Best Campgrounds near Calico, CA

Stayed here for a few nights over New Years. It's free but you must stay in designated spots. Seems to be popular with climbers. 

I stopped in for a night and ended up staying 4. No cell reception, so had to use Starlink. Lots of trails and places to scramble up on rocks.

The road in is pretty washboard, but worth the shaking and rattling for this beautiful spot.

Is quiet up the hill about a half mile from where GPS said to stop. It’s on the right just past the rocks

Quiet place, we only saw one other set of campers. The warm sun the next morning was beautiful but there is next to no vegetation. Additionally, this campsite has nothing so take what you need and leave no trace! It worked for a night. The road in is kind of weird as it runs parallel to another road similar, we drove along one and would alternate to try and avoid bad potholes. Some are inevitable and I would imagine high clearance is needed to access.

Stayed here for just one night. During winter you have to enter the dirt road off Polique Canyon RD (2N09) as the shorter route (the way gps will go) off Van Dusen Canyon (3N09) is closed during winter months. This is a nice camp area and easy to get to. Lots of area to hike through, I hiked up a hill not too far away to watch the sunset. Even during winter there was still 7 other groups there, but plenty of room for all of us. It was nice to have bathrooms there.

I agree with others warning about the rough road to the campground. Winds blew down my tent and I had to sleep in my car. Left next morning.

This campground could be a 5 rating...level,paved, separated FHU sites with picnic tables and fire rings. Hiking and bike trails. Lots of birds. Fishing. Wide open spaces. BUT the campground bathrooms are not well maintained...no hot water, handle fell off shower, and not clean. Some reviews mentioned train noise...trains do go by but we did not find them to be overly obnoxious...we have had way worse

East access. 1.5 miles from pavement. Road is washboarded so keep your speed under 10mph and its a fairly smooth 5 minute drive. Very clean, great a views, almost empty in January.

We were driving to Vegas from California and needed a place to stop and sleep for the night. This spot works well for big rigs, I am about 52 ft tip to tail and could turn around and park my easily and get to a relatively flat spot in the dark. Highway noise is an issue, but we were so exhausted it didn't matter. There's also a lot of people that stop to stretch, pee, sleep here.

It’s a beautiful ride up the groomed dirt road, but there are definitely some steep and curved spots. Definitely not big rig friendly! All spots are in full sun and most have shaded picnic tables. There is a water spigot near the first site on the left when you enter the camping area. The keyhole shaped road does allow for an easy turnaround if you’re towing a small trailer. The sites vary from small and secluded surrounded by tall shrubs, ideal for cars, vans or tents. Others are deep enough for backing in a trailer and not having to unhitch your truck. All sites are back in but the road is just wide enough to provide decent swing space. This area is first come first served and takes cash or checks only. Envelopes and a secure dropbox are available at the info board. The info board is quite faded, but to the best of my knowledge as of November 2024 sites were six dollars per night or three dollars with your America the beautiful pass. 14 day limit. I was there nine days and only saw it get busy on the weekend. Mostly very respectful OHVers making use of the many dirt trails that head off into the canyons. There is a railroad bridge adjacent to the campground and the freight trains do come through fairly frequently, but that is the only other sign of civilization in this area.

Beautiful area, but I couldn't drive in.. Road is completely inaccessible and saw many others turning around as well . I'm in a Kia SUV and this road is like Godzilla shaking your rig, and giant waves of the ground make it completely inaccessible. I don't know how ppl drive here, probably are just risking their cars and rigs, that's for sure

Great camping site during halloween event. Very kid friendly. There were free balloon twisters, pumpkin craving, arts and crafts, toss games. We enjoyed the train ride. it was about $5 per a ride. Campsites were dirt roads. we had electric hookup. Dump station was easy to access and water/trash located next to it. No fees for water and dump. Weather was perfect in mid 70's. Would definitely take the kids back again before they get older.

35.08627305276245,-117.54092669125416 Great space. Easy to find. Away from highway enough. Very windy. Great sunset and sunrise.

Clean and well maintained. Friendly service. Awesome pool! Just a little pricey...$71

This is a great BLM campground, FREE, individual sites with varying levels of privacy and levelness, no reservations. Each site has a shade structure, table, fire pit, and grill. There are pit toilets but no other amenities. No water and no trash service- please pack your trash out! We had to pick up after some other campers which is just so dumb to have to do. There was a camper there who looked like they had set up for long term residency, and the sheriff came by and kicked them out.

This is also a big rock climbing destination so you’ll have climbers coming in for the day as well. There are some “dispersed” type sites in the brush area so if you show up and all the spots are taken, you can sleep in one of those spots in a pinch until morning. We were there in late December and there were only a couple of other campers, and then again in early January and it was busy on weekends but quiets down during the week. 

The road coming in is 1.6 miles of washboard and some big dips, but it’s doable. Cell service is very spotty throughout the campground. Parts of decent ATT or Verizon service, and parts have zero. Lots of hikes and trails and places to walk and scramble.

It was an aight spot. did the job. the spots are like behind a sketchy gas station, so i drove down a little bit so i wasn’t near it. tons of garbage. other than that, decent morning view ! stayed safe the whole night. can’t complain.

We booked for a weekend, in spot 37. This campground is basically in town. You enter its access road through the Snow Summit parking lot, and the chair lifts border it. That's a pro if you are looking to access the mountain bike park, but a con if you are trying to get out of town. The campground was packed when we were there, seemed every site had 6 to 8 people. It was a real party scene, again, a pro if that's what you are looking for. Lots of people with string lights up that they kept on all night.

The site itself, 37, was terrible. Most trees had been removed, and it's on the corner of two camp roads with no screening at all. The only flat tent pad was next to the road and dumpsters. We actually didn't stay or second night

Pros: close to town and mountain bike park. You could walk to both, or the free trolley. Cons: crowded, many sites have no privacy. On some weekends loud and lots of lights

I think I was lucky. There was myself and two others in the entire campground. Granted it was June and hot. The sites are ok. The electric and water worked. The bathrooms were clean and maintained. The shower costs $1.00 for 6 minutes. The water was pleasantly warm. The Ghost town is a fun place to walk through.

many Trucks at night. don't drive to the campground just search a space after road ends