52 PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM {due west} pitch your tent smcgov.org/parks PHOTOGRAPHY: COURTESY OF SAN MATEO COUNTY PARKS TOWLE CAMP Nestled in Palo Alto’s Foothills Nature Preserve. cityofpaloalto.org COSTANOA Glamping on the Coastside in Pescadero. costanoa.com AUDREY EDNA CABIN Secluded hike-in cabin at Alpine Ranch in Loma Mar. hipcamp.com Gone are the days when scoring a campsite meant showing up and getting lucky. Back then, campers might pitch their tent on a Wednesday, then head home until Friday night, just to lock down the site for the weekend. Now, you must make reservations online, and summer spots go quickly, Katherine confides. For the family sites, she suggests making reservations six months in advance. “If you can be flexible with your dates, pick a weeknight. Otherwise, get on the computer at midnight, right when they open up.” Katherine also has advice for avoiding poison oak and an itchy, trip-ruining rash: stay on the trail. “We do our best to clear our trails of all sorts of vegetation,” she says. If you’ve been exposed and don’t have immediate access to soap and water, rub your hands with dirt to soak up poison oak’s easily spread oils, she advises. And don’t touch yourself anywhere else until you’ve washed up! As generations of Peninsula residents can attest, there’s nothing quite like the majestic beauty of the forest to remind us that, despite all of our modern comforts, we’re still a part of the wild and wonderful natural world. All it takes is a willingness to unplug, head to a county park and immerse ourselves in the great outdoors. ABOVE: Ranger Katherine Wright has been coming to Memorial Park ever since she was a child camping with her family. Camp Out.
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