3-4 months camping - where would you go?

[rollingbones]

My wife, eight yr-old son, and I will be camping around the southwest this fall from Aug - Dec, with at least three months or so out of five dedicated to camping time. We'll have a place in Mammoth Lakes, CA to base out of. I know that we will be going to Yosemite, Redwoods, Yellowstone, Dinosaur NM, Bryce, Zion, the Grand Canyon, Death Valley, and Joshua Tree. Any advice on must-see locations along this general loop or things/places to watch out for? I appreciate the hard work that has been put in on this site, and would also like to say thanks for all of the reviews of the places I list above that are here.

We will be using three jungle hammocks or a tent, will be geared to backpack, but will mostly be car camping. We've done a lot of camping in Florida and through the south, but this will be our first time out west. Any chance to ride a horse is welcome, if anyone happens to know a good facility on the route above.

[GlitterHiker]

Re: 3-4 months camping - where would you go?

More of a travel tip rather than a camping tip: if it's your first time out west, if you're going far enough, you must get to the ocean. Just to say you dipped your toe in the Pacific. It's so much more beautiful than the Atlantic Ocean.

[rollingbones]

Re: 3-4 months camping - where would you go?

Travel trip or camping trip, I'll take any advice on places to go, and places not to go, that you might have! We will be sleeping in tent or hammock, not trailer or RV and not self-contained, so I'd call it a camping trip, even though I wouldn't rule out a night at some point with TV and showers!

Since we have a base to operate out of in Mammoth Lakes, CA, I envision doing a few out-and-back loops. For example, one loop that I'm thinking about is Mammoth Lakes to DL Bliss SP near Lake Tahoe, then up to Lassen Volcanic NP, then down to Russian Gulch SP. We really enjoyed doing the southern end of the "cheese trail" on a day trip from San Francisco recently, so I would imagine from Russian Gulch we would end up eating our way slowly south towards Salt Point SP (there seemed to be lots of nice camping in the area), and from there back across to Highland Lakes in the Stanislaus National Forest near Ebbetts P**** and back to Mammoth. This would cover about 1,000 miles, and I'm guessing four weeks to do it in a semi-leisurely fashion.

Right around Mammoth, it looks like we have lots of short trips like up to Yosemite, numerous places in the Sierra NF and Inyo NF, Kings Canyon, etc.

What I call the "Grand Canyon Loop" is about twice the distance, and I'm still working on the itinerary to start in Mammoth Lakes, go through Death Valley, Joshua Tree, Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce, and then back to Mammoth.

Yellowstone is the outlier, a long ways away and with the earliest chance of bad weather it seems, but it is seems to be iconic and a must-visit place. Dinosaur NM is there just for the education value and as it's kind of in the direction of Yellowstone.

Any opinions on places to see or eat, timing the trip, places to ride horses, suggestions for good sites, or warnings about not so good ones, are much appreciated!