Just got hired in Bakersfield - anything nearby?

Krokodile

Krokodile

Member
I am going to be doing an internship in Bakersfield this coming summer. I don't know or care if there is anything locally, but I intend to hit some cool places on the weekends. Do you guys know anywhere I could go (not even limited to skiing, just anything cool) to have a good time? Just some examples would be beaches, hiking, biking/mtb/downhill (if I can get a bike), and of course skiing? I will be there from mid May to early August. I want to take advantage of the opportunity to spend a summer on the other side of the country and don't mind driving a few hours to different places around the West every weekend.
 
Well damn. That makes me not look forward to this summer at all. How far would I have to drive to go to somewhere worth going to? I see that LA is like about 2 hours south.
 
As far as actual stuff to do goes, LA is probably your best bet. However, if you can find some people with dirt bikes, Bakersfield is a great place to be. Lots of places in SoCal suck ass, unless you have dirt bikes. You are fairly close to San Luis Obispo which is a really nice college town. You are closeish to Santa Barbara which has nice beaches and good college parties if you like cocaine. Lancaster/Palmdale are closer than LA to you I think, but those places are just like LA except shittier. YOu are pretty close to Ventura/Oxnard as well which is a nice beach town. Well....Oxnard is kind of ghetto, but Ventura is a nice beach town.

I live in Santa Clarita, which is the first place you hit in LA county if you are coming from Bako. Its about 20-30 minutes before you properly get to like the valley and Santa Monica. We have some cool shit to do. Six Flags, indoor go kart racing, big ass mall, a million paintball fields, some other stuff. Drop me a PM if you want, especially if you are going to be riding Mt High. Although from Bako you'll probably be Mammoth/Bear.
 
And actually if you drop me a PM I can give you directions to some cliff jumping spots, good places to longboard, where to buy weed, etc. It'll all be in and around LA though.
 
Oh and as for skiing, you said you are going to be here in the summer which is sort of confusing. If you were talking about next summer, then you still might get some skiing in. The last two years Mammoth stayed open till July 4th, and it is only a few hours from you.
 
Thanks a bunch, maybe it won't be too bad. I will be there this coming summer. My school already had a career fair and I guess I lucked out and they were impressed enough to hire me on the spot so that would be awesome if Mammoth stays open that long. I could see myself there most weekends.

And I'll hit you up with a PM once it gets closer to summer. Definitely considering getting a board off craigslist and trying my hand at surfing. Tried it once and loved it. I'd be into some cliff jumping too. Thanks again and +k.
 
You're not that far from some nice spots. Summer will be hot and the air will be dirty but like you said, it's an experience. I'm an 1:45 north of you in Fresno (a nicer Bakersfield) so if you ever need some help from a fellow valley resident, I'm here. Sorry I can't help you more. What are you interning for? Agriculture or oil?
 
if you feel like getting an alpine touring set up there are some great spots in the national parks to go touring, my personal favorite is mineral king, and there's definitely plenty of snow until late june to tour on.
 
Fresno is not a nicer Bakersfield. They are of equivalent shittyness.

If I had to live in either one for more than 2 hours I would likely just got to the local walmart, buy a gun and kill myself.

If you're coming from the east coast or midwest you probably wont mind it though.

everything smells like shit in both towns. you will get used to it after awhile though.

4 months in the summer, good luck.

 
i would do this if i had to live anywhere in the central valley, my brother lives in hanford, it was overbearingly hot, hazy and the smell of cow shit was bad enough to drive one insane.

fresno is a bit better than bakersfield though.
 
Fresno is definitely nicer than Bakersfield. The heat does blow, but it's a dry heat so it's not THAT bad. It smells like shit in Tulare, not Fresno. Summer is definitely the worst time to be in the central valley, but we have the mountains so close to us that it can really make up for it and the coast isn't too far either.
 
I grew up in Clovis and I is actually a decent place to grew up. You are at the base of the mountains and a few hours from the beach, San Fransico, and LA. Really you always need to have someone to bag on to make your town sound less shitty. I could always say "At least I am not from Bakersfield."
 
I'm interning for oil. And I don't necessarily have to live there, just work there during the week. Once I start looking at housing in a few months I'll consult you guys to see which place would be the best. I am going to just do a trip every weekend to somewhere cool. Maybe buy a tent and camp places.
 
Sweet, you're in the right place for oil. I don't know where else you could really live, maybe Tehachapi is you wanted to live in the foothills, but the weather probably won't be much better aside from less smog and a half hour commute. Bakersfield is pretty close to both Kings Canyon and Sequoia national parks, which are due east of Visalia. Yosemite is around three hours north of Bakersfield, LA is just over the grapevine, and the central coast isn't too far either.
 
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