[Paddlewise] Trip Planning -- Northern California

Hello again everyone -- I've been absent for a while caught up in the flurry
of work.  However, Kayaking fever is upon my wife and I and we're beginning
to look forward to taking some trips.  At this point, we've gotten a fair
selection of camping gear (the threads on gear here on PaddleWise were
invaluable) and practiced packing our two kayaks (17' sea kayaks).  We've
even taken a mini camping excursion on a local lake, but we're beginning to
look forward to some more extensive tripping.  The problem is, neither of us
really understands much about legal camp grounds (no commando camping for
us), and what is involved in such an excursion.  We live in Northern
California so we're looking at a progressively more aggressive set of trips
something like:

#1)  Travel to a local lake -- probably up in the national forests -- and
camp around the perimeter of the lake.  Near as I can tell, the CA state
parks all allow camping in designated camp sites only (*shudder*  So far,
what we've seen of developed camp sites looks a lot like urban sprawl in
tents).  Apparently, however, national forests allow for camping anywhere
with a permit.  For anyone that's local, we're looking at Loon lake as an
interesting alternative.  Does anyone have any suggestions for good remote
lakes that you can drive a car to, then paddle away from it all?  We're
located near the Tahoe region.  Any general advice on location, planning,
etc?  Any good recommendations for resources like local chambers of commerce
and the like?  I've already culled out some excellent topics on gear and
packing, so the concerns are more centered around the planning stages.

#2)  The next possible trip would be paddling down the Sacramento River into
the delta and arriving at the Bay.  Again, we know so little about finding
camp sites, where you're allowed to camp, etc.  I'm presuming on a trip like
this, we'd be looking at developed camp sites only, but it'd be a good long
trip that gets away from the safety net of a car (as opposed to being all on
one lake).  Anyone got any advice?

#3)  We're also taking classes on ocean paddling.  Once skill sets develop
(including a credible roll), we're thinking about paddling up/down the
coastline somewhere between San Francisco and the the Russian River.  Once
again, the question is how to find legal camp grounds, etc.  In the event of
inclement weather or other trouble, what happens when you just pull up on
the nearest friendly spit of land and pitch a tent?  Do the local
authorities come and drag you away to the clink?

Finally, does anyone have any experience with the Wilderness Kayak
Institute's classes?  They seem to talk about a variety of issues that
would, eventually, get us setup for planning trips to more remote locations
such as Baja, and all the other places one reads about in the Magazines.
Does anyone have any other suggestions for 5 day type classes that do
intensive training on trip planning, survival skills, etc.?

Any input from you more seasoned types would be greatly appreciated.

~Jeff (and Carol by proxy)


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