Budget Travel California, Outdoor Destinations, Road Trip Camping Maps

california: A to Z

April Festivals

Back Roads

Free Bumper Stickers

Hot Springs Hikes

Rock Art Petroglyphs

Snow Towns

Spring Break

springtime wildflowers

Dirt cheap vacations in California can be difficult to discover, especially when the luxury of travel seems further from reality with each passing year of economic recession. With traveling tourists and retirees focused on the wineries, upscale coastal villages and amusement parks, most want to keep you in the city, dining out and shopping, spending money - well away from the free vacation options.

Plenty travel sites cover the typical choices - chain hotels, timeshares, tropical islands and cruise ships. On the opposite side of the spectrum, Total Escape offers only local destinations, small towns, outdoor recreation, yurts and cabin rentals, rustic lodges and unique attractions. Local museums, farm stands, organic orchards, caves and caverns, historic railroads, hot springs resorts, bike or kayak rentals, alpine lakes, waterfalls, rivers, creeks, all parks and forests.

Site founder DanaMite is currently working on transforming old content to new posts on a blog style, mobile friendly format.

Total Escape Autumn in California

ONLINE

30 years

Total Escape is California, off the beaten path

warming oceans bring more rain

Next month this website is turning 30 and we're still here! As our affiliates lower their commission rates and our cost of living contiues to soar, without our wages keeping up, we're left wondering "why not consider living out of a camper van or RV full time"? Gotta be cheaper than rent or owning a house. Three decades ago Dana began this website, promoting the best seclusion inside California. Well before the vanlife craze and the selfie suicides, Total Escape started selling hiking and off-roading maps online, way before the National Parks and State Parks even had their websites online. Phrases like 'influencer' and 'content creator' weren't even a twinkle yet; real high speed internet and smartphones were still a decade away.

Total Escape and DanaMite are celebrating 30 years online this year, while the web has changed in every way, we survive in the rural reaches of the golden state.

flickr still hasn't deleted my photos (yet), so get while the gettin is good.

all local: updated monthly

ancient: 30 years online!

We're still here, thousands of pages and decades later. Way outside the city limits, beyond the county line. No wifi, no smart meters, no gaming addictions, no traffic lights, no city noise. Rural living in California still exist. Hike on the weekends, bike to work, boating mid-week, we have you covered for destinations. Find a new boulder garden, a big waterfall, trailhead or an ancient lava cave. Total Escape - Two whole decades online. Not quite obsolete.

Craving the Wild? Before the tweets, the constant memes and paralysis of our current culture, DanaMite started this travel web site way back in 1996. Catchy phrases like, FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) did not yet exist.

Total Escape features abundant real photos of real places. Secluded destinations, camping and lodging, examining the best back roads, side routes, the topo maps (to get you out there). Locals-only travel tips, gear reviews, festivals and events. This unique travel site is updated every month, for more than the past 2 decades!

Juicy content specific only to California. Focusing on outdoor destinations, small towns and budget-minded travel since 1996, we've recreated the weekend getaway - without the crowds. Escape the matrix, the city life, the traffic jams and learn how to avoid the tourist traps. Drive on past the factory outlet malls and the water slides, we've got much more to show you. Way out there, on the back roads, and in the backcountry.

Wilderness in California - more nature, less people.