Hanning Flat Dispersed Area

Beautiful spot right on the shores of Lake Isabella. Just off of Sierra Way, drive in and take one of the roads to the right. Just be aware there is soft sand in places. We took the second right and drove about 3/4 of the way down, then made a U- turn in the field. We had a great view of the water! Unless you're a small vehicle and are tent camping, I would not attempt to take the curvy road straight ahead. It is very soft and and turning around is a challenge. (Don't ask me how I know!) We are towing a 33' fifth wheel. Any size rigs can fit in here, but again, be aware of areas with soft sand. The only real negative about this place are the burrs. My dog collected them every time she went out. This is a birders paradise!

So beautiful, so flat and open, we did genuinely see other people maybe 4 times, great area for fun rock scrambling and tooling around in the lake, perfect for tent camping or car camping!

The ground can get very rocky the deeper you go in and is a bit sandy/packed dirt for most of the roads, but there are “spots” for all cars and comfort levels.

Seems like this site will be rain-dependent, the water line was low when we went but space could be more limited after rain for sure.

Tried Stine Cove first. Did not find access so we ended up here. We stayed two nights and very glad we did. Quiet. Easy access, some hiking near by. We could tell the lake level were really low so our experience would have been different with a full lake As is, we were able to easily access the dirt road from Patterson Lane and drive over to tuck beside Rabbit Island. We didn’t see another person for the two days we were there. Level ground, protected from the wind, rocky ‘island’ right behind for shade and to climb. Very good stay. YouTube @TKCompass

The spot is definitely good to simply stay over the night and move on quickly. Not much around, but definitely quiet and with lots of space.

We were looking for a place to car camp on our way up toward sequoia and stopped here. Was easy to locate even at night. Would suggest 4x4 and wouldn’t recommend heavier vehicles as it’s a sandy dried up lake bed and we had to dig ourselves out in the morning. No fire pits or bathrooms.

I’ve camped here multiple times, sometimes with multiple RVs in a group, it’s very private with wide vistas.

Sometimes you can go days without a single car passing by, and there are a lot of spots to just camp since it is all completely level. There are a lot of insects, birds, and the occasional cow and deer.

To swim in the lake this area connects to Stine Cove campground - via a very soft sandy road - which is also free, has a vault toilet, but is shaded by mountains and less private.

There’s a $12 dump station with potable water at Camp 9 and one at Old Isabella Recreation Site.

T-mobile was very slow but Verizon had a good connection.

Heads up that the lake is MUCH lower than anything you see on satellite view, from Stine Cove I still had to walk 30min before getting to the shore.

We stayed here in June and there were plenty of open spots we just couldnt see many since it was dark. We eventually found a spot about half a mile back. Only one other person nearby. We had a few bars of service on verizon and at&t.

Overall nice secluded spot off the road with great scenery would recommend

We stopped here on our way to Death Valley and ended up staying for several days because we love it so much! There’s another dispersed site a few miles away (Stine Cove) and we found this one to be much more pleasant. The two are actually connected by dirt roads. Our site was shaded and had a fire pit as well as trees perfectly spaced for our hammock. Temps were lovely during the day, but quite chilly at night and during the mornings/evenings.

The area is also used by lots of cows for grazing so beware of the patties and lots of mooing. They didn’t bother us, we actually quite enjoyed watching them.

Literal MILES of dispersed sites so plenty of room to spread out. There’s a bit high spot of rocks in the middle at the beginning of the road which was great to climb for sunset views!

On my way into Sequoia NF I was so excited to see Hanning Flats dispersed camping area. My pup and I stayed for three nights and didn’t see another person or vehicle the whole time. So peaceful, quiet, sunny, green. My dog did get lots of ticks and we had a mouse find its way into the van but I still really have no complaints. Such a gorgeous spot, lovely sunsets and sunrises. We loved walking on the sandy dirt roads at golden hour. My van is only 2WD and did fine. As with all dispersed camping.. pack in pack out and we found a pre-made site to park at. No services/facilities. About 35 mins to Isabella for groceries/gas. We will be back :)

Great hideaway with plenty of dispersed sites. I spent two days here and only seen a handful of vehicles drive through, mostly US Forest Service trucks. Pack in, pack out. No toilets, showers, or water so bring in everything you need. 14 days of free camping every 30 days. A great find to get away from it all.