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2025

Spots

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  • Dalton Springs Campground
  • Manti-Lasal National Forest, Monticello UT
  • 5 miles outta town on a good road. Panoramic view of many miles between the trees, closed-in feel in the scrub oaks, sketchy, kinda creepy campground host.

  • Lake Basin Campground
  • Plumas National Forest, Graeagle CA
  • Convict Lake Campground
  • Inyo National Forest, Mammoth CA
  • 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.

  • Kirkham Campground
  • Boise National Forest, Lowman ID
  • Cool spot. Over a little bridge across the Payette River across the highway. A small campground with amazing hot springs a few yards away. Very crowded nowadays.

  • Big Biloxi Campground
  • Desoto National Forest, Gulfport MS
  • Boring but very handy to the Gulfport and the coast. They withheld part of the senior discount!

  • Ute Campground
  • National Forest, Pagosa Springs CO
  • Kind of a shabby little place. But very handy on the Pagosa Springs-Durango run. I'm hatin' because I think $18 is too much, but that's Colorado.

  • June Lake Campground
  • Inyo National Forest, June Lake CA
  • The campground itself is pretty shabby, but the location right on the lake right at the edge of town is quite nice.

  • Doe Point Campground
  • Rogue River/Siskiyou National Forest, Medford OR
  • Right on scenic Fish Lake. Very pleasant. Next time I will try Fish Lake Campground, which is very close and only a few hundred yards from Fish Lake Resort.

  • 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"

  • Cayton Campground
  • San Juan National Forest, Rico CO
  • Elevation 9,500. Weather is very gloomy, so I'm not seeing it at it's best. Site 22 is very nice, level, large, with an excellent vista looking over the wide, green valley with the busy highway on the other side. The camp host says she saw moose tracks at the next campsite!

  • Chris Flat Campground
  • Toiyabe National Forest, Coleville CA
  • Nestled between too-busy US 395 and the West Walker River. Everybody is either a fishermen or folks bombing down 395. The first nice federal campground coming south from Reno. This place should be open more days of the year - closes too early in the fall, opens too late in the summer.

  • 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.

  • Travertine dispersed
  • Humboldt Toyiabe National Forest, Bridgeport CA
  • 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.

  • Buckeye dispersed
  • Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, Bridgeport, CA
  • 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.

  • Wetmore Campground
  • Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, Unity OR
  • Developed yet rustic and primitive, if that makes any sense. It's laid out nicely, but seems terribly underused and under-maintained. There are non-working no water spigots and a "No Water" sign. The fact that the Forest Service charges only $5 tells you what you need to know about the condition of the place. I however am liking it just fine and am happy to be here! Yellow Pine Campground is 1/2 away, much bigger and more open, but also underused and under-maintained. Six campers in a 40 site place on Fourth of July

  • Rock Creek Campground
  • Siuslaw National Forest, Yachats OR
  • east of the highway, by farther than I thought! No hint of the ocean nearby, just the peaceful babbling creek and the mid-growth coastal redwoods. Site 12 is super-sweet as long as no one takes site 11. Those people will cut into my buzz :)

  • forest roadside
  • Beaverhead National Forest, Sheridan, MT
  • Drove 5 of the 7 miles to Mill Creek Campground when the road got too nasty for my tall, skinny van. I backed down to the pullout at the cow guard and fence at the edge of the NF. There was plenty of room to park, so I just stayed. Turns out there was a really active and loud creek right across the road, and a waxing gibbous moon, and very little traffic, so it turned out to be a great way to weather a crowded Saturday night!

  • Las Petacas Campground
  • Carson National Forest, Taos NM
  • Good things about this place are that it's cheap and very close to Taos. Other than that, it's dusty, noisy, cramped and bumpy roads US 64 is way too close, so it's noisy, and after dark the headlights are annoying. It gets quiet later.

  • Box Elder Campground
  • Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest, Mantua UT
  • Pretty name, but kind of a dusty little trailer park of a campground. It felt like a lot of folks there are semi-permanent residents. There is a tiny creek. A short walk up the hill is the town of Mantua, where there is a reservoir and a swimming beach. The full service town of Brigham City is a right down the hill.

  • Odessa Campground
  • Fremont Wimena National Forest, Klamath Falls OR
  • a real find! On a stretch of road otherwise bereft of camping, maybe 3 rarely traveled miles off the busy highway. Not a soul has been here in my 18 hours or so of residency. Sites are primitive. There is a place to put a kayak into the slough. The site is right on the edge of USFS property, there are barns and farm buildings 1/2 mile away. Bathroom is unlocked!

  • Grandview Campground
  • Inyo National Forest, Bishop CA
  • 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.