El Cariso Campground

Lots of road noise! Few sites are level. NO T-Mobile connection even with a signal booster.

I grew up camping here. It’s always been a little small and basic, but a good get away if you just want to stay close.

Little campground just off of the highway. Cool to pitch tent and relax if you don't mind the cars driving by. I spent the first 4o minutes picking up small trash from the ground left from other visitors. Glass and plastic pieces don't make for a clean camp. Other than that I liked that it comes with a fire pit, a BBQ and a picnic bench. All in all not bad but don't expect much true seclusion.

Just a turn off of Ortega makes the campground very easy to have access to. Unfortunately because of how close it is to the highway there is some car noise that comes along with it.

This small campground was perfect for our teardrop family. Albeit it’s just off the road and Ortega highway is fairly busy at all hours of the night, so road noise was a little annoying but not bad. Self pay was easy and quick. There is lots of tree coverage, plus nice trails to hike. We didn’t need the bathroom and water amenities but it was nice to have available just in case.

El Cariso, Cleveland National Forest, was a last minute stop on our way home from Bierbaum Pepper Farms.

The campground was right off the highway, cost affective ($15/night), and there were no reservations needed. There were 24 sites tucked in the woods. A few water faucets & bathrooms throughout.

Across the street was a Fire Station and Visitor Center. Directly behind the visitor center was a 1.4 mile looped trail we took our six year old and dog on around 3:00pm. The firefighter was helpful and guided us in the right direction. The trail ended at the Firefight Memorial. Pretty cool.

The campground was empty on the Friday afternoon in February - when we arrived. We stayed in site 10 after my 6 year old reviewed all 24 sites!

Fires were allowed. It was a good stop. Nothing special but worth it too.

Campground has at least 2 water taps and very clean bathrooms. There are over 20 spots, designed for tents but we fit in our pop up camper. Anything longer will be hard to get in. The parking spaces have posts around them so you cannot park on the dirt etc. There is no overflow parking.. so all has to fit in a 20-30 ft paved slab. There is another part of this campground across the street with more spots. You can hear traffic from the road, but not bad. Verizon signal is about 60mb/s. Plenty of clean space! We would come back!

Camped here as a launch point to see the blooms near Lake Elsinore. Very standard campground with basic amenities. Road noise was a little rough for those looking for a quiet getaway.

The campgrounds are small with small sites. But there is few people there. Road noise is a problem but if you are just looking to get out locally and cheap it's a go for me.