Fry Creek Campground

By quiet I mean not a lot of human noise, but the birds! So many talkative and beautiful birds to enjoy. We stayed here during the second weekend of July and while it was pretty hot, it was only about 1/3 of the way full and still very quiet. The only issue we had was the BUGS. Definitely prepare for mosquitos and other bloodsuckers while you are here. The creek was completely dry but plenty of bugs abound. Other than that, it was a beautiful place for a weekend stay. The observatory is about 2 miles away but it was closed, so we just explored around the campsite. One evening we took about a 15 minute walk to Observatory Campground down the road to enjoy the stars more since there is more of an open area there to do so. All in all, can’t wait to go back!

About 2/3 of the campsites are reservable online, with the remaining sites available as first come first served. It appears the FCFS sites are the less ideal, less shady, or harder to access sites(couple hundred feet or so from the designated parking spot), but still relatively nice.

Just south of Palomar Mountain Observatory (a must visit) Fry Creek is a heavily wooded (oak, fir, pine) campground in a narrow valley surrounded by steep forested banks.

The campsite is really an extension of the Palomar Observatory Campground across the site with a shared camp host (who pretty much sucked during our visits). That site is much better for stargazing, but this one is just as pretty especially in the fall with changing oak leaves. All of the sites are heavily wooded and in a valley with steep walls. That's important because it seems to amplify sounds from the other campsites. No matter if you have good camp neighbors but if your camp neighbors starts setting up a portable chainlink fence for a cadre of dogs they are training...There are some more segregated sites near the back of the camp loop.

There are bathrooms and showers (peak) and even though the sites are near each other they are really private. They each have fire-pits and picnic tables. The sites are decent sized with nice flat spots for at least two tents.

There is a decent hike that loops around the camp with plenty of elevation changes and incredible forest smells. The trail is fairly easy to follow and despite being short is moderately challenging. It takes about an hour at normal pace. Head across the road and you can take the trail all the way to the Palomar Mountain Observatory. It's meandering and plenty of elevation changes. At the top the Observatory Museum has nice bathrooms open to visitors. The museum is free.

Campsites are $15/night.