Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Need off topic advice!

My family usually does a yearly trip to twin lakes out of bridgeport. With the price of gas, we would love to go to a new place, that is similar (hiking, boat rentals, wildlife, Sierra's), but closer, we are in socal. I figured, if anybody could help me, they would be on this board! Thanks in advance!

Our family trip every year is to June lake-specifically "Oh Ridge" campground. There is great diversity available from this fairly central location. Yosemite Tioga pass gate is about 45 minutes away. Mammoth lakes area is available about 20 minutes away in case you get the sudden need to be amongst the crowds. Mono lake is also nearby along with sleeping volcanoes to scramble down into. Closer in there is Obsidian Dome, beautiful June,Gull and Silver lakes themselves with a real lazy fishing/boat rental scene. Horseback riding at Silver lake is always on my kids to-do list. We were just up there as stage one of our Whitney training regimen! (end of July summit)It's only something like 7,000 feet I think but high enough to get you winded on the hikes out behind Silver lake if you push hard.
We prefer to camp at the rarely-crowded Oh Ridge (Rabbit loop is the family favorite)rather than at water's edge. Great views right out of the tent door. There are also hot showers available here at the adjacent camp general store.
It's about seven hours from Santa Barbara for us with a short stop in Mojave for lunch.

There's also Twin Lakes area out of Mammoth, and the Bishop Creek drainage. Boat rentals at Sabrina and South Lake as I recall, plenty of hiking, etc. South of that and it gets harder to find much diversity in terms of things to do.

You might want to check out the Kernville, Lake Isabella area. It's only about 2 1/2 hours from the LA area.

There is good lake and river fishing with boat rentals on the lake. Plenty of hiking in the area with the Sequoia National Park close by. You can plan some whitewater rafting with one of several outfitters. Try your hand flyfishing with one of the local guides. There are sevearl types of lodging available plus campgrounds (at the lake and on the river). It's a very small community and very family friendly.

Hope you find what your looking for closer to home. I've been to Mono village at Twin Lakes and know what a great area it is. Kernville has the same homey feel to it.

http://www.lakeisabella.net/

Take a tour of the area with this link.