Campsite

The fugitive couple had zigzagged across much of the West, ducking authorities, kidnapping two truckers and allegedly killing a couple near a remote New Mexico ranch. Though authorities were besieged with hundreds of tips about the elusive pair's location, the last credible sighting of John McCluskey and Casslyn Welch was Aug. 6. And that was in Montana. Then, on Thursday, a ranger in the Apache and Sitgreaves National Forests in eastern Arizona noticed a campsite that looked somewhat odd. The Gabaldon Campground is a favorite of equestrians, but instead of horses, the U.S. Forest Service ranger found an untended fire and a grayish Nissan Sentra nearly hidden amid spruce trees.

Yosemite Valley would have more camp sites and parking spaces - and the number of daily visitors would not be reduced - under a National Park Service plan intended to ease congestion in one of the country's most scenic spots. The proposal is the agency's third attempt to produce a legally acceptable management plan for the Merced River and the ever popular valley that it flows through. Environmental groups have twice sued the agency, winning court orders that compelled the park service to draw up new blueprints.

Until recently, my relationship with central California's magnificent Big Sur coast was all about the drive. Ninety-three miles of zigzagging, fog-attracting, life-affirming, white-knuckling Highway 1 to savor from behind a windshield during the day and high-tail out of before the road darkened and the elephant seals turned in for the night. However many times you zip through it, Big Sur is an overpowering vehicular experience, summoning waves of joy, awe and carsickness all in one movable sitting.

Until recently, my relationship with central California's magnificent Big Sur coast was all about the drive. Ninety-three miles of zigzagging, fog-attracting, life-affirming, white-knuckling Highway 1 to savor from behind a windshield during the day and high-tail out of before the road darkened and the elephant seals turned in for the night. However many times you zip through it, Big Sur is an overpowering vehicular experience, summoning waves of joy, awe and carsickness all in one movable sitting.

I biked with friend David Beltran from Death Valley to Whitney Portal and then hiked to the top of Mt. Whitney with David and another friend, Renato Medina. The weather varied from 122 degrees in Death Valley to snow conditions at the Outpost campsite. It was a grueling but wonderful experience. Jose Colon Whittier

If you doubt the interest in Euro-Disneyland, consider the following: As we checked into a campsite in eastern France a couple of years ago, a little girl wanted to know where we were from. I mentioned (through an interpreter) U.S.A., California, Los Angeles, and Hollywood with little signs of recognition. But when I mentioned Disneyland, her face lit up and she said, "If you could be in Disneyland today, why are you in France?" JAMES T. HUMBERD Rancho Mirage

A U.S. money manager pleaded guilty to federal charges stemming from a plot to fake his own death in a small-plane crash in Florida to avoid financial fraud charges in Indiana. Marcus Schrenker, 38, parachuted out of his plane over Alabama in January and let it continue to fly on autopilot; it eventually crashed in Florida. He was arrested a day later at a Florida campsite. In U.S. District Court in Pensacola, Fla., Schrenker pleaded guilty to deliberately crashing a plane and placing false distress calls.

MANY thanks to the Shurtleffs for rekindling my own elephant memories [Sights Seen, Feb. 4]. In 1974, I spent a month camping through eastern Africa. My friend and I would set up our tent anywhere in the bush. The Serengeti stretched before us for hundreds of miles. As the sun set, I realized the solitude was an illusion. Hidden in the trees 15 feet away was a herd of elephants -- walking single file. I thought: "This is no Yosemite campsite!" WENDY A. ROBINSON Saugus

I was surprised to see that your list of outfitters for Idaho's Salmon River ("A Rich Entree Into the Wild Salmon," July 15) omitted Canyons Inc., Internet http://www.canyonsinc.com. I just finished a trip with the company in June. Our group had no interest in the type of gourmet cooking or cabins mentioned in the article. However, we went crazy for the scenic rafting passage, the excellent basic food (including salmon and steak), the choice of three boat types (cargo raft, paddle raft and kayak)

Summertime, and cousins Jennifer Gonzalez and Becky Jensen of Valley Center, both 14, are sprawled on lawn chairs at their San Elijo State Beach campsite in Cardiff. They are camping with six friends and family, sharing their own small tent. It's late afternoon, time to think about dinner ("steak and chili cheese fries"). They spent the morning combing tide pools for sea creatures ("mostly sea slugs"), swimming and bodyboarding. Tonight, they'll watch grunion run at another beach in nearby Del Mar. A few campsites away, Penny and Mike Briscoe and Cassie and Howie Wendell, their children and a teen-age cousin, all from Oceanside, are hanging around camp after a day of surfing, snorkeling, fishing, and people-watching.

It was 1:30 a.m. at Coachella 2010, and thousands of weary festival-goers waited in long lines of dusty cars to exit the parking area. But just a field away, in the camping zone, hundreds of less-than-sober revelers were partying like the concert never ended. Pushing the Coachella experience deep into the night, they were roller-skating to the sounds of the '70s, starting impromptu soccer games, dancing to a surprise set from one of the day's electronic acts, and sharing drinks in the crisp night air. Welcome to the Coachella campgrounds, where Indio's midnight noise ordinance is as irrelevant as the need for a designated driver and everyone is your friend.

Mike Bradbury felt the air cooling and saw the sun sliding into the horizon, so he hurried to put up the tent where he and his family would sleep. He heard his son's small voice. "I have to go to the bathroom," Travis was telling his mother, who directed him to a portable toilet nearby. Travis was 8. Padding after him, as always, was his sister Laura, 3½. Laura was groggy after the long drive from the family's condominium in Huntington Beach to Indian Cove in Joshua Tree National Park.

The fugitive couple had zigzagged across much of the West, ducking authorities, kidnapping two truckers and allegedly killing a couple near a remote New Mexico ranch. Though authorities were besieged with hundreds of tips about the elusive pair's location, the last credible sighting of John McCluskey and Casslyn Welch was Aug. 6. And that was in Montana. Then, on Thursday, a ranger in the Apache and Sitgreaves National Forests in eastern Arizona noticed a campsite that looked somewhat odd. The Gabaldon Campground is a favorite of equestrians, but instead of horses, the U.S. Forest Service ranger found an untended fire and a grayish Nissan Sentra nearly hidden amid spruce trees.

A U.S. money manager pleaded guilty to federal charges stemming from a plot to fake his own death in a small-plane crash in Florida to avoid financial fraud charges in Indiana. Marcus Schrenker, 38, parachuted out of his plane over Alabama in January and let it continue to fly on autopilot; it eventually crashed in Florida. He was arrested a day later at a Florida campsite. In U.S. District Court in Pensacola, Fla., Schrenker pleaded guilty to deliberately crashing a plane and placing false distress calls.

Five people were found shot to death early Sunday in a makeshift homeless encampment covered by thick brush near the 405 Freeway in Long Beach, police said. The crime upset neighbors and puzzled police, who had no suspects and struggled to comb the rugged terrain surrounding the crime scene near the freeway's intersection with the 710 Freeway. An anonymous caller tipped authorities Sunday morning about a slaying in an area near the 1500 block of West Wardlow Road.

Re "Unpaving paradise," Aug. 25 The first coastal campground in decades is paradise for the few! It is hard to believe that a space that once held more than 200 full-size trailers will now accommodate only 60 campsites. We do not need day-use facilities. The coastal campgrounds are far too few. During the summer months, the few sites that exist are all booked on the first day of reservations, which is seven months in advance, within 45 minutes or so. For years now, I have been unable to reserve more than four or five days of continuous stay at any of the state park beach campsites.

The self-righteous editors of The Times--who condemned the residents of Anaheim for opposing a flophouse for transients in their neighborhood--should step down from their ivory towers, probably in Newport Beach or Beverly Hills and see how the other half lives! Why are lower- and middle-income Americans expected to welcome into their neighborhoods, in the midst of their children, numerous loitering bums--euphemistically termed "homeless?" The majority of the poverty-stricken are women and children and families who cannot afford all the deposits required for an apartment these days and are lucky to find a motel room with a hot plate or a campsite.

A Turkish Cypriot court Monday sentenced a German mother and daughter to prison for killing a rapist who had attacked them in a lonely seaside campsite. Uthe Loh, 48, received four years in prison. Her daughter Melani, who turns 21 today, got three years. Both are from West Berlin. The court said that by the time of his death, Ozmen Tulga, 20, was weakened by his struggles with the two tourists and no longer posed a threat to them. It also said the women had failed to flee from the attacker.

SECRET SPOTS OF THE WEST We asked you to nominate your favorite vacation places in the West -- your travel touchstones, so to speak -- and you came back with a satchel full of suggestions. We sifted and sorted and chose six to explore for ourselves. Marvelous or mundane? You be the judge. -- "Why settle for small sites at the beach where you can hear your neighbors breathing?" said Crystal Robbins of North Hollywood. "Lake Lopez in gorgeous San Luis Obispo environs gives you miles of water frontage, large sites, hiking, boating, swimming, sunbathing and other great California summer family bonding moments."

Despite the high cost of gas, we drove our RV to the San Bernardino Mountains for some peace, quiet and stargazing. About 8:30 p.m., in drove an RV and a trailer (for their "toys"), and the owners immediately set up a bright light that illuminated the campground. So much for seeing stars. Then the RV started its generator, which we figured its owners were using to cook dinner so it probably wouldn't last long. But then they started another generator outside that was very loud.