Backpacking Ideas in Southern California

    I personally love to do go out in to nature for a weekend and do more than just a day hike. The feeling of your backpack against you, the long roads, and the ever changing environments are simply precious. However, searching for nice places to do multi-day backpacking trips in Couthern California is quite difficult. The reddit forum (http://www.reddit.com/r/socalhiking) is okay, but does not provide a definitive list of places to go backpacking. So, here is the best place to look:

District 5 National Forests

http://www.fs.usda.gov/

We have 4 national forests in Southern California. The closest to LA is Angeles National Forest, a popular destination for motorcyclists to go through due to a beautiful highway that splits the forest in half. Northwest of that is Los Padres National Forest, located north of beautiful Ojai. San Bernadino National Forest is to the east, compassing part of the Pacific Crest Trail. In the south, near San Diego, is Cleveland National Forest. Check them all out, mix and match trails to your liking and you can control how long you want to stay in the forest. Pretty cool huh? Don't get turned off by the "Fee Areas" name, you only have to pay for parking (or not depending on which forest. Rangers have to prove that you parked with the intent of using the forest recreationally. Whether you want to take that risk or not is not in my hands).

So, do you guys have any favorite trails or trips?