Tell us about the cheap (keep it at or under $10 if possible), free, or Long Term Visitor Area (LTVA) campgrounds you know about. LTVA's allow stays of up to 6 months in California. Also, if you know of any remote spots to car or RV-camp in (that you would like to share with CampersIndex members), please let us know about them. (Backpacking is automatically remote by definition.
For example, near where I live in Bakersfield there are a number of free campgrounds up in the pines (and the cool air) near Alta Sierra, which is near Lake Isabella and Kernville. The temperature difference between Bakersfieild and the Alta Sierra region is usually about 15-20 degrees. So if it's 100 in Bakersfield, it would be about 80 in Alta Sierra.
These 5 free campgrounds are never full, at least that I've seen, and often I would be the only person in the campground. Even if the campgrounds should be full, there are plenty of places to pull off and camp up there and do your own primitive camping.
Evans Flat is an example of a free campground near Alta Sierra, elev. 6040' -- see below:

For some more info, check out http://www.eugenecarsey.com/camp/sequoia/alta.htm