Best Campgrounds in California

california has more campgrounds than i have functional pairs of socks, and Patricia has rolled through a decent chunk of them at this point. some are worth the drive. some make you wonder why you paid $45 to sleep next to an RV running a generator at 11pm.

this is my honest shortlist after a few years of bouncing between the coast, the sierra, and the deserts. not a "top 10" — just the ones i actually go back to, plus a couple i'd skip if you asked me at a gas station.

fair warning: california booking is its own sport. reservation windows are a mess, the state-parks site is its own animal, and the popular sites get gone the second they drop. more on that below.

big sur coast: kirk creek and plaskett creek

if you have never camped on a bluff above the pacific with nothing between you and the horizon except the smell of sage, Kirk Creek will fix that. it's run by Los Padres National Forest right off Highway 1, about 4 miles south of Lucia. sites are first-come some seasons, reservable others — check Recreation.gov before you commit to the drive because Hwy 1 closures are a whole thing.

two things to know. one, there's no water hookup and no showers, so bring jugs. two, the wind off the ocean is real — i've watched a $90 tent get yeeted into a bush. if your tent doesn't have proper guy-out points, you'll learn that night.

Plaskett Creek is a few miles further south, across the highway from Sand Dollar Beach. less dramatic view but way more sheltered, bigger sites, and you can actually have a campfire most of the year. i usually book Plaskett if im traveling with people who like to sit around a fire and Kirk Creek if im solo and want to stare at the ocean and feel feelings.

the desert: joshua tree and death valley

Jumbo Rocks in Joshua Tree is the one everybody books and honestly the hype is earned. you're sleeping inside the rock formations, which means natural wind blocks, weird acoustics, and sunsets that turn the granite orange. it's roughly $25 a night as of recent seasons. book the second the window opens or just don't bother — it's gone in minutes.

if Jumbo is full (it will be), try Belle or White Tank on the north side of the park. smaller, quieter, fewer school groups. cell service is nonexistent across most of JT, so download your maps before you turn off the 62.

death valley is the sleeper pick. Mesquite Spring up near Scotty's Castle Road is the campground i recommend to everyone — it's at higher elevation than Furnace Creek so nights are bearable in shoulder season, the sites are spread out, and the stargazing is genuinely something else. it's pay-at-the-kiosk last i was through. bring your own shade. there is none.

sierra: yosemite and the eastside

okay yosemite. Upper Pines is the obvious answer if you want to be in the valley, walk to Curry Village for coffee (RIP coffee budget), and hike Mist Trail without driving anywhere. you'll be packed in tight, the bears are committed professionals, and you need the food locker. but you're in Yosemite Valley. it's hard to be mad.

the better-kept-secret play is Tuolumne Meadows if it's open the year you go (closures have been a thing, check NPS). 8,600 feet, cooler nights, way better hiking access if you actually want to be on trails instead of in traffic.

just east of the park over Tioga Pass, the Inyo National Forest campgrounds around Lee Vining and the June Lake Loop are wildly underrated. Oh! Ridge and Silver Lake are both on the loop, both with actual lake access, both around $26-ish. and you can drive into the park in the morning without dealing with the line at the entrance because youre already inside the gate by 7am. game changer.

tahoe and the gold country

D.L. Bliss State Park on the west shore of Lake Tahoe is one of the prettiest places in the state to wake up, period. the beach at Lester is unreal. it books out in like, march, for the whole summer. California State Parks uses ReserveCalifornia, which is functional but slower than Recreation.gov in my experience.

Fallen Leaf near South Lake Tahoe is the bigger sibling — more sites, more amenities, more crowded but easier to grab last minute. and the Glen Alpine trailhead is right there if you want to do a real day hike into Desolation Wilderness.

down in gold country, Tuttletown Rec Area at New Melones Lake gets ignored because everyone's racing to yosemite. lake access, $24 a night-ish, way fewer people, and it's a fine basecamp for swimming when the sierra is on fire (which, lately, is most of august). not glamorous. functional.

north coast: sue-meg, manchester, and the redwoods

Sue-meg State Park (the place formerly known as Patrick's Point) up near Trinidad is my favorite north coast spot. tide pools, a recreated Yurok village you can walk through, sitka spruce so thick it feels like a different planet. the campground is tucked back in the trees, sites are private, and you can hear the ocean from your tent without having sand in everything.

Manchester State Park on the Mendocino coast is wilder, windier, fewer amenities. you walk through a dune field to get to the beach and there's nobody there. like, nobody. bring a warmer sleeping bag than you think — the coast fog drops temps fast even in july.

and if you're doing the redwoods, Jedediah Smith near Crescent City is the move over the more famous Prairie Creek. the Smith River runs through it, the old-growth is denser, and the access to Stout Grove is a 5-minute drive. it's a forest service-adjacent operation under the state/national parks co-management — book through ReserveCalifornia.

quick gotchas + picks i'd actually book

stuff i wish someone had told me before i drove 6 hours for nothing:

• Kirk Creek (Big Sur) — bluff sites, no water, book early. nearest town: Lucia.
• Jumbo Rocks (Joshua Tree NP) — book the minute the window opens, no cell service.
• Mesquite Spring (Death Valley NP) — high desert, quieter than Furnace Creek, near Scotty's Castle Rd.
• Upper Pines (Yosemite Valley) — bear lockers mandatory, packed but iconic.
• Silver Lake (June Lake Loop, Inyo NF) — eastside basecamp, lake access, near Lee Vining.
• D.L. Bliss (Lake Tahoe) — west shore, books out by spring, ReserveCalifornia.
• Sue-meg SP (Trinidad) — north coast, tide pools, sheltered sites.
• Jedediah Smith (Crescent City) — redwoods, river access, less crowded than Prairie Creek.
• Plaskett Creek (Big Sur) — fire-friendly, sheltered, near Sand Dollar Beach.
• Tuolumne Meadows (Yosemite high country) — when it's open, the move over the valley.

booking-wise: Recreation.gov is the cleaner app and handles all the federal stuff (national parks, national forests, BLM). ReserveCalifornia handles state parks and im not gonna call it bad but it's clunkier. the booking-fee racket on private third-party sites is real — don't pay $40 in "service fees" to a reseller when the actual campground charges $30.

gear notes specific to california

california is not one climate. you can be sweating at 110°F in death valley on a tuesday and shivering in a tahoe campsite at 32°F that friday. i carry a 20°F bag year-round in Patricia and have never regretted it. a 40°F bag will betray you on the eastside in october.

fire restrictions change weekly in summer. if you're cooking, a canister stove is way more useful than a wood fire when half the state is in stage 2 fire restrictions. check the local ranger district website the day you arrive, not the day you left home. and the usual stuff — store food properly, especially in bear country, pack out what you brought in. yosemite bears have figured out coolers, ice chests, and how to peel back a car door like a sardine can. they have not yet figured out the bear lockers. use the lockers.

for the rest of the kit (chairs, lights, water storage, the dumb little things you forget), my running list lives over on the gear page.

honest take

if i had one week in california and had to pick, i'd do two nights at Plaskett Creek on the big sur coast, two nights at Silver Lake on the june lake loop, then two nights at Mesquite Spring in death valley. coast, sierra, desert. you see three completely different versions of the state and you spend most of your time outside instead of in a reservation queue.

if you only have a weekend and you live in the bay, just go to Sue-meg or D.L. Bliss depending on whether you want coast or mountains. don't try to do yosemite on a 2-day trip. youre going to spend it sitting in line at the entrance station getting mad. ask me how i know.

anyway. go camp.