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2025

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  • North Almanor Campground
  • Lassen National Forest, Lake Almanor
  • Pleasant campground a few hundred yards uphill from Lake Almanor, restaurant/bar within walking distance.

  • Glass Creek Campground
  • Inyo National Forest, Mammoth CA
  • Campground is less than a mile off 395 on a good gravel road. It's free and the campsites are quite spacious.

  • Thomas Creek Campground
  • Toyiabe National Forest, Elko NV
  • beautiful location in Lamoille Canyon

  • Twin Peaks Campground
  • San Isabel National Forest, Twin Lakes CO
  • First campground coming off Independence Pass heading south. Real pretty. Still, $19 doesn't get you a lot in Colorado. Checkout time is noon. Elevation 9,620' - yikes!

  • Cave Springs Campground
  • Coconino National Forest, Flagstaff AZ
  • The largest of the three USFS campgrounds between Sedona and Flagstaff in Oak Creek Canyon. I think this is the least cool. Manzanita is the coolest but always full (11 sites in this giant tourist attraction0), Pine Flat is right next to this one, and looked to be the second coolest. This one's still pretty sweet though ... although I find myself worrying about evacuation routes if this dry, hot canyon was swept by a forest fire. We would all be screwed I think.

  • Spanish Creek Campground
  • Plumas National Forest, Greenville CA
  • Merrill Campground
  • Lassen National Forest, Susanville CA
  • huge-ass campground on ever-diminishing Eagle Lake. Full of giant RVs with hookups and run by a concessionaire, so it is much more bureaucratic and rule-bound that most. Site 159 is pretty sweet, unobstructed lake view (150 yds away), open, but the tall pine behind (south of) me give it pretty good afternoon shade.

  • Oak Creek Campground
  • Fishlake National Forest, Torrey UT
  • Elevation 8,800'. Small, very handy campground in the high mountains Route 12 traverses between Boulder and Torrey. All the other campgrounds up here are closed for the season.

  • Dixie dispersed
  • Dixie National Forest, Panguitch UT
  • bad: right next to a dusty, gravel road good: right next to a happily burbling brook I am here because the campground a mile away is closed for the season, so my hope is there won't be much traffic on this road tonight.

  • Willow Creek Campground
  • Modoc National Forest, Adin CA
  • Small but very handy campground 50 mile north of Susanville. Very near the road, but the road is not heavily traveled. The stream is very small but pretty

  • Lookout Campground
  • Willamette National Forest, Blue River OR
  • mostly fisherman, got a great spot at the dead end right by the lake, a few miles from Terwilliger Hot Springs

  • Lower Lee Vining Campground
  • Inyo National Forest, Lee Vining CA
  • In the style of Inyo Forest campgrounds(*), this one is hard to find(**) and kind of shabby and rough, but it's in a really beautiful location. This one is on Lee Vining Creek, in the aspen/pine forest on top of the glacial till. It's the first campground on CA 120 west of Mono Lake heading up to spectacular Tioga Pass. It's pretty cool. It's very popular with fishermen. (*) Except the Inyo campgrounds around June Lake/Mammoth. They are run by a concessionare. They are a little nicer, cost twice as much, and have three times as many rules. (**) There is an arrow for "camping", but you must turn off the road to see the "Lower Lee Vining" sign.

  • Dumont Lake Campground
  • Routt National Forest, Steamboat Springs, CO
  • Elevation 9500'. In a pretty meadow with a little fishing lake nearby. "The area borders on the Continental Divide and sits on top of the Park Range, offering spectacular views of several Colorado mountain ranges"

  • Stony Fork Campground
  • George Washington National Forest, Wytheville VA
  • Wonderful campground only a few miles off of I-77. Sites with elec+water, elec only, or neither (my favorite!). All reasonably priced, and with Senior Card, downright cheap!

  • Bridger Campground
  • National Forest, Logan UT
  • A few short miles up the canyon from lovely Logan UT. The next campground up, Spring Hollow sounded nicer, but was FULL on Labor Day Friday. My modest little campground is NOT reservable, so there were still two of the ten sites available. I feel lucky.

  • Salmon Creek Campground
  • Tahoe National Forest, Sierra City CA
  • hyper-busy tonight, first night of the season, Memorial Day weekend. It would be restful and pleasant next to the happy little creek most nights I think. As a campground, this is nicer than Sardine up the hill. I walked up to Sardine Lake, which was a very pleasant hike, with some excellent sunset views ... if you don't mind walking along the highway. They raised the price again this year here too.

  • Lincoln National Forest Snow Park
  • Lincoln National Forest, Cloudcroft NM
  • Just a parking lot. Not even a porta-pottie. No trails, no views, no nothing. But is sure was nice to be able to park there overnight!

  • Sunglow Campground
  • Fishlake National Forest, Bicknell UT
  • Jones Water Campground
  • Tonto National Forest, Globe AZ
  • A really low-tech campground, a handful of sites carved out of a gully right next to the highway.

  • Lodgepole Campground
  • Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest, Heber City UT
  • Elevation 7,800'. Across the valley from busy US 40. Open, well-maintained, paved roads. Pretty deluxe as these things go, but nothing to do that i could see. From here it's straight downhill for a long time to Heber City There's a resort with restaurant and store right up the hill, but you gotta drive to it.

  • McClure Campground
  • Grand Mesa Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests, Paonia CO
  • Elevation: 8,200' A nice place to stop early on Saturday afternoon. Most of the sites are in the pines and have good shade. The ones on the edges are in the aspens, so not as shady.