Alpine View is a campsite twenty miles north of Weaverville, CA on Highway 3. It is on Trinity Lake, a man-made lake created in 1958. Alpine View is higher up in elevation and cooler than Weaverville and Redding. There are many trails to choose from for a day hike or even overnite hikes. Camping in Loop C offers you more space than Loop A or B. The views were spectacular through an 8-inch reflector of the Moon, Jupiter and deep sky objects. The views of M57 and M101/102 were breath taking. At midnight when the sky really darkened, the Milky Way was very rich. Alpine View is a 5 hour drive from San Francisco and is closed from September 30 to May 31. But it still gets eight stars as an observation site. (Review supplied by Mel Pritchard)

Lake Sonoma's Lone Rock area is 85 miles north of San Francisco, west of Geyserville. Camping is unknown at the time of this writing. Magnitude Limitation is about 6.

Near the Ice House Observation site used by TAC, above it about 6500 ft is Loon Lake campground. Season hikers might know it because its on the edge of Desolation Wilderness. About 20 miles north of Placerville, you get to Loon Lake taking Hwy 50 from Sacramento to Placerville, then get off Hwy 50 taking Ice House Road (20 miles) to a road taking you to the Loon Lake campsite. The seeing is really spectacular there, you can see the Milky Way without a problem. Though you can see the hint of the lights of Tahoe, (it is 20 or so miles away), I would still give the site 8-9 stars. I use a parking lot normally used to launch boats in the daylight hours to set up my telescope. There is a man-made lake, the snow used to run off to the watershed for Sacramento. Besides astronomical delights, I can recommend hiking and birdwatching. I saw two of the four bald eagles in the wild. The eagles use the trees around lake for their homes, to raise their young and breed. There are many hiking trails around the lake. (Review supplied by Mel Pritchard)

Pacheco Pass has several areas that allow camping/ RV's and observing. Other campers can hinder viewing by their use lights. Some of the other areas are freqented by the local observers and may be crowded, but maybe not.

The Pinnacles National Monument is another place that allows camping and astronomy. The head ranger is very astronomy friendly there. It is south of San Jose, beautiful if you like nature and geology too.

Sugarloaf Ridge State Park in Sonoma County has camping and observing, and a observatory for public programs. The observatory charges for viewing. Viewing is limited to magnitudes 5 and 6. Sugar Loaf State Park is located aproximately 75 miles north of San Francisco.