Best Campgrounds near McArthur, CA

Excellent site, far enough from the highway that there's no noise, but cloee enough that access is easy. The worst part of the unpaved road is the ~30 feet right off 395 before the cattle guard, after that it's pretty smooth. and the site is well marked. Possibly the cleanest pit toilet I've ever used.

Spent one night as we traveled north.  This is not a high-end RV park.  It is small (only 5 FHU sites) and has a number of permanent residences (who are quiet, and their residences are generally well maintained), but the RV sites are level, showers/bathrooms are clean, they have good laundry facilities, the Wi-Fi works well, and the place is quiet.  Also reasonably priced.  We would stay here again.

Sites were not completely level but workable. Looked like homeless folks might have lived there at some point. We made camp 1 night before headed on towards Oregon.

I’ve never seen cleaner pit toilets Lisa said it all almost. The toilet also have a side table with magazines. We had a good site with a distant lake view. Easy in and out. Can’t beat it for a short overnight stay. The hosts are to be commended.

Needed a place while heading north. Easy to find. Inexpensive free shower and had access to do laundry. Worked well for our camper van.

Close to the wild refuge. Walked the 3 mile loop before heading out of town. Super close

Casino is also within a few miles. Penny slots

Great stop. The Most Immaculate pit toilets ever! Many pull through sites. Easy on/off Hwy 139. Trees . Quiet. Only one other camper there on a Monday . Honor federal interagency passes.

If you need a spot dont moss this one! Easy access from highway though only a 1/4 mile to CG sign . Did not see a Howard's Gulch sign. Clean, quiet, some road noise IF a vehicle goes by. Lots of trees, a short hiking trail, good tasting water. Probably won't accommodate big rigs 35' max????

There's signs acknowledging it's free camping. Large barren area with a toilet near the lake. Not great for a tent but can make it work. Good distance away from roads and houses. Lake view.

Graded dirt road a few miles from highway. Small camping area but not many people.

This was a great place at the top of the mountain. Rainbow pond was a great place to walk to from the campground. I really enjoyed my time setting up a hammock and enjoying the scenery. There was plenty of shade and a nice breeze in the afternoon that I looked forward to.

We pulled in a 16ft camp trailer with no problem. Plenty of camp sites to choose from. There are a lot of trees to navigate with larger trailers. 19 ft trailer may be the max. Very peaceful

Came here for the eclipse and had no trouble on the roads. Free campsites with vault toilets, tables, and fire pits. Enjoyed the sound of the river while camping.

We stayed here overnight when passing through the area. Very clean campground with pit toilet, concrete picnic tables and fire rings. There were also a few game cleaning stations as well. Beautiful rock formations and juniper trees. The area feels ancient with a beautiful energy. Will definitely be staying here again when we pass back through the area.

this site was much better than expected. it's about 2-3 miles off the 395 and has a variety of spaces. most of the sites are pull-through but if you have a bigger rig you might have a bit of a problem turning around at the end of the campground. It looked like a dead end and didn't want to risk it. even though there is a bubbling creek next to the campground it was great that we didn't have any bugs or mosquitos. I also talked to a group of contractors staying at the site that it can get busy when they (and 2-3 other teams) use it as home base to clear fire breaks around the 395 during the summer

I had this campground all to myself at the end of June. Was a perfect place to stop for the night. Very secluded and beautiful. Sunset was amazing. So many unique birds and lake is swimmable.

Only downside is that it got buggy at night but no suprise there.

Sweet little free USFS campground that is open (previous review and Google maps list this as permanently closed). Campground is free and first come first serve. It’s very basic- there are picnic benches and fire pits at each site, as well as several pit toilets throughout the campground, but otherwise there are no services. There’s no host and no trash service and the sites aren’t even marked or numbered. 

The Verizon phone had basically no service, just some sporadic in and out, but practically unusable. The cell booster didn’t help. The ATT phone has some service, not great, but usable for texting and light browsing. 

The creek runs right through the campground and some of the sites are just right on the water. The sound of the creek drowns out most of the noise from the road (except for the big trucks), so you have the perfect scenario of easy access from the road but not much road noise. There were no other campers when we stayed here on a Saturday in mid May. One person was here to walk her dogs for a bit but otherwise we had the whole place to ourselves. There was still some snow on the ground and it looks like there’s a second entrance to the east but that road was blocked by snow. The website says that the vehicle limit is 17ft, but I’m not sure why. We had plenty of room for our 26ft class c. I could see large class As or 5th wheels having trouble navigating the narrow forest roads.

It’s 5:30pm and the gate is closed. Not sure if it’s off season or what.