Courtesy NPS, YNPThe Southern Sierra Nevada and surrounding region offers nearly unlimited options for spending one's nights on the ground, or above one's axles—at a great variety of developed, dispersed, primitive, and hike-in campsites—at all times of the year. When the snow fills in in the high country, the desert comes into its own; when the heat cranks up in the valley, head for the hills. For frontcountry/car camping, the best thing is to get yourself a good Forest Service Map (Inyo, Toiyabe, Stanislaus, Sierra, Sequoia), pack the car and start driving. The best, most comprehensive, up-to-date and portable campground info, can be found in the latest edition of the old standby: Tom Stienstra's California Camping. For charts, amenities and reservation info, see below: