dirt road map with you and know your cars limitations. Cell phone coverage is very unlikely out here in the most remote wilderness areas.

Big Meadow: Forest Road# 22S12 – Cherry Hill, Sequoia National Forest

Take Sierra Hwy. N of Kernville, past Fairview & over the Johnsondale bridge; Right turn on Sherman’s Pass Road & drive up to a signed intersection (near a snow gate). Turn right on Big Meadow Road, aka Forest Service Rd# 22S12. This is a very long road which is paved for the first few miles. 22S12 becomes a graded dirt road, suitable for horse trailers; it forks off to other smaller dirt roads, as it progresses through the forests & dead ends back by Cannell Meadow. The main routes are passenger car accessible, but some of the smaller dirt roads can get quite bumpy. A truck or SUV would be advisable to explore these secondary routes. Some areas have suffered from wildfire July 2000.

Horses & equestrian camping are very popular in this region. The developed Horse Meadow Campground can be found on the right via road# 23S08. Located at 7400′ elevation w/ 41 spots.

Side routes include:

• #23S14 Cherry Hill – a few camp spots near creek & a meadow with views at the very end
• #23S41 Poison Meadow
• #23S13 Salmon Creek
• #22S07 Big Meadow – this is a graded loop road around the “Big Meadow”. Plenty of primitive camp sites around Big Meadow, but they are the first ones to fill up during a popular summer weekend. The region is perfect for backpackers or day hikers wanting to access Manter Mdw. & the Domelands Wilderness.
• #24S13 feeds the last stretch of road to Rattlesnake Meadow. Taylor Creek near 24S43, features numerous waterfalls leading to the South Fork of the Kern River
• #24S12 Cannell Meadow & Pine Flat. The Cannell Meadow National Recreation Trail runs thru here, from Big Meadow down to Kernville, CA.

Sequoia National Forest

Sequoia National Forest MAP

DOME LAND Wilderness MAP

Nearby towns include:

• FAIRVIEW
• KENNEDY MEADOWS
• KERNVILLE