Well I've only been to two of those Lake Jennings and Sweetwater. Of those I would not go back to Sweetwater, and we enjoyed our time at Lake Jennings, where my daughter caught her first fish. I've heard good things about Guajome and Lake Morena is next on my list to try. William Heise is sounding familiar, (is that one in Ramona?) in a good way, but I'm not recalling anything and Portrero I think is a bit remote.

Some of it depends on what you want to do. A few of those you can fish at the lake easily, one at least, Sweetwater, is removed from the lake and you can't get to it. Sweetwater had basically nothing to do there. No real hiking trails, nothing. Some are sort of in the mountains, others are more back country.

Keep in mind also that the further east you go the warmer it is going to be. Even if you go up into the mountains it is going to be fairly warm.

You might also consider a "City" campground, Mission Trails http://www.mtrp.org/campground.asp which is a bit closer in to town, if you were planning on doing some sight seeing, it won't take a long time to get back and forth. There are some good hiking and mountain bike trails through the adjacent park area. ANd they have a very nice nature program, and a nature center that is an easy bike ride or a longish walk from the campground.

I guess it depends on what you have in mind and if you have kids with you, and if you want to fish, hike, mountain bike ride, or go sight seeing.

I have a book I can dig up with some campground descriptions if you give me a bit more info. about what you are looking for.

Thanks for the input. We have reservations at Sweetwater but are having to reschedule. I hope they let me reschedule at any of the county campsites because Sweetwater does not sound appealing at all. Lake Jennings sounded good.

Because we are rescheduling simply because we don't want to loose our money we will probably make a simple trip out of it whenever we go. No kids. Hopefully hiking. I haven't fished in years but I would love to do it again, I'm just not sure it is worth all of the cost of day license, poles/tackle rentals, catch price, etc.

Thanks again.

William Heise is very nice. I do have to put out a disclaimer that I haven't camped here, but have spent the day. It's definitely one of the nicer parks in the county.

We just returned from our second trip to William Heise yesterday!

There were three adults and five kids ranging in ages from 4 to 16 on both trips. I was skeptical as to whether the children would survive the first trip without video games, computers, etc. Not only did they survive, they loved it! So much so that we scheduled a second trip!

The park is rustic and peaceful. Our first trip, it was hopping, almost every campsite filled, and the few that weren't, filled up by the weekend!

The kids made friends, saw wild turkeys, deer, squirrels and we hiked some two of the clearly marked trails.

This month's trip, the park was very quiet, less than 6 groups at any one time! We had a whole loop to ourselves two of the nights. Weekends seem to be the busy time at this park. We stayed Mon-Thurs. We saw raccoons, woodpeckers and lots of birds, rabbits and the good old turkeys!

Each campsite has a fire ring and picnic table, a 10x10 tent pad and parking. Our 16x14 tent still fit, though. Not all sites will fit a larger tent, though. Not all of the restrooms have showers. No soap in the bathrooms, so bring your own. Hot showers are available. Park rangers were very helpful and patrol the campground. Quiet hours after 10pm, and fires have to be out by 11pm until 7am. Firewood is available at the park. There are also a few rustic cabins with gas stoves.

Day trips into Julian are an easy 6 miles away and the drive to and from the park are scenic. We have returned to camping after a long hiatus, and William Heise is a favorite, now.