Visit Southern California national forests for free on Veterans Day

If your employer gives you Veterans Day off (or even if you don’t get it off and you are suddenly struck by a 24-hour virus on Nov. 11), you can visit a national park in Southern California for free on Tuesday.

In honor of America’s veterans, visitors to Los Padres, San Bernardino, Angeles and Cleveland national forests can park, hike, swim and generally frolic without opening a wallet. The daily Adventure Pass, normally required to park and use the national forest facilities, costs $5. An annual pass costs $30.

In those areas where an extra camping fee is charged by a private concession, you will still have to pay that camping fee. Another exception: You will need an Adventure Pass for the concessionaire-operated Lower Santa Ynez Recreation Area in the Santa Barbara Ranger District.

If you inadvertently use a daily Adventure Pass on the “fee-free day,” you can have it replaced free of charge at any Forest Service office in Southern California.

Other fee-free days: National Trails Day on June 6 and National Public Lands Day on Sept. 26.

– Hugo Martín, Los Angeles Times staff writer

[Photo: The trail to San Gorgonio via Vivian Creek in San Bernardino National Forest. Credit: Los Angeles Times]

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This entry was posted on Saturday, November 8, 2008 at 12:12 pm by Hugo Martin and is filed under California, Family & Kids, Los Angeles, Ojai, Outdoors & Adventure, Ventura, Weekend Getaways. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.