Best Dispersed Camping near El Portal, CA

We boondocked in Inyo National Forest just last weekend, September 27-29, and it felt like we had the place to ourselves. The location was incredible, there were fellow boondockers around, but not too close, and it felt like we had the place to ourselves. There is no water on site that we found, but we knew that going in. Our rig was 58' long and we had no issues getting in or out. We enjoyed Jeeping on the trails in Inyo National Forest, and we enjoyed the peace and quiet. We will be back.

First Dispersed camp site, arrived at 10pm and had no problem finding a camp site. It’s super dark so arriving early would hand been best. Great experience. Were several others camped out as well. Will stay again.

RANGER REVIEW: Mountain House Spaghetti with Meat Sauce at Gladys Lake Backcountry Campsites, Ansel Adams Wilderness, CA

CAMPGROUND REVIEW: Gladys Lake Backcountry Campsite, Ansel Adams Wilderness

Backcountry camping often offers great hiking, epic scenery, serene solitude and otherwise missed sights. Depending on location, backcountry campsite locations can offer their own challenges, whether through the permitting process, preparation of gear and meals, logistics, or difficult terrain…but the trade offs can pay out big dividends.

Leaving behind the din of packed campgrounds…getting unplugged from electronic encumbrances…relaxing beside an untouched alpine lake where the only sound you hear is the whir of dragonfly wings as they dart about.

Only a set number of backcountry permits are issued daily, so crowds and impact remain minimal to nonexistent.

Permits are necessary for all backcountry overnight stays in the Inyo National Forest. https://www.fs.usda.gov/main/inyo/passes-permits

Whenever backcountry hiking/camping in California, do yourself a service and go online https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/inyo/passes-permits/?cid=stelprdb5139009 and take the California Campfire Permit test to acquire your certificate and possess it when in the backcountry.

Several ways to get to Gladys Lake exist…

1. John Muir Trail (JMT) thru-hike permits NOBO or SOBO

2. John Muir Trail section hike permits

3. Wilderness Permits Day hike permits

You could enter from Reds Meadows and follow the JMT north to Gladys Lake…or better from Agnew Meadows and follow the Shadow Creek Trail (https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/inyo/recreation/hiking/recarea/?recid=21272&actid=51 ) up and around Shadow Lake and then south on the JMT past Rosalie Lake to Gladys Lake. Each access trail has a daily quota…such as Shadow Creek, which has a daily quota of 30…18 secured through reservation and 12 walk-ups. So if you are choosing to walk-up, have some flexibility of starting days.

We had a JMT SOBO permit acquired six months in advance through the NPS permit lottery. But next visit, I will likely enter through Agnew Meadows via day permit.

Most hikers will stop and camp at Rosalie Lake, which is a wonderful option and a much larger lake. Some would suggest a more picturesque lake than Gladys Lake…but that is all in the eye of the beholder.

August of 2018 saw little precipitation and the winter snowfall was below expectations, so lake water levels were lower and surrounding shoreline not marshy or soggy. Which made for dry and mosquito free conditions.

The effects of local forest fires did cover surrounding mountain views during certain times of the day, and brought with it a bit of lung burning and eye stinging. Early morning and late evening hours brought clearer skies.

Be forewarned that seemingly every backcountry campsite brings with it a steep uphill slog, but worth it. Gladys Lake is at 9600 ft elevation.

I believe there was one other camper at Gladys Lake the night we stayed…but we neither heard nor saw them. It was a perfectly peaceful evening!

Amenities? Well, no showers…no toilets…no water spigots…no electricity…no picnic tables…one lonely stone fire ring but open fires are not permitted. No cell service or WiFi…no general store or local grocery store. However, Gladys Lake water was refreshing both to wade and drink (filtered). You are surrounded by fragrant conifers that buffer sound. A perfectly peaceful location to relax and dream.

PRODUCT REVIEW: Mountain House Spaghetti With Meat Sauce

https://www.mountainhouse.com/

As a frequent user of Mountain House freezes dried dinners, and being a creature of habit, I often settle into a couple favorite meals and don’t deviate to new offerings. Mundane and boring?…perhaps.

But…after winning $100 worth of Mountain House meals through an early season TheDyrt.com contest… and with my daughter as my hiking buddy, I selected several different meals to avoid mutiny.

One of these meal pouches was Mountain House’s Spaghetti with Meat Sauce.

I admit, I was a little suspect as to how freeze-dried spaghetti with meat sauce would taste, but we were both very pleased with the sauce flavors, seasoning and the amount of meat in the sauce. The only thing I would add is a couple slices of toasted garlic bread.

If the next rotation of Mountain House Spaghetti with Meat Sauce was easily located in our bear canisters, we would’ve likely had a second helping…but sadly, it was not.

In pairing down weight before our backcountry hike, I removed the contents from Mountain House’s original packaging and utilized a commercial vacuum sealer to make smaller, lighter meal packs as 11 days of food needed to fit in a bear canister. It worked, but the distinct drawback was not being able to prepare the meal in the resealable pouch. A pot was necessary to allow the freeze-dried contents to soak in the boiling water. So clean up was more extensive than it would’ve been by using the Mountain House resealable pouch. It was a trade off and we made it work.

If you are new to Mountain House freeze dried meals, directions are printed plain and simple on the pouch.

•Measure out the prescribed amount of water

•boil water

•open meal pouch and remove moisture packet

•pour boiling water in pouch and stir contents thoroughly

•seal pouch for prescribed time

•open pouch and stir contents

•serve and enjoy

It doesn’t get any easier.

Without a doubt one of the best boondocks of the trip. The exact coordinates are: 37.924790, -119.033893. There is a large pullout (soft gravel) that loops around. Excellent view of mono lake and the east entry into Yosemite. There are no fire rings at this spot and the conditions are dry, dry, dry so caution is in order. We lit no fires, only the stove in the rig. Wild life abounds and the evenings are super quiet. We boondocked several sites and found this one to be the one to pass on info about as it is just too cool. Happy dispersed site hunting!

Road getting there is pretty scary at night, but it’s super close to the park. There’s a parking lot to the left for rvs/vans and a dirt path that opens into an area for tents or any dispersed camping. We stayed in tents, there’s plenty of room to find a tent spot

No cell service

The scenic loop dispersed camping was great a couple of weeks ago. Quite a few spots even though Mammoth was open for snow. However, my partner and I drove around the whole loop looking for internet and couldn't get anything better than a couple Mbps with both T- Mobile and Verizon, even with our MiFi.

I dispersed camped on both both owens river rd and bald mountain. Both sites were beautiful but the one on bald mountain rd seemed to have more bugs. Both roads were decent to drive on and are spaced well from other sites. Didn't see another person from either site. Alot of nice dirt roads to take walks on too.

Note: drove to “end of Mt Raymond Rd / Goat Meadow Ttailhead” following Hannah’s review as the directions. That is not the directions to this campground. It’s the directions to the Meadow campground across the 41. So, unfortunately never found this location. Leaving proper review of Meadow dispersed camping on that campground across the street so head over to that one, irs super easy to find, not busy, tons of great spots.

As previously mentioned, these coordinates are not correct, if you travel beyond the coordinates towards the South Park Entrance and pass the Springdale Campground on your left, you will see a sign shortly afterwards that says SnowPlay area 1/2 mile and that’s where you will turn onto Mount Raymond Road, which takes you to the dispersed camping about 5 minutes from the park entrance. Plenty of spots available.

Stayed Saturday and Sunday. This is the most perfect dispersed camping in the area. Just a few minutes from Yosemite NP entrance. Spots are pretty obvious which is great. Some have fire pits already established by previous campers. There’s a huge pile of wood that’s great for your fire. There’s a large paved area for RVs as well. Everyone was respectful. Some arrived closer to 10pm and still found a spot. No problem with noise after 10pm.

This is definitely a boondocker's paradise. Huge selection of spots and all sorts of roads to explore. Super close to the town of Mammoth too.

This was a second stop along a 50 mile backpacking trip with my son when he was 11.

This is a broad area along the Pacific Crest Trail at the Deer Creek crossing. Fresh water to filter (always filter stream water), so you can resupply.

Even in August there are occasional thunderstorms and sudden downpours in the Sierras, regardless of the weather forecast. Be prepared just in case.

Dispersed camping, spread out to minimize your impact on the area.

Beautiful and serene, this is the beginning of the deeper backcountry of the Sierras, so press on!

GREAT SPOT. so so close to the mountain. If you want to real dispersed camping you kind of just have to drive off the road there are some obvious adjacent roads to sites and also some not so obvious clearing that people just literally drive off the road into. If you are just looking to spend the night close the resort for parking you are not alone and will probably see everyone parked along the road on the side. Everyone gets up at 5:30 and drives to mountain and goes back to sleep. Great spot so beautiful. Drive the west half of the scenic loop road and keep an eye out. Day light helps for finding road turnoffs !

We spent a total of 6 days out in the Inyo national forrest, outside of mammoth lakes. There are hot springs scattered through out the forrest. Clothing optional. If your clever and or smart enough to find them your in for a real treat. The driving can get rough on some of the roads but for the most part our mini van handled it well. We met all kinds of people in different springs while camping. It was great fun.

The dispersed camping is all over the place. No amenities. Well a hot spring is the ultimate amenity if you ask me. Carry in carry out. Use only existing fire pits. Good luck on the hot spring hunt.

Cheers!

My friend and I decided to go on a camping/road trip with no plans or reservations. Little did we know that due to COVID, Yosemite was only allowing people in the park with a printed reservation. There was no getting passed these ladies. We asked if there was dispersed camping nearby and they directed us to a street less than a mile south of the southern entrance to Yosemite. The street was Mount Raymond. There were plenty of spots to pull off and camp out and lots of space between other campers. It was quiet and a sweet deer came by as we were setting up. She wasn’t afraid of us at all, just minding her business eating away.

***Only downfall: We were in an area near trees that produced a lot of sap. It was all over our car the next morning and it stuck to the bottom of our shoes pretty bad. We took sticks and really had to dig out all the gunk. Be aware of the trees you park your car under or set your tent up near.

Stopped at Bass Lake on the way up - Great spot for day picnics (pics)

There is lots of area to disperse camp. I personally would recommend not going as far as the GPS coordinates. I came up in my truck towing my teardrop trailer, and I probably should’ve stopped about a mile before it. There were plenty of spaces down lower that were just as nice. There weren’t as many higher up. once I found my spot it was really quiet. I found some nice trees to be in. Wasn’t very busy even though it was the Fourth of July. two bars with Verizon Wireless.

We were near where the coordinates take you and we didn’t see another person the entire time we were here! We saw a few fellow campers on our way in but felt really secluded when we found our spot. Expected to see more obvious pull in spots for camping but we did not, so you might have to go a ways in. All the obvious camping spots close to the highway were taken when we got here on Friday afternoon. Some soft gravel, soft sand and rough roads but we managed in our truck + trailer. Weather was beautiful with afternoon storms which we loved. Would absolutely come back!

We followed the coordinates and it didnt take us to any camp spots, however there were a lot of open areas that looked like you could camp there but we didn't see any fire pits or any signs. 

We kept driving father down multiple dirt roads and eventually found a big open area where we set up camp. This spot was very sandy and we would've been stuck without 4wd. Overall a very nice, quiet, and secluded spot only 15 minutes away from the east entrance of Yosemite. 

Here are the coordinates for the exact spot we were at (37.786569, -118.990848)

Went to the snow play area but it was full with cars so i went about a half a mile more Down the road and got to a bridge parked there then i went of trail a bit and found a nice camping spot

After accidentally driving to this location following the directions of another reviewer for the “Yosemite Boondocks” campground across 41 (which we never found) we were very happy with this location.

First, to tell you how to properly get here and find all the spots, drive to the end of the road (don’t pay attention to the gate and “off road” dirt road you see to the left before the parking lot. Don’t go there. Go to just before the big Snow Play parking lot and head right through the dirt. There is no paved road but the area is flat and any car, truck or rv/trailer can make it back here easily. I got nervous at first about ability to turnaround so I parked prematurely near the entrance. Keep going and you’ll find at least 4 or 5 big private areas separated by huge cut logs all with plenty of room to turnaround and not have to back up.

If you’re nervous, we watched several cars, vans, and trailers camp overnight in the big paved parking lot right past this, and that’s fine, but you’re in a parking lot. Come out to the right and you’re in heaven.

We were the only RV here and had it to ourselves an entire week (granted it’s early November). Can’t beat the proximity to Yosemite south entrance.