Best Tent Camping near Cantil, CA

Tent Camping Reviews near Cantil, CA

325 Reviews of 15 Cantil Campgrounds

• E

  Elaine V.

  Guide

  Nov. 6, 2020

  Ricardo Campground — Red Rock Canyon State Park

  Fantastic Beauty

  Nearly all these campsites butt up against the Badlands-esque rock formations with mini slot canyons to explore right at your campsite. My son absolutely loved this place. I loved it. We had a great time!

  It costs $25 per night and has zero amenities but the landscape makes up for it. Joshua trees and amazing rock formations, Jack rabbits and desert squirrels... it’s just great.

  1 bar AT&T if you’re lucky. No water, no electricity, but there’s a dump station near the visitor center. No electric car charging. Lots of tents and small rigs, nothing big. Campground uses narrow one-way dirt road. There are about 50 campsites with a picnic table, fire ring, rocky tent pad and fairly level gravel parking spot. At least 2 spots are ADA with concrete parking spots and nearby restroom.

  Now during COVID time it’s self registration, not sure about other times. We stayed one night and never saw a ranger. The campground was about half full and didn’t fill up while we were there.

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• 

  Lee D.

  Legend

  Dec. 8, 2023

  Ricardo Campground — Red Rock Canyon State Park

  Camping heaven!

  General: Smallish (approx. 50-site) campground that does not take reservations. No hookups, one walk-in tent site, and the others are either back-in or pull-through. Some are “double” sites that would be ideal for sharing. 

  Site Quality: Varies. All sites (except four, three of which are designated handicap sites) are a mixture of sand/gravel. Not all are completely level, and some accommodate larger vehicles than others. 

  Bathhouse: Pit toilets only. Some are open air and some are enclosed; the one closest to our site was clean. 

  Activities: hiking, photography. Good night sky area. The nature trail is accessible directly from the campground and the Hagen Canyon trail is ¾ mile from the campground. Red Cliffs is another short trail across the highway; these are the most popular (and short) hikes in the park but there are others. The views are jaw-dropping and well worth exploring. 

  Note that although there is a dump station, there is a $20 charge to use it. 

  We arrived around 1 pm on a Sunday in late March and had our pick of sites, however, the campground filled in to about ¾ full by the end of the day.

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• 

  Mike N.

  Guide

  Oct. 5, 2020

  Camp Three Campground

  Great Seclusion

  This is a great primitive campground if you truly want to disconnect for a few days. No cell reception, no WiFi, there are restrooms but no showers. Take a 3 minute walk through the woods to get to Kern River and you have a little oasis away from it all. Bring everything you need with you. Currently no fires permitted. Great place to unplug and decompress.

• K

  Katt J.

  Scout

  Oct. 24, 2020

  Tehachapi Mountain Park

  Quiet campground

  We stopped here on the way from SF to AZ in October. There are lots of open spots, FCFS. Vault toilets and trash cans scattered throughout. Each site has a picnic table and fire ring. There is a nature trail nearby although we didn’t have time to go check it out. Cost was $18 paid in envelopes at the entrance.

• 

  Chanel C.

  Legend

  Jun. 18, 2018

  Saddleback Butte State Park Campground

  Ranger Review: Snap Buds at Saddleback Butte State Park

  [ PROS ]

  • Each site comes with a shade shelter, BBQ grill, and fire pit (max 8 to a site)
  • Great for solitude! It’s pretty quiet and empty, and there was only two other groups at the campsite so finding a place to set up was not a problem.
  • Sites have a good amount of distance from other sites. Not much privacy in terms of bushes/trees (it’s a desert!) but they are well spaced and the campgrounds is relatively empty so you can pick and choose where to pitch your tent.
  • First come first serve, cash only. Sites are by self-registration so it’s the honor system. You fill out the form and place $20 fee into an envelope and deposit into the drop box. Don’t forget to take your stub to show proof of payment in case someone comes around to verify.
  • You can hike the Dowen Nature Trail or the Little Butte Trail. Both are easy walks with flat/wide trails. Great for kids and elderly (wheelchair accessible)! Just make sure you wear sunscreen, good shoes, and drink lots of water.
  • Lots of flora and fauna to see! From rabbits and rattlesnakes, to Joshua Trees and wildflowers. You can also see one of the oldest living plants on earth, the creosote bush, and they can live over 10,000 years! It’s pretty awesome!
  • You can see granite buttes all around, which is one of the natural characteristics of Antelope Valley. If you want to hike up the buttes it’s a little steep so be prepared.
  • Evenings here are SPECTACULAR. The sky lights up with endless stars and you can see the milky way very clearly. Also, you can watch shooting stars ALL NIGHT. Absolutely magical.
  • Updated restroom facilities with nice flush toilets and sinks. They are relatively clean and well kept.

  [ CONS ]

  • No fires allowed! Which is weird because each campsite comes with a fire ring.
  • Lack of ranger presence, which is a pro or con depending on how you look at it. In some ways it’s nice feeling off the grid and removed, but the lack of ranger presence means that neighbors don’t always follow the campground rules and it feels a little sketch. Camp Host here is awesome though!
  • Really dusty and windy with constant 20mph winds. Our stuff was flying away constantly so we had to take the time to have everything tucked, staked, and held down securely. The inside of our tent was constantly covered in a fine layer of dust, even with the rainfly on. It was hard to sleep at night because our tent was rattling and flapping all night and dust was flying in.
  • SCORCHING HOT during the day and frigid cold at night. Just like you’d imagine a desert to be. If you come prepared, you’ll be fine :)
  • No showers here but there are water faucets if you need to splash some water on your face to cool down.

  Product Review

  As a Ranger for The Dyrt, I get products to test from time to time - this weekend I tested Snapbuds. Snapbuds is an earbud detangling system which keeps your earbuds from ever getting getting jumbled up into one of those hair-pulling knots. I love that they found such a simple solution to a problem that is VERY REAL. If you’ve ever spent time untangling earbuds than you understand the frustration.

  When I received the product it seemed simple enough, but I was a little overwhelmed with how much instructions came with the product. There are 2 ways - original and bolo - that you can set up your snapbuds, and I went with the original. Just be careful when setting up because they are permanently affixed. I screwed that up the first time opening the package because I got excited to snap them together without reading directions and ended up having one less snap.

  Once you have your snapbuds in place, it’s really simple and easy to use. They look a little funny on the ear buds at first, but they are pretty small and light so they don’t affect the function or design. I crumbled my earbuds and shoved them into my pocket to try to tangle it naturally a couple times and they never tangled! The magnet placements really make them hassle free. Snapbuds are one of those products that you never realized you needed until you own it! It’s great for travel and people on-the-go, which makes it great for camping/backpacking. It’s nice to be able to pack your headphones away into a stuff sack or pocket, and easily pull them pull them out without having to deal with the nightmare of untangling them.

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• 

  M W.

  Guide

  Jun. 21, 2020

  Fossil Falls Campground

  Camping close to 395, very quiet.

  Last time I spent the night here was in Feb. 2020, Close to Hwy. 395. BLM run and has vault toilets and a water source, fire rings and tables, no shade. Quiet, well separated sites. Good hiking in the area. Close to Red Hill off Hwy. 395.  Open all year. Cell service, great for star gazing.

• 

  Emily C.

  Guide

  Mar. 20, 2025

  Monarch-Rand Mine

  Quiet, Peaceful

  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.

• C

  Corey C.

  Guide

  Aug. 10, 2023

  Tillie Creek

  Good location

  The creek was running which made it nice to cool down. Not the best kept grounds I'd say, overgrown weeds, and shrubs. Half the camp ground is closed. No showers are available as they used to be and toilets are now vault toilets only, but they were clean (fairly new). The camp host was a nice gentleman, he cruises the grounds often. Lake was pretty full so you're not far from water. Fish cleaning station was nearby. Dump station was not open either. The place simply needs some love. Most sites lack shade, though the few that do offer shade get you close to the road and road noise can be loud. I've camped this place through the years, it's what you would expect for the area. There is water but some faucets were non-working. Stores are nearby, a few convenience stores walking distance, a Vons in the town of Isabella not far away. Kernville is nearby and there's all sorts of good eats and cool small town. You will need a fire permit, they're free, and take the test online. Camp host will ask.

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• 

  Jadon K.

  Traveler

  Nov. 5, 2020

  Chico Flat Dispersed Camping - Partially Closed, See Description

  Right on the river

  02NOV2020 - As others have mentioned, portable toilets and dumpster available. It’s not far from town as the description indicates, about 6 miles. With that said, however, there is little cell service. You might get 1 bar for a minute and it’s gone the next. There are about 6 spots or so along Kern River but this is a place people like to drop in for tubing. Each site is private-ish and they won’t be walking through your site to drop in, you’ll just see groups of people float by your area, once they drop in close to the first site on the north end. There is a review on here indicating the parking lot was full, but that likely was just people tubing. It is pretty large lot. Also, there is really only one way down to get to the campsites, at least to see what’s available. Just note, you’ll have to walk through other people’s occupied sites and walk along the river to see what is available. Once you find one, you can rough hike from that spot, directly up to the parking lot. You can then move your vehicle closer to the site you found along the river. I ended up just climbing the rocks and rough paths so I didn’t disturb my neighbors. Most people did it this way to respect each other’s privacy. Once you’re established along the river, there won’t be much road noise, but if you car camp in the lot, there will be plenty of road noise, depending on season. The river is nice to fall asleep to, and some sites have a lot of shade, where others do not. Plenty of trees along the river to set up a hammock. Store at the edge of town for any essentials you need, restaurants, laundry, and Kern River Brewery. Stars are bright, and little to no light pollution. You can see the Milky Way faintly, if the moon isn’t out. Oh, and no official RV sites with hookups, but plenty of room to park one and use the generator.

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