Best Tent Camping near Strawberry Valley, CA

General: Normally, there are 18 designated sites that are reservable only from May 1– October 15. What we didn’t know until we arrived was that only Sites 1-7 were open after this date; fortunately, only two other sites were occupied when we arrived at 5:30 pm on a Monday in late October. The access road is about six miles of curvy, hilly, and narrow (sometimes only one lane) pavement. There is a sign prohibiting trailers; our 18-foot camper van did fine but anything much larger would definitely be challenged. 

Site Quality: Many of the sites are more suitable for tent campers. The parking area is at the top of the hill, and you set up your tent below. Most of the sites that have a “driveway” were not level, except for Sites 5 and 6. We lucked out with Site 6 – it was large and level and directly across from the vault toilets. A fire pit/grill, large concrete picnic table, and bear box complete the site (although there was a fire ban in effect).

Bath: Only one vault toilet was open, and it was very clean. It was cleaned again the next morning. 

Activities: This campground is located on the North Fork of the American River. In season, this campground would be very popular with rafters; there is a raft launch and takeout area close to the campsites. The river was crystal clear and beautiful.

This was a small but beautiful campground. We were surprised that we had a semi-decent cell signal ranging from 1 to 2 bars (Verizon).

It sounds like there are multiple Big Meadow camp grounds in California. This review is for Big Meadow Campground, Sequoia NF - FS, CA. The photos are of site 009B. My visit was wonderful. The camp sites are large. We set up two 8 person tents and one 2 person tent and there was plenty of room for more. The firepits are very well made. They block the wind while allowing good airflow. There is a very large picnick table at each site, a bear box, and plenty of shade. There is a vault toilet that is cleaned daily. The sites boarder a stream. The water level is about 3 inches in July with temperatures in the 80's. This is a dog friendly site. There is no potable water at this site.

• Large croup camp site with lots of flat places to pitch a tent. • Clean pit toilets. • 3x Bear food and 4x trash/recycling bins. • 2 (or 3?) water spigots • 4 big picnic tables • Some shade • Uneven terrain around sites and lots of fallen trees • Lots of parking, including triller/RV parking. Parking is paved and flat.

• Walking distance to the river • Big fire pit

We enjoyed this site! Excellent for a big group. I think we had 18 people. There could an additional bear bin to support as much food/scented items as a group of 25 would need. We ended up using the extra bear-proof trash bins as overflow scented item/food storage. Worked well.