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That's podcasts with an S. Thank

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KQED. From

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KQED in San Francisco, I'm Nina Kim.

1:41

Coming up on Forum, are you going

1:44

camping in California this summer? Maybe you've

1:46

already scored a sought after reservation in

1:48

Yosemite, or maybe a tent cabin at

1:50

a lake or a car camping spot

1:52

along the coast is calling to you.

1:55

Our state has a wealth of options and we'll tell you what's

1:57

new for 2024, including the including

2:00

a law aimed at making it easier to

2:02

reserve a popular campsite, will also get tips

2:04

on where to camp for the activities you

2:06

love, or if you're new to it, how

2:09

to plan. What do you

2:11

want to know about camping in California this

2:13

summer and fall? Forum is next, right after

2:15

this news. Welcome

2:25

to Forum. I'm Nina Kim. Summer

2:27

camping season is around the corner

2:29

and California state parks and recreation

2:31

areas have something for everyone. Secluded

2:33

sites in the Sierra bag country,

2:36

campgrounds with RV hookups and a view

2:38

of the Pacific, yurts, tent

2:40

cabins, and even campsites with float.

2:43

This hour we'll get tips on scoring

2:46

reservations, how to plan, and how to

2:48

pack. What's your favorite thing to take

2:50

on a California camping trip to

2:52

create those lifelong memories? Here

2:55

with us today is Peter Ochstraski. Staff

2:57

park and recreation specialist for the

2:59

Bay Area District of California State

3:02

Parks. Welcome Peter. Thank you.

3:04

Welcome. Thank you. Also with

3:06

us is Ana Beatriz Jolo, public affairs

3:08

specialist for the National Park Service, Pacific

3:11

West region. Ana, really glad to have you as

3:13

well. Hello.

3:15

Good morning. Happy to be here. Jose

3:18

Gonzalez is also with us, founder

3:20

of Latino Outdoors, equity officer in

3:22

East Bay Regional Park District and

3:24

board member of Parks, California. Jose,

3:27

always glad to have you on forum. Buenos

3:29

dias, mi nad. Hello everybody. I

3:31

want to start with what's new

3:33

for camping this year. Probably the

3:35

biggest change, Peter, I'm thinking is

3:37

the new state law aimed at

3:39

discouraging last minute cancellations or

3:42

no shows at state parks. I

3:44

guess that's been a real problem. People booking

3:46

several days of a popular site and then

3:49

not showing up. Yeah.

3:51

Unfortunately, that's something that we've seen happen over

3:53

many years. And we know it's very difficult

3:55

to get a campsite. So our

3:58

state representatives created the bill. AB

4:01

618 which is looking

4:03

at our whole reservation system and trying to

4:05

change it so that it's more equitable but

4:07

also for allowing us to recoup some of

4:10

the cost and then reusing those campsites that

4:12

people are booking and then not showing up

4:14

for. So basically

4:17

if you don't cancel within I don't know

4:19

a week or so before you're booking

4:21

you'll still be charged for it. You'll

4:23

be charged a single night plus an

4:25

eight dollar cancellation fee and

4:27

so that cost will go back into the

4:30

park unit so that we

4:32

can recoup that cost of that campsite being

4:35

open but we can also do things at the

4:37

park unit that if somebody's not at a campsite

4:39

and somebody shows up we can help to put

4:41

them at that site to allow them to experience

4:44

the whole California State Park experience. I

4:46

heard if you don't show more than three

4:48

times in a year like your total

4:50

no-show that you can actually be

4:53

banned from making more reservations? Yeah

4:55

that's part of the bill that was

4:57

signed into law is that if you

4:59

made three reservations and you don't show

5:01

that you can be banned from coming

5:04

to the campsites. We

5:06

don't know what that's really looking like so far

5:08

but that is going to be a

5:10

part of it. We have had people who book continuously

5:12

at sites and then don't show

5:14

and we lose

5:16

a lot of opportunity for people to

5:18

come and actually visit the park so it kind

5:21

of makes sense in certain aspects and

5:24

we were figuring that still out though.

5:27

Yeah it's probably too soon to tell whether

5:29

or not this is actually working in terms

5:31

of more people being able to access sites

5:33

or have you heard anything already? We

5:36

haven't heard anything already but as far as

5:38

state parks we've already started to initiate some

5:40

of the some of the parts of the

5:42

AB bill into the state

5:45

park system such as the lottery system. The

5:48

lottery system is a system that is

5:50

just started out this year. It's actually

5:52

started at Mount Tamalpia State Park for

5:54

the steep ravine cabins. They're a very

5:56

popular site. The lottery

5:58

system what it does is it allows for people

6:01

to randomly be selected to be able to

6:03

go to those cabins. If you don't get

6:05

selected, then you get like a point to

6:07

your name. So then the next time that

6:09

you go in and reapply, that you have

6:11

an extra point in your account, so it's

6:13

like putting an extra name in the hat,

6:16

and you have more of an opportunity to try

6:18

to experience the Staper Vene cabins at Mount Tamalpies.

6:21

So Anna, in terms of national parks,

6:24

I'm hearing that Yosemite has made a

6:26

ton of upgrades that visitors can enjoy

6:28

now that were like years in the

6:30

making. Yeah, there's

6:33

some really cool things going on at Yosemite.

6:35

For instance, the Bridalville Fall area

6:38

has been totally revitalized. There are

6:40

brand new restrooms with less toilets,

6:42

which everyone likes. New expanded viewing

6:45

platforms are ADA compliant and accessible

6:47

to all visitors. And there's also

6:49

a new welcome center. That's

6:51

what they're calling it. It's a visitor center, basically.

6:54

It's located right next to the village store,

6:56

and it was previously called the Mountain Shop.

6:59

And so that building was gutted. And the

7:01

park now has a brand new visitor center, and

7:04

it's this beautiful 1970s building with a

7:06

view of Glacier Point. And the

7:08

old visitor center is now called

7:10

the Yosemite Exploration Center. The

7:13

exhibits there were upgraded, and there are

7:15

hands-on activities for families and visitors to

7:17

take part in. Wow. And

7:20

speaking of new, there's a new

7:22

state park, right, Jose? One that's

7:24

opening next month like the first

7:26

state park in a decade, Dos Rios, in

7:29

the San Joaquin Valley. And I understand, Jose,

7:31

that this one's pretty special to you. Oh,

7:34

definitely. I mean, Dos Rios just has so

7:36

much going for it. A couple of things.

7:38

One is, part of that personal connection is

7:40

I grew up in the Central Valley, in

7:43

Turlock. I went to

7:45

Modesto Junior College, for example, and that's

7:47

where Dos Rios is, just to the

7:49

west of that. And

7:52

it's just we know that there is a need

7:54

for more state parks, parks in general, open

7:56

space, but specifically state parks of the Central

7:58

Valley. So to have something like those

8:00

Rio's be one of the newest

8:03

state park and it's just so exciting.

8:06

And as one of many volunteers

8:08

that work with river

8:11

partners there in the Twalgme River Trust, I

8:13

was one of the ones that was able

8:16

to plant some of the kind

8:18

of treelings and some basically

8:20

what grew into that beautiful kind

8:22

of native restoring the riparian ecosystem

8:24

there. It's super exciting and

8:27

I'm just, for me, it's this opportunity to

8:29

be able to collect the communities there that

8:31

I grew up with to be able to

8:33

say, you know, here's a good

8:36

example of what all of

8:38

this work that we do at the

8:40

community level, at the legislative level, at

8:42

the administrative level, at the state park

8:44

level, the agency all pulling together to be

8:46

able to provide this type of opportunity

8:48

and recreational access to communities

8:50

in need. I love that so

8:52

much and you'll get to see those trees grow

8:55

and flourish. Peter, I

8:57

think you've also called those Rio's

8:59

a wildlife hotspot. What might people

9:01

see along those lines? What

9:04

they'll see along those lines is that those

9:06

Rio's is actually in the Pacific Flyway. So

9:08

you'll get a lot of migratory birds coming

9:10

through, especially for the Central Valley area. We

9:13

have the Sandhill Crane who will come through and

9:15

a lot of festivals are celebrated throughout the Central

9:17

Valley for those birds. But

9:19

there's a lot of other migratory birds that

9:21

you'll be seeing. But it's also the habitat

9:23

restoration that's going to be going on there

9:25

for protecting the water and the rivers and

9:27

really kind of helping to look at what

9:29

the river system used to look like before

9:31

there was a lot of changes and

9:33

transformations. And that's going to be

9:35

something really positive for us as well. So there'll be

9:38

a lot of species that are endemic to the Central

9:40

Valley that are going to be protected now that it's

9:42

a state park. You

9:44

won't be able to camp there quite yet though, right,

9:46

Peter? Not yet. We're

9:50

definitely encouraging folks to become part of

9:52

the process. And so anything

9:55

with creating a new park or certain parts of

9:57

planning, you want to be part of that process.

9:59

and to give yourself a voice in what you

10:01

want to see at that park unit. And

10:04

so what we would encourage folks is that there's,

10:07

we have our California State Park website for Dos

10:09

Rios. We would encourage folks to

10:11

go there to sign up to be part of that

10:13

vocalization of what do you want to see at your

10:15

park. So then where

10:17

will you be camping this year, Peter? Actually

10:21

funny enough, my wife and

10:23

son and I, we are planning to

10:25

go to Salt Point next week to

10:28

go and just kind of have a break for a little bit. Yeah,

10:31

Salt Point sounds lovely. What about you, Jose? Where

10:33

will you be camping or where would you recommend

10:35

camping this year? Yeah, always a great

10:37

question. And sorry, with Dos Rios, I was thinking about

10:39

those adorable riparian brush rabbits as well. Yeah,

10:43

but also I'm going to double down

10:45

on making sure that people know

10:47

that if camping is something they

10:50

value at Dos Rios, there's an

10:52

opportunity for community engagement. And even

10:54

though the park is opening June

10:56

12th during State Parks Week, it's

10:58

really still part of a process to let people know what do

11:00

you still want to see here in years to come. And

11:03

so camping might be one of those that I

11:05

look forward to in a couple of years. But

11:07

in terms of where I look forward to camping

11:09

is there's just so many opportunities, whether it's here

11:11

in the East Bay. One

11:13

of my people that I've camped

11:15

at some of the East Bay

11:17

Regional Park District campsites like Redwood

11:19

Regional, amazing. I've parked here at

11:22

kind of in the Marin area among

11:24

those Redwoods there. Also super amazing.

11:27

County parks in Santa Clara County Park,

11:29

Sanborn, for example, I've camped there. And

11:33

then I still look for opportunities to go out

11:35

into the Eastern Sierra. And it's just like, I'm

11:38

excited by the abundance of it. Wow.

11:41

Now I understand California's islands might be

11:43

calling to you this summer? They

11:46

might be. So there are 429 national parks across

11:48

the country. And

11:51

in California there are 28. And

11:54

in my non-biased opinion, of course, our state has some

11:56

of the best national parks. So it's a little bit

11:58

of a hard work. hard choice, you

12:00

know, because I love Channel Islands National

12:02

Park. There are a couple of islands

12:04

that I haven't camped at yet. I'm

12:07

looking at you Santa Rosa and Anacapa,

12:09

but I'm also torn because I have

12:12

a couple of adult kids who live

12:14

up north and my

12:16

oldest son lives near Redwoods

12:18

State National Park and my daughter

12:20

lives near Olympic. So I

12:22

have some tough choices ahead of me,

12:24

but if folks do want to check

12:27

out some of these parks, I recommend

12:29

looking at some of the parks that perhaps are

12:31

a little bit under the radar, like Channel

12:33

Islands and last in

12:36

Volcanic National Park. There's parks for

12:38

everyone. That's what's really cool about

12:40

the national parks. There's a park

12:42

for every single interest out there.

12:45

And Peter, you said you'll be camping at Salt

12:47

Point, but where would you recommend people camp? You

12:50

know, I would just echo what my

12:52

national park and folks say is that,

12:54

you know, look for park units that

12:56

you've never been to before, something

12:59

to create your own adventure and to

13:01

kind of explore those areas. We

13:03

know that a lot of folks in the Central Valley like

13:06

to try to get out to the coast because it's

13:08

a lot cooler or up to the mountains and to

13:10

the Sierras, but look to like some other locations that

13:12

are within those same spots that you're interested in. You

13:16

know, when the temperatures start cooling down again,

13:18

once we're starting to get into October

13:21

and November, I would encourage the desert

13:23

parks. There's amazing places out

13:25

there like Anza Barrego, of course, is a

13:28

very highly impacted park, but there's like Mount

13:30

San Jacinto and a lot of other places

13:32

that are out there especially. So California really

13:34

has a great place all year round, but

13:36

I'd also like to echo to folks like

13:39

California State Parks has some great stuff. And

13:42

we also have amazing national parks. We

13:44

also have some U.S. Forest Service Lands,

13:46

Bureau of Land Management, all

13:48

these other organizations that are around the

13:50

state that you can go and camp

13:52

at. And a lot of times you can find

13:55

your adventures through them and through state parks. Well,

13:58

we're talking with Peter Ostrovsky. staff,

14:00

park and recreation specialist for the Bay

14:02

Area District of California State Parks, Ana

14:05

Beatriz Cholo of the

14:07

National Park Service Public Affairs Specialist Fair

14:09

for the Pacific West region, Jose Gonzalez,

14:11

founder of Latino Outdoors, also a board

14:13

member of Parks California, and an equity

14:16

officer at East Bay Regional Park District.

14:18

We'll hear more from them and with

14:20

you about your favorite places to camp

14:22

in California, your questions about the best

14:24

places to go for the activities that

14:27

you love to do, your most memorable

14:29

camping moments. The email address is

14:31

forum at cakedued.org. Our social channels

14:33

are at cakedued forum. Our phone number

14:35

is 866-733-6786. I'm

14:40

Mina Kim. You

14:43

are only waiting

14:45

for this moment

14:47

to arise. Support

14:55

for Forum comes from San Francisco

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highly anticipated American premiere of Innocence,

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all got those parts of our house

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where the internet just won't go. Well,

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with Xfinity. Restrictions apply,

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speeds vary. Welcome back

15:54

to Forum. I'm Mina Kim. What

15:56

are your favorite places to camp in California?

16:00

memorable moment from a camping trip, something

16:02

that happened to you while camping that

16:04

you'll never forget. What's your favorite thing

16:06

to take on a camping trip or

16:08

your favorite campfire game? We

16:10

want to hear all about it by emailing

16:13

for on the cakeduity.org, finding us on our

16:15

social channels on Instagram or X, our digital

16:17

community is Discord. You can call us at

16:19

866-733-6786, with

16:27

Jose Gonzalez of Latino Outdoors, Ana

16:29

Beatriz Jolo of the National Park

16:32

Service, Peter Ostrovsky of the California

16:34

State Parks System, and you our

16:37

listeners are already weighing in. Martina

16:39

on Discord writes, my favorite camping

16:41

memories are of tent camping and

16:44

hiking at Jedidiah Smith Redwood State

16:46

Park, and seeing my husband

16:48

meet old growth Redwoods for the first

16:51

time, and his immediate instinct

16:53

to hug them. Jennifer

16:55

on Discord writes, I have so

16:58

many memories of summer camping. I used

17:00

to go on annual trips with my

17:02

friends from elementary school, all of our

17:04

families would reserve cabins at the KOA

17:06

campsite in Cloverdale, we'd go on hikes

17:08

and pick wild blackberries and hang out

17:10

at the pool with snacks and snow

17:12

cones. I always remember coming back with the smell

17:15

of campfire smoke

17:17

in my hair. So

17:21

I'm really struck from learning from our producers,

17:23

Emiko and Caroline, that all three

17:25

of you, all three of my guests,

17:27

you did not grow up camping. So

17:30

then how did you

17:32

start and realize that you loved

17:34

it? Ana, I'll go to you first. Wow,

17:38

that's an interesting factoid there. Yes,

17:41

I did not grow up camping or hiking.

17:43

My parents came to the US in their

17:45

20s from Colombia and Brazil. So it just

17:47

wasn't a thing in our family. And I'm

17:49

very, very jealous, I'll say, of all

17:51

the folks who have grown up camping, because I

17:53

wish I had had that experience. And I'm trying

17:55

to make that for it. But my first camping

17:57

experiences were actually quite funny because I was older.

18:00

I was a single mom and I had my two

18:02

kids and it was a road trip

18:04

from Chicago to LA. I was going from the

18:06

Chicago Tribune where I was working as a reporter

18:08

to work at the Associated Press and

18:10

I just had no idea about anything. I

18:12

went to Target, bought three

18:14

sleeping bags. There were numbers on them.

18:17

I was like, okay, cool. I don't know

18:19

what that means, but I wanted, you know,

18:21

the red, blue, and red, blue and yellow

18:23

sleeping bag and the tent.

18:25

I think I did get it out

18:27

of the box before the first night,

18:29

but I had to ask the people

18:32

at the campaign exchange, hey, how do you set

18:34

this up? So I really had no

18:36

idea and I made a lot of mistakes. For

18:40

instance, being surrounded by a bunch of

18:42

bison and my convertible with a top

18:44

down, probably not very smart, and

18:47

also rolling up to Yellowstone thinking

18:49

that I could get a campsite for that

18:51

night, not knowing that people

18:54

plan ahead like six months, and

18:56

the park ranger, you know, I'm

18:58

sure they weren't literally rolling their eyes on

19:00

me, but looking back now that I'm a

19:02

park ranger, it's kind of funny

19:05

because they were probably thinking, what is

19:07

this woman thinking? They can't get a

19:09

campsite last minute, but I did

19:11

score one. I befriended a family. They

19:14

took pity on the single mom with the two kids and

19:17

I ended up spending the night at Bear

19:19

Country, that's what I heard, and I

19:22

was terrified. I didn't sleep a wink all night. I thought I

19:24

was going to be mauled by bears with my kids, but

19:27

thankfully we survived, and I've

19:29

come a long way. Yeah, you

19:31

even took a Sierra Club backpacking course

19:33

after that, huh? Oh,

19:35

yes, and mountaineering courses

19:38

in Alaska and in

19:40

Washington. So it's been a journey.

19:44

I have a lot of lessons and stories

19:46

to tell. Of course, we don't have a

19:48

long time, so that could be

19:51

a difficult. But

19:53

yes, I mean, a lot of hard lessons

19:55

learned, you know, getting lost out there in

19:58

Yosemite one time and thinking. And

20:00

what it done, you know, I should probably

20:02

bring a map and a compass. And

20:05

I learned about the 10 essentials and

20:07

things like that. So I think it's

20:09

becoming more and more common for folks

20:11

who have not experienced the outdoors

20:13

at a young age to start in

20:15

an older age. And I think

20:18

it's wonderful. I love it. And

20:20

I do want to get to the essentials, especially if

20:22

you're new to it that you want to have with

20:24

you. But let me ask you, Jose, I

20:26

understand it was like a sixth grade outdoor

20:28

trip that did it for you in terms of introducing

20:30

you to the outdoors and making you want more. Yeah,

20:33

well, similarly, I mean, in terms of my,

20:35

you know, I'm an immigrant from Mexico along

20:37

with my parents. And they

20:39

we just never really had the

20:42

time to be able to allocate to do like summer

20:44

camping trips or the like. I

20:47

remember as a kid, we'd go fishing with

20:49

my uncles, not knowing it was a wildlife

20:51

refuge until years later. All I knew

20:53

is we're going to the river. But in sixth grade,

20:55

I had an opportunity to both go as part

20:58

of a migrant education program and then also

21:00

just kind of regular sixth grade science camp

21:03

to kind of go camping. But with no

21:05

clue of what that meant. So

21:07

I didn't own a sleeping bag. I, you

21:09

know, for all the Mexican Latino listeners, I

21:12

showed up with my San Marcos Cobija

21:14

kind of thing, knowing that's

21:16

totally not what you want to have if

21:18

you're going to sleep outdoors. And

21:21

it really wasn't until college that

21:23

I had some of those

21:25

first experiences. So

21:27

really, like Anna, it grounds me

21:29

in both being aware and

21:31

really how do we support people to access

21:33

the outdoors and connect with something like camping

21:36

at all ages and not just take a

21:38

presumption, right? Like you should know or how

21:40

do you do it, but kind of support

21:42

that whole process regardless of where you're starting

21:44

because just like Anna right now, you know,

21:48

something as simple as setting up a

21:50

tent can be so confusing and terrifying.

21:53

And so that for me, then is an opportunity of

21:55

how we work with REI to say if you're going

21:57

to design a new tent, how

21:59

do you keep in mind those for whom this

22:01

is going to be their first time, not just

22:04

those that have done this all, you know, repeatedly.

22:06

And Jose, this is in part

22:08

the inspiration for Latino Outdoors? Oh,

22:11

absolutely. And, you know, a gift credit to

22:13

Ana because she was one of our amazing

22:15

and is, you know, one of our amazing

22:17

community members in the LA area. She

22:20

helped shape Latino Outdoors for that region. But

22:23

it really started with that to be able to

22:25

say, where can I work, you know,

22:27

where are there others like me that

22:29

both really want to have this

22:32

connection to their cultural identity while

22:34

also having this curiosity, this connection,

22:36

this fascination with the outdoors.

22:39

And so what does that look like?

22:41

And then how do we support that

22:43

as an intergenerational experience to have both

22:45

knowing that you might have communities that have

22:48

a relationship to the land, but maybe camping,

22:50

hiking, mountaineering, it's a new thing. And

22:53

so introducing them to some of

22:56

these experiences, and we just have

22:58

such an amazing community of volunteer

23:00

leaders that do this every month,

23:02

providing these experiences for both

23:06

it might be their first time, but others for whom they want

23:08

to be able to do this in community. Yeah.

23:11

Well, Wendy on Discord writes, I'm very much

23:13

not a camping kind of person. But when

23:15

my son was in preschool, we went camping

23:17

for the first time, he was amazed that

23:19

you could sleep outside and wanted to know

23:22

why we didn't do it every night.

23:26

Peter, how about you? What was

23:28

your, I don't know, moment or

23:30

when you realized you loved camping?

23:34

So I come

23:36

from like a middle class white family, which

23:40

everybody who meets me in parks is like, Oh,

23:42

you've been camping like for forever. No, my mom's

23:44

idea of camping was like a really like grungy

23:46

hotel. And she's like, that's as far as I

23:48

would go. And

23:51

so for me, it was kind of

23:53

getting into the scouts,

23:56

the cub scouts and the boy

23:59

scouts. And even then, our

24:01

camping trips were really small, but

24:04

it was that sense of community that you

24:06

started to have within those organizations. And

24:10

I made all of the mistakes. My

24:13

backpack was twice the weight of me on a

24:15

backpacking trip and I fell over and my legs

24:17

were up in the air and one of the

24:19

dads was picking me up and we were hiking.

24:23

And there's just so many things about

24:25

it that can be super intimidating. And

24:28

so, I kinda got into it more later on when

24:31

I was in college and was like,

24:33

I need to start taking breaks from school, I need

24:35

to start getting back out into nature. And

24:39

also when I was working two full-time

24:41

jobs here in the San Francisco

24:43

area for California State

24:45

Parks and for the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy,

24:47

where I was just getting completely burnt out working

24:49

almost like 70 to 80 hours a week and

24:53

finally looked at one of my friends and I was like, we gotta

24:55

go camping, dude. We gotta get outta here. And

24:59

we did and it helps to reground

25:01

a lot of people back into nature

25:03

and reground yourself to just get

25:05

away from some of the electronics. And

25:08

it also helps a lot with, because

25:10

now that I do it, I do backpacking

25:12

trips. My father-in-law has really gotten me into

25:15

backpacking portions of the Pacific Crest Trail that

25:17

we've done together. And

25:19

that's really helped me a lot with actually mental

25:22

health, which is a big

25:24

thing that folks don't talk about is where

25:26

that nature can help reground you. And with

25:28

this being Mental Health Awareness Month, it's something

25:30

that we at State Parks always like to

25:32

remind people that to disconnect, sit in nature,

25:34

kind of listen to things and recenter yourself

25:36

can really help you a lot. Yeah.

25:40

Well, we're getting some questions about the

25:43

new state law that you were talking

25:45

about earlier, Peter. And this listener writes,

25:47

if someone is a no-show for their

25:49

reservation, will that camp spot become available

25:51

on the online reservation system or

25:53

will it only be available for people that walk in

25:55

at the campsite? So

25:58

how that's gonna work is that... we're trying

26:00

to figure that one out too. Most

26:02

likely what's going to happen is that it's

26:05

such short notice that we probably couldn't get

26:07

somebody out there so it'll probably be going

26:09

to first come first serve but

26:12

it also depends on the campground and the unit. My

26:15

biggest thing to tell that person is you

26:17

know call the state park ahead of time.

26:19

We're not scary people you know the people

26:22

who work in the kiosk are very sweet

26:24

usually like college age kids who or retirees

26:26

who just want to help you like come

26:28

to the park and just ask them like

26:30

hey what do you have available what's going on and

26:34

seeing if you can get out into some of those

26:36

park units. That's kind of the biggest thing that I

26:38

can tell the listeners that help them to figure out

26:40

what's going on with that as far as that's at

26:42

the state level we're still trying to figure all that

26:44

out. That's good advice. I think I

26:46

saw a note on the law that they would

26:48

try to get if it's still available the reservation

26:50

online within three days but by then you know

26:52

the reservation could have already you know been done.

26:54

So that sounds like good advice. Let

26:57

me go to caller Phil in San Francisco. Phil

26:59

you're on. Hi

27:01

there Peter. Thanks so much

27:03

for speaking about the

27:05

you know mental health benefits of being

27:09

outside. We all need to hear

27:11

that you know many times over.

27:13

I was also a Boy Scout

27:15

and got my introduction to the love

27:17

of nature from outside. My

27:19

the topic though I'm calling is a lot more selfish

27:22

though. Regarding

27:25

making reservations for

27:28

choice campsites sometimes

27:30

I've struggled a

27:34

lot to get the campsite I

27:36

want and it feels like perhaps

27:42

other camping aficionados

27:45

are using some

27:47

type of like AI or bot programs

27:50

to like reserve

27:54

campsites like the second they become available

27:56

and this may be more applicable

27:59

to the. the recreation.gov

28:01

federal campsite, but I want to

28:03

know if like

28:05

California is also dealing

28:08

with this. Bill,

28:10

good question. And then it's over.

28:12

I'll be there on like 7

28:14

a.m. when the reservations come

28:16

available, and they're all booked up. Yeah,

28:20

but we're a big

28:22

problem, right, for the state parks campsite?

28:25

Especially a couple of years ago, but I think they've

28:27

tried, or at least my understanding is, they've

28:29

tried with technology to be able to avoid

28:31

that. Yeah, so we're

28:33

trying to avoid the bot system, but to

28:36

your caller's point, I mean, his

28:38

story, and as well as other people's

28:40

stories, is what we've heard echoed throughout

28:43

this, of where I've had families come

28:45

to me and tell me like, we

28:47

sat up at midnight to

28:50

get this one particular campsite, and we had like

28:52

5 people on a phone call trying

28:54

to all book it at the same time, so that

28:56

we could get the campsite we wanted, and they were

28:58

all clicking, and then finally somebody got it. I mean,

29:01

I think there's like a Family Guy episode that's something

29:03

similar to that, but like they were

29:05

all clicking trying to get the campsite, and

29:07

so finally once one of them got it,

29:09

they were able to do it. But that

29:11

tells you the extent of how much that

29:13

was going on, and so, and how impacted

29:16

our campgrounds are. And

29:18

with the bot situation, we're not really

29:20

seeing that as much anymore, but

29:23

it is something that, you know, I would definitely say

29:25

is a part of the equation in all this. Yeah,

29:29

and again, we're talking with Peter Ostrovsky of the

29:31

state parks, we're talking with

29:33

Ana Beatriz-Cholo, our National Park Service,

29:35

and Jose Gonzalez, equity officer at

29:38

East Bay Regional Park District, a

29:40

board member at Parks California, and

29:42

founder of Latino Outdoors, and

29:45

you, our listeners, are sharing your questions

29:47

and your experiences with camping,

29:49

and a listener on Discord writes, I

29:51

went camping at Joseph D. Grant Park one time,

29:53

and oh my gosh, there were so many stars.

29:56

Ana, I mentioned earlier that I did

29:58

want to get to just... the

30:00

essential items someone should bring to

30:02

stay safe, for example, if they're camping,

30:04

especially if they're new. Yes,

30:06

for sure. That's so important. And I

30:09

think what we try to stress to

30:12

every visitor is the pre-planning.

30:15

It's critical. And the safety

30:17

is part of that pre-planning. So with

30:19

the 10 essentials, it may sound a

30:22

little dramatic, but they can make the

30:24

difference between life and death. Because

30:26

if something happens, if you are camping

30:28

and you go out for a hike, you should have these

30:30

things. Because what if

30:32

you get stuck out there? Of course, we don't

30:34

plan for that, right? We don't think

30:36

that these emergencies can happen, but they

30:38

do. And then we

30:41

hear some tragic stories. So the 10

30:43

essentials are basically things

30:45

like navigation, what I mentioned before, the map

30:48

from this. At least, at the

30:50

very least, have a map. So you have some idea

30:52

of where you are, so you don't get lost, like

30:54

I did in Yosemite. And

30:56

sun protection, that's another

30:59

important one. Installation, basically

31:01

having that extra jacket, your

31:03

gloves, your rain

31:05

shell in case it rains, having

31:08

that flashlight or headlamp, first

31:10

aid supplies, very critical. Fire

31:13

matches lighter, fire starters. Of

31:17

course, you want to be very, very cognizant

31:19

of where you are, too, though we don't

31:21

want to start fires. But

31:23

have those on your person. Repair

31:25

kit and tools, that

31:27

could be duct tape, a

31:29

knife, a screwdriver, extra food,

31:32

and extra water. Water and

31:34

food, critical. And the last

31:36

thing, emergency shelter, that would be

31:40

a space blanket, a tarp, a

31:42

bivvy tent, something that you

31:44

could spend a night in. So these are

31:47

things that everyone should have in

31:49

their backpack before they go out on the hike. And

31:53

so then what about non-essential items,

31:55

the things that make you feel more

31:58

connected to the landscape, like? Peter

32:00

was describing the mental health benefits

32:03

that it brings. Jose, what's your

32:05

favorite non-essential item to bring on your

32:08

campus? Yeah, no, great question because

32:10

I agree with Anna. Like I tell people like

32:12

to pay attention to like at least

32:14

three and four categories. The first one is

32:16

what's going to sustain you, food,

32:18

water and all of that. Next is what protects

32:21

you. So like from the elements, layers

32:24

and all of that. The next one is what's

32:26

going to help others find you in emerging situations.

32:28

And then the fourth is what's going to bring

32:30

you joy and what's going to connect you to

32:33

the joy and majesty of where you are. And

32:35

so I tell people like you might, you know,

32:37

might be easiest to pack a

32:39

bunch of oatmeal because that's just lightweight and

32:42

it gives you the calories I said. But

32:44

then bring that little thing extra

32:46

that will like spark it into, it might be

32:48

a cinnamon, it might be a particular type of

32:50

sweetener, the like. So

32:52

for me, it's having those

32:54

little tatati or cholula packets that I

32:57

think you can now find. So

33:00

those are fantastic. They're just like pop them in there and

33:02

do it that way. And then the other two things among

33:05

many would be one is like bring

33:07

a magnifying glass or maybe some binoculars,

33:10

something that allows you to like look really close

33:12

or far away and then be able to check

33:14

out that cool bird or that awesome lichen on

33:17

the tree. And then the last one,

33:19

a journal or maybe something to read with, something that's

33:21

going to like create some of these memories or help

33:23

you kind of record them. And then somebody's like, oh

33:25

yeah, I'm like reading what I wrote here and it

33:28

brings, just takes me back to that

33:30

moment, for example, that I was in that redwood grove. Do

33:33

you play harmonica, Jose? Very

33:36

badly. So

33:39

usually in the absence of that, I'll

33:41

find some other ways to play percussion

33:43

in the woods. Nice.

33:46

Well, Jose, I know you need to leave us. So I

33:48

don't know if you just want to leave us with one

33:50

final thought. We just have 30 seconds. Oh, absolutely.

33:52

I would say this. So one is

33:54

for all the listeners, get

33:56

outdoors, go outdoors, support others in

33:59

going outdoors. of course, support our

34:01

parks, your parks, and

34:03

support your local public radio station.

34:06

Thanks Jose, Jose is founder of

34:08

Latino Outdoors. Ana de Atristolo

34:10

is staying with us, so is Peter Ostrowski,

34:12

and so are you, our listeners, as we

34:14

talk about camping in the Golden State, how

34:16

to choose the best place for you and

34:18

your family, hearing all your camping stories

34:21

and your questions at 866-733-6786 on Discord,

34:26

on Instagram, on X. The

34:28

email address is forumatkqed.org. I'm

34:31

Mina Kim, more after the break. We've

35:24

all got those parts of our

35:26

house where the internet just won't

35:28

go well if you had wall

35:30

the wall. Why five Remix finity?

35:32

You could worry less about dead

35:34

spots because with wall a wall,

35:36

why far from X Finity? you

35:38

get fast speeds, reliable connection in

35:41

every room, and power for all

35:43

of your device's even when everyone's

35:45

online. that's while the wall. Why?

35:47

Fi only with X Finity restrictions

35:49

apply not available in all areas.

35:51

Actual speeds. Very. I'm

35:54

Mina Kim. California has

35:56

no shortage of landscapes to enjoy from the

35:58

coast and the mountains. to the desert.

36:00

We're talking about what's new in the camping

36:03

world this year and about how to spend

36:05

the warmer months camping in California. We're talking

36:07

with Peter Ostrowski. Peter Ostrowski is staff park

36:10

and recreation specialist for the Bay Area District

36:12

of the California State Parks. Ana

36:14

Beatriz-Trollo is public affairs specialist and

36:16

spokesperson for the Pacific West region

36:18

of National Parks, the National Park

36:20

Service. And you, our listeners, are

36:22

sharing your thoughts and questions

36:24

on forum at

36:27

866-733-6786 at KQED forum

36:29

on our social channels and at our

36:31

email address. This listener writes,

36:33

we car camped up at Fremont Peak State

36:35

Park, woke up to a gorgeous view, did

36:37

an easy hike to the peak and then

36:40

went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Perfect weekend

36:42

that I need to recreate this summer. Mark

36:45

writes, I grew up back east on a farm. So

36:47

the last thing us kids wanted to do was to

36:49

go to the country. So now at 64 years

36:52

old, I've never been camping. I'd love to go

36:54

camping and learn about camping, but don't know anything

36:56

at all about how to camp. What would you

36:58

recommend for someone who has never done it before?

37:00

So we talked about the essentials a little bit,

37:03

but Peter, what would you recommend in addition to

37:05

that for people who've never done it before if

37:07

they want to get started? Peter Ostrowski

37:10

There's a lot of recreational retailers out there

37:12

that you can choose from to help do

37:14

a basic camping. I would

37:16

also encourage a lot of the listeners

37:19

to look at

37:22

some of the park units that have what

37:24

we call glamping, but it's kind of like that

37:27

basic thing of where they provide the bed and

37:29

the tent and everything for you to kind of

37:31

enjoy your time, but be outdoors at the same

37:33

time. But there's also a lot

37:35

of other really great programs out there. For

37:38

our district and the Bay Area District, we

37:40

have Sugar Loaf Ridge State Park, and it's

37:42

a partner run park with

37:45

the Sonoma Ecology Center. And what they do

37:47

is they actually have a really great thing

37:49

of where they'll set up the tent for

37:51

you before you come out. And then all you need

37:53

to bring is just stuff to kind of stay warm

37:55

at night and the food and to

37:58

enjoy that outdoors. And they charge you. extra

38:00

fee onto their camping for that. But when I

38:02

heard about that program, I thought it was really

38:04

kind of a good idea. There's

38:07

also again like other retailers around the

38:09

area that you can find and go

38:11

into those basic things. But lastly, and

38:13

this is something that like a lot

38:15

of folks may not feel comfortable

38:17

with going to somebody you don't know or

38:19

borrowing equipment, but find another group of people

38:22

to go camping with and to learn from

38:24

them. Camping is all

38:26

about community and it's all about coming together

38:29

and learning from each other of how to

38:31

do it. So if there's like another family that

38:33

you're close with or somebody else that you're like,

38:35

hey you'd kind of do this, would

38:38

you mind like taking me out and showing me the ropes? That's

38:40

another really great way to do it too. Yeah,

38:42

so are there sites that have or websites that

38:45

that have these groups or meetups that you can

38:47

hook up with? Yeah, there are

38:49

websites out there. Of course, you know,

38:52

we can mention like REI has

38:54

websites for basic things like that.

38:57

There's the meetup app as well

38:59

that has some of those groups. You

39:02

know, there's there's a whole bunch of things

39:04

out there nowadays in this day and age that

39:06

you can find to where it helps make camping

39:09

a little bit more accessible for the beginner.

39:12

Well, this is Narites. I love state and

39:14

national parks. My family would like to camp

39:16

more, but very few are dog friendly. I

39:18

understand the need to limit the impact on

39:20

wildlife, but I wish that at least some

39:22

had a small fence dog park area. Are

39:24

there any dog friendly campsites? Anna or Peter

39:26

on that? There are parks that do allow

39:28

dogs in the national parks. Here

39:31

closer to where I live, the Santa Monica

39:33

Mountains National Recreation Area. It can get a

39:35

little confusing because dogs are allowed on

39:38

federal land, but not I think

39:40

on state land. Peter, feel free to

39:43

correct me, but you really need to just

39:45

check out each individual park

39:48

and do the research. Check out their website,

39:50

call their visitor center, and at

39:52

least for us, the National Park Service, please,

39:54

please download the

39:57

NPS app, nps.gov. It

40:00

also played other resources, but if you

40:02

have a smartphone, you know if you

40:05

download the app saturated with that kind

40:07

of information. And he

40:09

that upon a time. And Shelby's Tom Urine. Pillow

40:13

am I apologize? I am able

40:15

to hear the entire show, just

40:17

snippets. But. I wanted to make a point

40:19

about. A parks not being

40:21

just about beauty, natural beauty, but

40:23

also about history. Allen's

40:26

Worse State parks. And.

40:28

Malakov Diggins come to mind. Rich

40:31

with history as go for learning lessons

40:34

about people on the way they behave.

40:37

Or time. Thanks for the reminder. We

40:39

talked about Allen's Worse on this show

40:41

as well. Am so thanks for that.

40:43

A listener also writes My eight year

40:45

old son really wants to do back

40:47

country disperse camping but I've only done

40:49

camping and established campgrounds. I'm going to

40:51

take the some dispersed camping and Bureau

40:53

of Land Management land and a couple

40:55

weeks and I'm nervous. Any advice for

40:57

taking our camping game to the next

40:59

level? I feel like I'm going to

41:01

get in over my head of Peter.

41:03

I'll start with you on the. Honestly,

41:06

I says echo the Tennis Sentinels I'm

41:08

You know you really can't go wrong

41:10

with starting their and and and utilizing

41:12

that. The other thing is. For

41:16

like human waste and things like that,

41:18

you're gonna wanna be learning about how

41:20

that area whether to dig a cat

41:22

whole or if you need to carry

41:24

wag bag or anything else like that's

41:26

let you don't leave waster trash in

41:28

the back country. You

41:31

know there's gonna be those types of little things,

41:33

but a lot of the stuff is gonna. Be

41:35

pretty similar I would ask your color like

41:37

are you going by Cari actually and I

41:39

gotten do all that I'm out. Also encourage

41:42

your listeners to look up. You

41:44

know there's little classes about how to camp

41:46

in the back country as well. usually their

41:48

a one day or where they'll talk to

41:51

you about like would he need to know

41:53

talking about the ten essential oils and all

41:55

of those things. So there's a lot of

41:57

information out there. Are

41:59

this is. Iran discord rights I've done I

42:01

can't. Being at both State park and

42:04

Big Basin, I no longer do it.

42:06

Looking forward to camping near Yosemite and

42:08

I do want to scuba dive. Point

42:10

Lobos are lots of plans. There

42:13

you know We were talking earlier about

42:15

a hard it is to get a

42:18

reservation. That on I was noticing that

42:20

you can get reservations in the summer

42:22

or their tend to be available campsite

42:24

in the summer at places like Joshua

42:27

Tree and Death Valley. But just because.

42:29

There are should you do it. No.

42:34

I. Guess. You

42:36

might find it odd when you go

42:38

into recreation archive. Any think wow, why

42:40

other. White. There's so much

42:42

availability at these part. Well think

42:45

about. Summer in

42:47

the desert is probably not the

42:49

greatest place to go camping. ah

42:51

I'm spring and fall or better

42:53

are you could still do a

42:55

trap he now and if you

42:57

want to stay me area I

42:59

would recommend that I'm heartily but

43:01

stay in the place where you

43:03

have air conditioning ah miss a

43:05

trips are great but ah the

43:07

campaign and joshua tree that valley

43:09

and debris go on. I. I

43:11

really wouldn't recommend it. I know that

43:14

there's some sort of intrigue their arm

43:16

with of one each experience what it's

43:18

like. I'm. In the hundred and

43:20

twenty five, Or hundred thirty degrees. Can.

43:22

I get it is it is interesting.

43:24

I've been There are some. By.

43:27

Sustainable and you don't want to sleep in that. Imagine,

43:31

I know there are some people who are really.

43:34

Into trying that. but I guess you would

43:36

really really need to do your research as

43:38

he did. Some other lesser law rights

43:40

when it comes to the amount of

43:42

people were camping would say a school

43:45

trip or extended family which places support.

43:47

Large groups, fast or are

43:49

willing to. Thoughts on that.

43:51

Yeah. Yeah for California state parks we

43:54

have our group sites that you can look

43:56

up. hum of this use one of examples

43:58

from one of my part. Units: Samuel

44:00

P. Taylor State Park Located Marine County

44:03

Kind of right next to Mount Imo.

44:05

Biased but we have three group sites

44:07

there that you can book through the

44:10

reservation through the conference a park reservation

44:12

system and they'll tell you like how

44:14

many people are allowed. Can't say. Me:

44:17

Know and and give you all the information there

44:19

that you need to know. You can also on

44:22

that California reservation system you can also throw in

44:24

like group sites and it'll pull up different parking.

44:26

it's all have the group sites with that as

44:28

well. And have on

44:30

in the National Park Service among those

44:33

parts. We also have questions from in

44:35

a big family groups good for kids,

44:37

honest. Sure,

44:39

There's some really great our hearts after

44:41

the have large group camp camp ground

44:44

I'm thinking actually of last and Volcanic

44:46

national park which had mentioned earlier there's

44:48

an a beautiful campsite their mans need

44:50

a lake and to me it screams

44:53

classic camping or at least what I'm

44:55

is that when i was young it

44:57

as a gorgeous way for and swam

44:59

and system hot at kayaks and are

45:02

large group some sites to of course

45:04

reservations need to be made on reservations

45:06

or recreation rather.com on the part is

45:08

not handle. Reservations themselves and you can

45:11

reserve as you six months before the

45:13

day or even the day before if

45:15

their spots available. But keep in mind

45:17

that cell phone reception his body. they

45:19

don't want to be trying to get

45:21

that reservation as you're driving up there

45:23

with yourself their itself so there are

45:25

possibilities there and a bunch of other

45:27

parts and Sequoia and Kings. Canyon National

45:30

Park. On has large group campsite

45:32

joshua tree a lot of parched you see

45:34

The best thing to do is check out.

45:37

On Mps Are Five United Type

45:39

an answer Campaign: Am I love,

45:41

I Love Google. And. I

45:43

think could find so many things. On

45:46

another important thing to mention, his

45:48

you know for for some campers,

45:50

you know you could even google

45:52

recreating responsibly. And that I'll take

45:55

you to some great information about what

45:57

you can do to. Recreate responsible

45:59

and leave. train, which is critical. You

46:01

don't want to litter in these parks. A

46:03

lot of people don't sometimes

46:06

understand that, you know, there are,

46:09

there is etiquette out there and

46:11

it's to protect the wildlife and

46:14

and the resources that exist. Yeah,

46:16

so important to minimize our environmental impact in

46:18

the ways that we can. Bruce writes, I

46:21

take a pet waste bag on hikes in case

46:23

I see small pieces of trash along the trail.

46:26

Pack it in, pack it out. I

46:28

don't know if you want to add anything about that,

46:30

Peter, in terms of minimizing environmental impact and writes,

46:32

please remind listeners about the rules of leave

46:34

no trace. Yeah, so with leave

46:36

no trace, you want to leave, you only want

46:39

to leave footprints. You don't want to leave any

46:41

garbage or anything else behind and

46:43

you want to take the photos and the memories

46:46

from that experience. So making sure that you're leaving

46:48

the resources alone, that you're not being like, hey,

46:50

I'm just gonna take this one

46:52

stick. Okay, that one stick might be

46:54

something that is part of an entire

46:56

ecosystem. So, you know, we ask people

46:59

to please leave those things alone and

47:01

especially right now because I

47:03

have to say that we've been in a lot of phone

47:05

calls about the wildflower blooms

47:08

all over California and,

47:10

you know, we get a lot of folks who are like, oh, I'm

47:12

just gonna pick this one poppy and we're like, no, no, please don't

47:14

touch the flowers. Like, they need to

47:16

be there. So, you know, that's the leave

47:18

no trace principle is just leaving it better than you

47:20

found it. Making sure you're packing in,

47:22

packing out your garbage. As

47:24

far as state parks, we also encourage people

47:27

to be crumb clean. What that means is

47:29

that when you're leaving a camp camp area

47:31

or a picnic area, you're cleaning up all of

47:33

your crumbs because there are certain birds that like

47:36

to come around and eat those and other critters.

47:38

We don't want to encourage that. We

47:40

want to encourage, you know, making

47:42

sure that everything stays pristine and that helps

47:45

out not only the park unit but also

47:47

helps out the staff of the state park

47:49

to make sure that we're keeping these places

47:51

clean. Well, Zesena writes,

47:53

what your guests have said about how difficult

47:55

it is to get into camping and hiking

47:57

has really resonated with me. I'd always wanted

47:59

to... Hi out backpacking that was intimidated by

48:01

the cost, proceed difficulty and not seen people

48:04

like myself out there. It wasn't until I

48:06

had a friend who took me under his

48:08

wing that helped me get over that initial

48:10

hunt and I realize how magical it is

48:12

and how little you actually need to get

48:14

started. Eventually I was able to build up

48:16

enough skill to do a multi day hike

48:18

along the John Muir trail. Was disappointed to

48:21

see only one other P O Sea out

48:23

there. Happy to hear that there are groups

48:25

like Latino outdoors at they're spreading the word.

48:27

And inspiring people to get outdoors.

48:30

This is a son raising period.

48:32

For many Public Radio stations, I wonder. My.

48:34

Listeners you are listening to forum.

48:37

I mean Iq him. Oh

48:40

right, Carol rights. Thirty years ago, my friend

48:42

and I hiked the Nepali posts on Calais.

48:44

We kept along the way we had no

48:46

idea what we were doing and set up

48:48

our tent in a C, gave the ocean

48:50

save up during the night and flooded our

48:52

tent waited of giving away most. Of our

48:54

gear and nearly got washed down

48:57

a cliff during a rainstorm. And

49:00

another list or right, Bring snacks. lots

49:02

of snacks, pack compactly and give kids

49:04

responsibilities like gathering kindling, helping a pack

49:06

up the car, set up the tend,

49:08

organizing this Moore's Bisher hikes are manageable

49:10

distances and not too strenuous for young

49:12

ones. What of our favorite destinations to

49:14

camp with their friends is Henry Woods?

49:16

Spacious, ten sites and there's a great

49:18

some home the warmer months and the

49:20

trees are gorgeous. I didn't grow up

49:22

a camper. That. I'm glad

49:24

my three kids. Did.

49:27

An internship If you're unable to get that

49:29

camp site that you've been coveting in the

49:32

summer. where are good places to go for

49:34

fall, right? Because a lot of these sites

49:36

open up three to six months in advance

49:38

of types of bookings. Am I right? So

49:40

where would be like? great for recommendations are

49:42

they are they all the same suffer. About

49:46

you Peters! i'm a lot of them

49:48

are the same and i mean i think

49:50

for most of us who live in california

49:52

we don't like to share the secret that

49:54

like october is like the prime month for

49:56

california of it's usually like you're you're right

49:58

there at the end of the some It's

50:00

not too hot. We're starting to cool down. Sometimes we get a

50:02

little bit of a rainstorm in there And it's kind of nice

50:04

to kind of cool things off But

50:07

it's it's a lot of the same sites

50:09

But once it starts cooling down and even

50:11

now in the springtime right now I would

50:13

really encourage folks to check out parks that

50:15

are in or near the Central Valley of

50:17

California Places in the

50:19

foothills as well You

50:21

know one of the listeners mentioned Malacoff diggings There's

50:24

a whole bunch of other parks to look at before

50:27

the summer heats up and when we're cooling down into

50:29

the fall Halima

50:31

and Berkeley you're on Hi,

50:34

thanks for having me beautiful

50:37

show I Grew up

50:39

in California My father was a journalist

50:41

who covered public lands and I've been

50:43

a camper and backpacker my whole life

50:46

And so my first question for you

50:48

is about how? What

50:52

the parks state and national

50:54

parks are doing to expand campsites

50:56

in California? They're just like impossible

50:59

to get spaces in anymore,

51:01

and there's been so much population

51:03

growth and so little Campground

51:06

space growth and so I'm wondering

51:08

if there's advocacy organizations that we

51:10

could join to help get more

51:13

camp sites built Colima

51:16

thanks, let me start with you on an

51:18

the National Park Service is there an effort

51:20

to actually expand the number of available campsites

51:22

I think there is where

51:24

there is Opportunity

51:26

and that's a great question what she asked

51:29

because you know parks do seem to be

51:31

exploding in popularity And and and

51:33

I'll also share a couple of pro tips

51:35

too for making reservations when you can't get

51:37

them But you know for instance I was

51:39

talking to One of my

51:41

colleagues at Redwood National Park you know and

51:44

and that's also a state park It's a

51:46

little bit of an anomaly that park, but

51:49

asking well What is there anything that

51:51

we could do to make more camp

51:53

camp sites and think about it? These

51:55

are beautiful redwood trees It

51:58

just it wouldn't do to cut down trees to

52:00

make for a bigger campsite. And

52:04

I thought about that, because a lot

52:06

of these parks, maybe

52:09

there's lack of space, or you don't

52:11

want to cut down the resources to create more

52:14

room for campsites. But I

52:16

do have a couple of pro-tips that

52:19

might help when you're making those

52:21

reservations. For instance,

52:23

there are often cancellations. So

52:25

look for them. Visitors

52:27

can always check back even closer to the dates

52:29

that they wanted to stay if they were not

52:31

able to get something in advance. So on

52:34

recreation.gov, you could look for those cancellations.

52:36

And they do come up. And then

52:38

another pro-tip is because some National Park

52:40

campgrounds do tend to fill up quickly,

52:43

if you can be flexible, so you can

52:46

look for campgrounds that perhaps may

52:48

be in the same vicinity of the National Park

52:50

or state park that you have your eye on.

52:53

There are recommended sites nearby that may

52:55

have space for you at that time.

52:58

There are amazing county

53:00

campgrounds, state campgrounds, so you could talk

53:02

to the rangers, because they often know

53:05

what's close by. So that's another

53:07

way of getting at least closer to where you

53:09

want to count. And

53:12

Peter, really quick, because we also just have about

53:14

less than a minute left here. But just in

53:16

terms of efforts by the state, certainly wants to

53:18

try to get more people able to access the

53:20

existing ones. But are there plans in the works

53:23

to really expand the number? We

53:26

really saw, and I know National Parks

53:28

did, and all other recreations did post-pandemic,

53:31

as just an explosion of people coming

53:33

out to the parks. And

53:36

I know that with a lot of our state parks,

53:38

it's in the planning process. And what

53:40

I would tell your listeners is to

53:42

look at organizations that support

53:45

California State Park. So Parks California,

53:47

the California State Parks Foundation, looking at

53:50

those organizations to help be the voice

53:52

in order for the future planning of

53:54

parks. Thank

53:56

you, Peter Rostroski, so much for talking with

53:58

us. Really appreciate it from the c- California

54:00

State Parks, Ana Beatriz Togo from

54:02

the National Park Service and thanks

54:04

earlier to Jose Gonzalez. And speaking

54:06

of the song they

54:08

were listening to, California Stars, this list to

54:11

write some of the best camping experiences we've

54:13

had as a family includes sleeping under the

54:15

stars without attempt, because you can do that

54:17

in California. I'm Mina Kim, Emiko

54:20

Oda and Caroline Smith produced today's segment, This

54:22

is Forum. Funds

54:38

for the production of KQED's Forum

54:41

are provided by the John S. and James

54:43

L. Knight Foundation, the

54:45

Generosity Foundation, the

54:47

Germanicos Foundation and

54:49

the Heising Simons Foundation. Support

54:53

for Forum comes from San Francisco

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