Camping at Lake Perris

Weekends are a great time to go camping. There are lots of camping areas within easy driving distance of Los Angeles and San Diego. To find one that suits you best go to the California State Parks website at www.parks.ca.gov. From there follow the links to the descriptions of each park where you can find plenty of information on the park and even book camping reservations online. Now is a good time to visit California’s parks because they are becoming quite endangered. The state government is proposing cutting back on park funding and the National Trust for Historic Preservation just listed California’s State Parks to their yearly list of 11 Most Endangered Historic Places.



Recently my friends and I went camping at Lake Perris. We wanted to go somewhere that was not too far of a driving distance from Los Angeles but far enough and we wanted a place that was on a lake. Lake Perris fit the bill nicely. It was not too crowded and the camping sites are not too close together. Of course if you get a rowdy inebriated bunch next door you probably will think the sites are much, much too close together. At least our next door inebriated bunch was a friendly inebriated bunch. Then again maybe we were the inebriated bunch. There are parts of this trip that will forever be hazy in my memory. You could suffice it to say we had a good time.

We did all the usual camping activities. For one of my friends this was his first camping trip and we indoctrinated him in all the rituals. He has never been the same since discovering the gooey gorgeousness that is a s’more. Really, who goes through childhood without eating a s’more cooked over an open campfire? Blasphemy! Might I recommend that when you are buying your s’mores supplies, you check out the marshmallows that are a chocolate/vanilla combo? Yes they have flavored marshmallows now. Total. Heaven.



If you have a boat you’re going to enjoy this lake. I bet in the summer that lake is a nice cool dip on a hot day. In fact I might need to visit this place again now that summer is here. Happy camping!