Best Equestrian Camping near Alabama Hills, CA

Simple campground that was close to Alabama Hills for our group to go climbing. Clean bathrooms. Quite while we were there, nice people did pull up a few spot down.

Just a couple miles from the Alabama Hills. $10 a night BLM campground. Vault toilets. Both water and dump station are closed 80+ sites and all have great views. But no shade.

This spot is great if you want easy access to Alabama Hills but don’t want to deal with having no toilets and no reservations. Still beautiful views throughout the campgrounds. It’s a bit easier for families here.

Nice, out of the way campsite. 81 sites on Tuttle Creek. Clean restrooms. No showers or drinking water. Near Lone Pine, just off Whitney Portal Road, adjacent to Alabama Hills, so lots of exploring opportunities! Great dark skies for stargazing and photography.

We drove through reward mine and stayed here to camp! The whole experience was mind blowing!! Alabama hills has thousands of dispersed camping spots and amazing views of mount Whitney. It can get very cold here during fall and winter and very hot during spring and summer.

This is my favorite campsite so far! Just epically beautiful, quiet, remote and amazing. The best of what our country has to offer and it’s BLM so $8 first come first serve. It’s boondocking so have water. The Alabama hills are such a find. Naturally beautiful and a lot of history.

Great campground first come first serve and cheep. Awesome views of Mt. Whitney. Close to Alabama Hills and Mt. Whitney, Lone Pine is a cute little town as well. Pit toilets available and water available seasonally, RV dump station for extra $, and there are dumpster. Easy access with any kind of vehicle.

Very nice rustic campground with pit toilets, fire ring and picnic table at the sites. Try to get one of the sites next to the creek, you won't be disappointed. Amazing views of Whitney as well as up and down the valley. It's a great alternative to Alabama Hills for just $10

We chose a site in which the creek ran across 2 sides and had a couple of small trees. Really lovely. The view was amazing since you sit up a bit on the landscape. The porto-potty was clean and maintained. This campground was in a great location to explore Alabama Hills, Mt Whitney, and Manzanar. It was however SO WINDY we couldn’t hang outside much.

Tuttle Creek is a BLM campground. Open all year, no reservations taken. Has pit toilets, water, fire rings, tables in each site. $8 a night. $4 if you have a pass. The first night visited was very windy, but you take your chances. Great views of the Eastern Sierra, they got there first dusting of snow for the season. Close to Alabama Hills Recreation Area. Lone Pine is a neat little town with plenty of things to see.

Lots of spots. First come first served. A nice creek running through the campground offers great chance to refresh even in the hot part of the year. Even if it’s so cold getting in is almost impossible. Campsites are too close and even on the 4th of July weekend wasn’t closed (albeit this is during Covid-19). Views of the peaks surrounding Whitney makes for wonderful scenery. Only $8/night. Although yes, Alabama hills are right next door, totally free, and even better.

We came in late and found a clipboard, picked our spot, lots were available, came in wrote our name and spot and paid the $8. Bathrooms were very clean. Views in the morning were gorgeous. Seemed like everyone we met there has been coming for years treasuring this gem. Great spot. Very close to Alabama hills dispersed which would have been difficult to navigate in the dark without disturbing others there. This campground was great!! When you drive in, spots on the left have a little creek.

This camp ground is at the base of a very magestic mountain. Because Whitney is the tallest peak in the lower 48, this is a busy area. But it is still very relaxing and beautiful. And the camp host, Bill, is amazing. Very friendly, helpful and patient. The camp ground,itself has a beautiful stream running,through it, which ia stocked periodically with trout. It is close to Whitney portal, alabama hills, onion valley, and many other hiking/backpacking destinations. We took out 7 and 9 year old boys and they had a blast.

I have two issues with the camp ground is the site are small. It took some creativity to get out tent to fit.

Had a wonderful time exploring the area of the Alabama Hills below and was a wonderful campsite to beat the heat of the valley, at that time was over 100 degrees. The stream was flowing and had just been load with fish, the campground was open and as well as the store/restaurant. The Burger and Beer was a welcome site after a week in the sierras, the big surprise was breakfast, the single pancake was big enough to feed three people. Do not order the short stack unless you have an army of people to feed. The campsite was kept very clean and well organized, firewood for campfires and an abundance of information about the hike to the top and surrounding areas.

This is a great place to stay a couple of nights if your looking to acclimate a bit before going Mt. Whitney. It's also just a beautiful campground in general. There are hiking trails from the campground itself, a gorgeous river flowing through it and the camp sites are spacious. It is a short drive from the Whitney Portal Store which has the biggest pancakes I've ever seen and if you go the other way, you can easily get to the Alabama Hills or the cute town of Lone Pine. The sites are shaded and there are pit toilets. It's a terrific campground for families or people just looking to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city!

Great for tent camping, but no pull-in or flat spots if you're sleeping in your vehicle. I slept in the equestrian campground since those were back-in sites, but if there are horses you're not allowed to do that. The hike to the base of Langley was great though!

General: 81 BLM sites within the shadow of the eastern Sierras. All are first come, first available with a 14-day limit, but we had no problem finding a choice of sites on a Monday in early April around 12:30 pm. You can’t beat the price of $10 ($5 with a Golden Age Pass)! Surprisingly good cell coverage (Verizon)! The views of the mountains are awesome!

Site Quality: Gravel and most looked level. No hookups of any kind. A fire ring (with grill), lantern hook, and large concrete picnic table complete the site. 

Toilets: More than an adequate number of vault toilets sprinkled throughout the campground and at least the one by our site was clean and had hand sanitizer. 

Activities: We spent our day exploring nearby beautiful Alabama Hills (about a 10-minute drive from the campground), driving out Movie Road, and taking a few short hikes. 

Just several things to note (but they did not detract from our stay): 

1. since our site was near Tuttle Creek, the mosquitoes came out in droves at dusk, 

2. you will hear (but not see!) a steady sound of fighter stealth jets from Edwards Air Force Base flying overhead from about 8 am to 8 pm) and 

3. There are gnarly speed bumps on the road into the campground. Other than that, the unpaved road is well-maintained.

I wish we had planned to spend another night here!

We didn't camp here, rather we used this as the start/finish point for our 2-day hike to the summit of Mt. Langley. It was a convenient place to park, because you drive right up to the trailhead, and there are trash cans, bear boxes, and vault toilets. We stashed some extra toiletries in the bear boxes, rather than risk leaving them in the car. Toilets were pretty clean. Unfortunately, the potable water spigots were already turned off. The national forest website said they are off in the winter, but I didn't expect that already in early September. This is an equestrian campground, so there was some horse dung on the trails around the campground.

Campground Review:

This campground lies about 10 miles to the west of its namesake town, Lone Pine in the Owens Valley to the east of the Sierra Nevada range.  It is a very popular campground to use as a base camp for climbing Mt. Whitney especially if the Whitney Portal CG is full. which was the case when we were there.  If you can't get a reservation or walk in site at Lone Pine CG, then Tuttle Creek, and the Alabama Hills would be your closest places to camp if you're not planning on climbing Mt. Whitney.

Now on to the actual campground!  Now since this is a few miles from the actual trail head to Mt. Whitney it has more RV camping sites than tent sites.  Campsite range in price from $25-$65 for single tent sites, RV sites, and 1 group site, respectively.  Each campground has a large bear proof box to store all of your food and  smelly items in addition to a picnic table and a metal fire ring.  The campground had potable water spigots and vault toilets spread throughout.  You could also purchase firewood from the camp host, which is recommended due to the possibility of spreading pests.

To list all of the activities you can do in this area would take a book so I'm just gonna touch on some of the things we did!  Our main goal for the trip was to try and summit Mt. Whitney by the Mountaineers Route.  We got pushed back however due to hard route finding and soft avalanche prone snow.  We ended going around 10 miles but the regular hiking trail is 13 miles one way!  After getting beaten down by the mountain we were able to eat some great food at the Mt. Whitney Restaurant which had Americana and diner food. 

Since we stayed at this campground in the middle of June the temperatures weren't too hot but I would really try to camp higher up at the portal if you plan on coming here in July or August as it could be really hot and there wasn't a ton of shade.  Also be doubly sure to book your campground ahead of time as I doubt there will be any sites if you show up after 3 or 4 without a reservation.

Product Review:

Being a Ranger for the Dyrt allows us to test and review gear from time to time!  This time we were testing out the Adjustable Neck Gaiter from Eclipse sun protection.  This was honestly one of my favorite pieces of gear I've been able to test for the Dyrt!  

Pros: 

• Simple design that replaces $100's of sunscreen in it's lifetime! (never washes out)
• Is multi functional and can be used as a gaiter, headband, buff, and so much more!
• Super lightweight and doesn't need to be reapplied or leave you greasy
• It is super cheap and includes a Velcro strap to adjust to smaller neck      

Cons:

• The only flaw I could find was the sewing along the neck was a little weak and I ripped it slightly before realizing I needed to be a little more delicate pulling it on

Other than that one con I would say this is an amazing product that helps keep you from spending 100's on a temporary sunblock and helps keep all those nasty chemicals out of nature, the waterways, and the oceans!  I definitely think we'll be trying out the sleeves for fishing as my fiances arms can get pretty burnt sometimes.

We are working out way north through CA and Horse Creek was in a convenient spot. Site very clean and well managed and overall its a pretty spot. Only 2-3 large and dispersed bath rooms. A number of large groups around the site which looks fun but it felt more like an urban park than being in nature.

For only $8 you get picnic table, fire pit, vault toilet, and access to water and waste dumping. And view of Eastern Sierra that has been seen in movies such as Iron Man. I almost want to keep this a secret...

I was motorcycle camping and this campground is awesome in the spring. Its not too high in elevation so you wont freeze overnight. Its only $8 a night but you need cash or check like any normal forestry campground. Beautiful view of the sierras and Mt Whitney. About 15-20 drive to the Mt Whitney trail head from here. If you’re planning on summiting Whitney, I wouldn’t recommend this campground because the elevation is low, I would camp at cottonwood lakes just south in the sierras to acclimate to elevation. There are normal forestry pit toilets, fire rings. No reservations, first come first serve.

This site was awesome! My boyfriend and I stopped up here several times passing through. It’s a fantastic stop! The park is well maintained and is always problem free. I’ve never had problems with other spots, bathrooms, or even finding a spot. The view waking up is AMAZING and the sunset cresting the Eastern Sierra is always the best! 10/10 recommend!