Best California Free Camping Boondocking, Overland Road Trip

Total Escape is California, off the beaten path

here come chilly weather

This Total Escape website is DanaMite's creation for California outdoor travels. An independent guide to the back roads of California and a massive small town directory. A labor of love, updated monthly, for 27 years - and it needs your support to stay alive and online.

#totalescape

Fall colors are just starting in the higher elevations of California. Autumn trees and colorful displays can be found in many regions of the golden state; and we are here to show you just how many places to explore that brief beauty.

The firey-orange, Japanese Maple photo above is from my previous homestead in Berry Creek, a year before the Bear Fire of 2020 wiped out everything out. Only photographs remain on how beautiful that location used to be. Glad I got to live there in its peak glory days.

Traveling the dirt back roads, be prepared for delays. Tree work, heavy equipment operators clearing rocks, guard rail or bridge repairs. Check your driving route / road conditions and always have a plan B.

Google Maps is not broken: Always be flexible in your itinerary and do not count on cell phone reception in rural regions. Plan your trip and any side routes in advance - and always carry a paper maps!!

all local: updated monthly

ancient: 27 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.