Best RV Parks & Resorts near Alabama Hills, CA

Beautiful small campground at the foot of the mountains, easily accessed from the small town of Independence and about 45 min drive north to Bishop.  

Campground is currently open (March), but in winter operation mode. No water, no host, no firewood, and no fees.  Campground open date is April 25, not sure when winter season starts. Price is $25 when open.

There are toilets but they are closed at this time and there are porta potties instead.

There are trash bins that are unlocked, but the website says that there is no trash service during the winter season so be prepared to pack out your trash if needed.

Each site has a picnic table, a fire ring, and a bear box. Some sites have a cool rock oven/stove.  Each site has a unique configuration, some being more private and surrounded by brush, and some more out in the open.

A really nice small creek runs behind the campground.

We arrived on a Monday in late March and had the entire place to ourselves for a night.  The next day several other campers showed up.

Cell service is very iffy, especially for Verizon and T-Mobile. AT&T mostly had 1-2 bars of 4G.  However, just a few miles down the road on the way to Independence there is excellent service from all carriers. 

Really nice campground. $25 seems a bit high but this would be a great place to stay while exploring the surrounding mountains.

Once again we heard about this campground from friends. We had been to the 3 rivers area before to camp but had stayed at another campground. This campground is our go to if we’re camping in Three Rivers. There are creek side full hookup pull through sites, pull through full hook site, back in full hook up and tent sites with raised wooden foundation for a tent. I would recommend this campground. Also the little town of Three Rivers is pretty cool to check out. Also there are a few places to fish and swim in the nearby Kaweah River. The campground is also a good place to stay if you plan on going up to Kings Canyon National park.

Communication with the host was amazing, we went from the Thursday before Memorial Day to Memorial Monday.  Everything was amazing.  Very quiet community.

Full hookups for our 5th wheel, spacious sites, flushing restrooms and showers if you wanted.  Starlink worked perfect, though there was wifi available.

A couple notes:

Zero Cell coverage (we took that as a good thing), but make sure to download your google map.

The drive up is a little daunting with going up the mountain, but the road was fine just take your time it will be worth it.

This campground/RV park saved us when all of Sequoia was either full or closed due to COVID. The host was nice and helpful. It’s accurately described in other reviews — basically providing a dirt parking lot and toilet/shower facilities. No privacy, but still much more than most RV shared landing pads. We were in the tent section at the site closest to the water. There were trees on one side. We LOVED the little dammed up swimming hole in the river. We did not love that several huge trailers were parked in the other site flanking the water entrance. They didn’t belong in the tent area and they ran generators through most of the day. Seemed like long-term or permanent residents. Oh well, we came for Sequoia National Park. It was a real bummer to lose so much time just driving in and out of the park (as opposed to camping in the center of it), but we were grateful to find this one and only available option in July with no reservation.

This was a truly amazing spot. The sweeping mountain views on each side, along with direct creek access was great. It was mid July and 105 degrees in Big Pine when we left the 395 highway, but temps had dropped to 88 by the time we got up to the campground due to elevation change, so it is a great way to escape the heat if it is a hot day.

We stayed in site #17, which had the river rolling right by the picnic table. Sites 16 - 19 all had good water access, and I'm pretty sure a lot of the sites in the upper loop could access the river too (didn't get a chance to check it out in person though).

The road getting up is steep, narrow, and climbs almost 3500 feet over the course of 7 miles. If you are towing a trailer or driving a big rig get ready to burn some gas, and make sure you have solid brakes for the way down. No guard rails, so a few of the places I was white knuckling it just towing our small 22 foot travel trailer. Definitely still worth it, just something to keep in mind. Not all of the sites will fit an RV either, so pay close attention to the lengths when reserving. 

Despite the challenges getting up there, this is still one of the best places to camp in the area, would highly recommend.