Los Padres National Forest — FS9N22

Camp Review

• We camped at a pullout on FS9N22. The spot we found required about a mile of driving off-road. 4x4 wasn’t required, but ground clearance sure was.

• The pullout wasn’t quite level, but we managed to find a level position longitudinally but not laterally.

• The ground is hard-packed dirt; not sandy at all.

• There were a few nice trees on the mountain side, but in the other direction, there were no trees. Instead, we could see many lights across the valley—though dreaded by the number of stars above.

• We had two bars of 5G on Verizon at this location.

What Happened?

 

It took a bit of research to find out that while Angeles National Forest does not allow dispersed camping, Los Padres National Forest and San Bernardino National Forest do. Since we were coming from the north, we searched freecampsites.net and found this location not too far from Highway 5.

We arrived tired and sleepy to the start of the forest almost right at midnight. We found the forest road engaging (to say the least), and while I did not have to engage 4x4, I sure did have to be alert and go slow. After about 10 minutes of heads-up driving, we found a great spot overlooking Cuddy Valley, though we did have to park and re-park to find the perfect level spot. We quickly brushed our teeth and went to bed as we were pretty tired.

We woke up late to chatting birds and chillier air than we were used to (~45 degrees). We lazily packed up the car and started driving towards Los Angeles, a city that hosts many memories for Cassie and lots of cherished friends.