Oak Flat

Our original weekend plans were to visit Lake Piru but we are generally pretty open and decided that we would check out Oak Flat campground instead. The main reason we chose this campground was that it was someplace we haven't visited before. It was also just over an hour drive from home and at $5 per night, I was sold! Here we are all packed and ready to leave.

A little breakfast pit stop on the way.

 I wasn't able to find out much information beforehand about Oak Flat but discovered that it was situated close to Castaic, off the I-5. The elevation was 2,800 feet, 27 campsites, no running water, vault toilets, and again only $5 per night.

It definitely is a bare bones campground but had everything we needed including beautiful views.

There is supposed to be a somewhat strenuous trail that climbs 1000' with some even better views but it was quite cold and windy so we kept our hike a short one. This friendly innocent cat tried to attack Brooke shortly after this picture.

 But she shrugged it off and was all good.

We even encountered some wildlife that allowed me to approach them.

Then I obviously got too close and they all ran away.

With the sun setting shortly after 5pm these days and the fact that it was very windy and cold, we decided to have a cozy evening indoors.

I mistakenly assumed this USDA campground was like others we have visited and there would be a pay station but apparently you needed an US Forest Service Adventure pass to stay here. I'm also not sure how the $5 per night worked but we ended up staying the night "illegally" and didn't pay as we didn't know how. I think I made up for it but picking up some of the garbage that previous campers had left behind. I also wouldn't recommend this site to people that dislike vault toilets as these were some of the worst examples I have seen. We ended up using our Mr. Buddy heater which kept us nice and warm during the night as temperatures hit the low 30's. We then headed home after another short yet enjoyable trip.

Dana Point

It's been a while since I have had the time to post up some camping updates. I blame it on our recent family trips to Hawaii and back home to Canada as my excuse - life certainly can be rough! With summer over and the weather continuing to be it's normal fantastic self in California, we decided to hit the ocean.

Dana Point is one of the most popular ocean camping destinations we know of in California so we arrived before noon in order to participate in their lottery. Here we are trying to entertain ourselves while waiting at the entrance to get in.

This location is almost always booked months in advance but on weekdays there are usually some spots that open up and they instituted a lottery of sorts in order to "win" a spot for the night. After "winning" our spot and handing over $35, we set things up and began some fun in the sun.

You can understand why this area attracts almost 1 million visitors annually as the beaches are beautiful, the waves are great, and the campground is literally steps from the ocean. Here we are checking out the scenery.

My awesome wife of course had to take advantage of the waves.



After the beach Brooke spent some time with bubbles followed by fun in the camper with mom (or I should say fun with the iPad)

This was just a quick one night trip but a good time was had for sure. Here is a parting shot of the beautiful sun setting.