In the good part of downtown Bishop. The funky little Bishop AAA office is right across the street, restaurants and coffee shops a block away.
just a parking lot, but they left me alone. Turns out where I parked was the employee parking area, so about 7AM I was surrounded by groggy 20-somethings on all three sides, going to work at the lodge.
on a lovely little aspen-lined creek a few miles above Bishop. You can go even farther up either road and come to a lake, but this is a nice compromise, in the valley below the fork in the road. Save a few miles of driving straight up. Behind a big-ass moraine which cuts the valley in two. It's open and very pretty, with the annoying corporate management that most (all?) of the Inyo Forest campgrounds have.
at the end of beautiful Silver Lake. Probably has great lake swimming/kayaking in the summer. Sites 16-27-ish have best lake access. Spectacular fall color spot. All the June Loop campgrounds no longer allow checking yourself in at the kiosk. A stressed-out concession employee must come and personally check you in. A step backwards, IMO.
There is an actual Forest Service campground right down the road, but it's closed half the year, and these dispersed spots are so nice I usually stay here anyway. Coming from 395 on Buckeye Road, you first encounter the pull-off for the hot springs. 300 yards later at the bend in the road is the real campground, then another 300 yards up the hill on the left is the dispersed area. It's really nice. you can see out over the wide valley through the pine trees. It is sometimes crowded.
steep, slippery hike down to the springs, which are a couple of hot streams falling into pools by the river
I have used the hot springs without camping, and lately I have been camping without soaking, so I'm breaking them into two spots. This is the camping spot.When the hot springs road turns left, take a right and park at any of the several rough camping spots. The hot springs is a little less tan a mile further on.
Real good find! I thought these county parks were spendy, but $10 seems like a pretty good deal to me right now! On one of those little "creeks" LADWP sculpted out to constrain "their" water. Wide open sagebrush on one side, a column of willows and cottonwoods following the creek on the other. Very quiet and pretty today.
Finally I am staying here! I have camped across the road at Reverse Creek Campground a couple of times, Gull Lake has always been full. The lake is beautiful and the campground is right next to it. Half the sites are right on the lake. A few hundred yard walk through the trees brings you to the town of June Lake and the main Gull Lake marina. Snacks, library with wifi, brewery up the hill - awesome! The campground itself is kind of shabby and run-down and gives the impression that the concessionaires are just milking it for revenue ... surprise!
It's actually free, but there's a suggested donation of $5. Climb >4,000' of narrow curvy road out of Bishop to get to the Bristlecone Pine Forest, and your bonus is this sweet little campground. There are no numbered sites, it's all kind of freeform in a nice way. Short walks get you spectacular views west to the Sierras across the Owens valley, and east into the interior of Nevada.
Hot water pops out of the ground at numerous places around here. Get the Cal/Nev Hot Springs book for details. Today I went to the first one off Whitmore Tubs Road, called "Hot Tub" in the book, "Rock Tub" on the PDF. It was just excellent for one or two people. This is BLM land so I think you can camp. I did not this time.
Close to Lone Pine, really excellent view of Owens Valley south over dry Owens Lake, The last 2 miles have many brutal diagonal speed bumps, beware!
At 9,300', so a short season. A dusty, cramped, low-amenity national park campground that's in a REALLY cool place.
A nice free campground on the side of the glacial slope about ten miles north of Bishop. Pretty rough gravel spots running for some distance along lovely Horton Creek
A very nice price point for staying in Mammoth. Interior is very stylish and well laid out - plenty of electrical outlets in convenient places, nice table and shelves. On the negative side, no refrigerator and microwave, as I have come to expect in my cheap motels.
When Silver Lake Campground is full, this parking area a few miles down the road is open for camping. It's just parking and a few [picnic tables, but it's quite scenic.
Except for a couple of "view lots" - sites 1 and 2 - the rest of the sites are in a compact bunch, nestled in a little canyon. Right across the road from Gull Lake.
The first (lowest altitude) of the string of Inyo campgrounds on CA 168 west of Bishop. The campground itself is very much like Silver Lake CG on the June Lake Loop - exposed sites, not much shade, pleasant and quiet and level with a little stream running along the far edge.
Large campground at the foot of Convict Lake. Really cool place, mountains on three sides, nice little bite-sized hike around the perimeter of the lake (2.6 miles). Quite popular, but it's a big campground so there are usually open sites. Downtown Mammoth is fifteen minutes away.
There's a very nice tub at the parking lot, holds 1-3 folks - adjustable temp, great soak. Down the hill is a travertine mound that starts with a pretty hot one person tub (109°-ish?) on the uphill side, which feeds into progressively cooler tubs as the water flows clockwise around the mound downhill. The last two have a spectacular view of the valley, but are too cool and have creepy stuff growing in them. This place is too accessible from 395 and too well known. It's usually busy, and sometimes straight-up creepy with weirdos straight off the highway. The camping spot is handy even without the hot springs. When the hot springs road turns left, take a right and park at any of the several rough camping spots.
Campground is less than a mile off 395 on a good gravel road. It's free and the campsites are quite spacious.