Best Equestrian Camping near Elk, CA

    I agree the road out is pretty scary I don't advise trailers but I have seen them while driving in. It is one lane and you must pull out for opposing traffic. But definitely one of my most favorite places in the Sierras. The views are amazing, I recommend giving yourself extra time to stop and get out for the views a few times on the way in. 

   Once in the campground/resort area there are two separate loops to camp in as well as cabins to rent and a small dispersed camping area there is also a general store, bath house, and small Cafe that are all seasonal since the road is closed most of the year. So open and close dates vary depending on snow. You can get firewood, drinking water at the store but it can be a little pricey, so I recommend bringing your own. The baths/showers are usually included for anyone paying for a campsite, but this may have changed. It is very cheap for day use persons to use the showers though. The sites are all very nice and surprisingly private though some are pretty close together. All provide a firepit, table, bear box, and parking space. I love that there are bear boxes at such a remote place! There are vault tiolets and dumpsters for trash. The river runs along one side of the campsites so about half of the sites are on the river. Bring extra bugspray for these sites as you are close to the water. 

     Most important if you made it this far reading 😅😂 there are multiple NATURAL HOT SPRINGS!! There are several different pools located across the river from the campgrounds. They are all over the hillside and range in temperature from lukewarm to bath water to Hot. They also pump the natural mineral water to the bathhouse for the showers! The springs are the main reason to come out and camp. There are also tons of hiking trails and other lakes in the area including 2 thermal lakes and tons of breathtaking views. I highly recommend this place. 🏞🏕

Also: I have not personally stayed in the cabins or dispersed camping area only the paid sites along the river, but I have been here several times and have seen them. There is also a corral area for horses so I'm not sure if that qualifies it as an equestrian camp but there is a spot for the horses.

We rented sites #10 & #11 for the weekend of 6/2-6/4/23. Sites #9-11 make up the cul-de-sac so it was great for our kids to ride their bikes and scooters. It would make the perfect group site as they were a bit tucked back from the other sites. Site #12 could easily be connected to site #11 as the brush is well-cleared between the two.

These are the closest sites to the water in the campground, but unfortunately water access is pretty limited (there’s a small trail that leads down to a rocky edge, but wouldn’t be great for small children). We drove to a beach area found about a mile up the road. There is also a day-use area across the lake with some good swimming sites.

The campground was very clean and had rangers and a sheriff patrolling regularly (but not bothersome).

There is a small pit toilet right next to site #12, but there are larger bathrooms up the road with flushing toilets and showers. There is also a nice playground for the kids too.

Unfortunately site #10 does not have a shade structure but #9 does, and #11 is well shaded by trees.

We had one raccoon visitor the first night (came out of the drainage pipe under site #12) but otherwise no other wildlife. We were warned that rattle snakes are out, but we were fortunate not to see any ourselves. There is also quite a bit of brush around the campsites so be aware if you bring dogs. They are supposed to be kept on leash at all times, but our lab just brushed by some of the weeds and was littered with foxtails. So just something to be cautious of.

Although we were disappointed with not having better water access, it really is a nice campsite overall if you’re okay with driving up the road to swim.

There are few gems along the Hwy 99 route between Sacramento and Bakersfield but this is definitely one of them! Located a short 20 miles east of 99, just north of Fresno, this Army Corps of Engineers campground is stunning. Situated among rolling hills that are luscious green in the spring, this campsite is quiet and packed full of things to do. Whether you want to bike, hike, fish, boat or just sit and enjoy the peace and quiet, this is the site for you!

We're dry camping at the Wildcat site which the ranger said is rarely used. There is no one else in the whole campground!

Coyotes howled in the distance last night and it was dead quiet. Going to take the road bike out today and explore some of the roads around the Lake. Lake is full after the 2023 season.

It is a beautiful campground located off Kaiser Pass Road. Even in June there was so many wildflowers and vibrate green. There was bathrooms and each site had a picnic table, fire pit, and bear box. Creeks ran though many of the campsites. There was trails close by and so many meadows. The roads nearby can take you to Kaiser Wilderness and Kaiser Peak. By car it’s only assessable between June and October and it’s worth the wait if you happen to try to come up the beginning of November like we did the first time near huntington lake. The road is pretty haggard to get to the campground. It also gets extremely cold at night so make sure to bring warm clothes and have a good tent and sleeping bag. The creek was really cold so if you need drinking water you should bring some or bring a filter. I would also suggest bug spray of some type because the mosquitoes are pretty relentless there. The stars are beautiful and the site is free too.

We chose this campground to be an easy "getting back to camping" campground since it was supposed to be developed and even have showers.

Cons: The central restrooms/showers have been non-operational for over a year based on the maintenance log of the porta potty. While the porta potty was well maintained, there were no hand wash stations or anything to make up for the loss of sinks and showers. The tap outside the building didn't work and neither did the water fountain.

The host was not there for check-in. Thankfully, we ran into a very kind maintenance worker that gave us the predator rundown for the area and told us how to get to our site. The host eventually showed up, but was not there for at least 5 sets of campers who were trying to check in.

Nearly every campsite has a major hill, so most will not have a good flat area for a tent. Site 61 is flat and a couple of others have flatter grounds, but many will have you sleeping on an angle.

Cons Site 61: The previous group was very disrespectful of the site and left glass shards everywhere. We had to sweep it away from our tent site and kept finding more as we were using our site. It was especially a problem since we brought our dog, so eventually we just laid tarps out to let her walk on instead of the dirt for her safety.

No shade at all. While most other sites had trees or an aluminum awning to provide some sort of shade, Site 61 had nothing. Thankfully, we planned for that, but definitely worth mentioning for other campers. Most sites on the inside of the loop had good tree coverage, so if that's what you're looking for definitely book one of the inner loop sites like 63.

For those looking to be fully removed from the world, you should know this campsite is RIGHT off the highway, so there is traffic and some headlights if drivers have their brights on. That didn't bother us, but we've lived off of major streets for years, so we tune it out pretty well.

Pros: There was running water, but you had to find it near other campsites. (Closest one to ours was near Site 63, which was very convenient)

Pros Scenery: The stargazing is beautiful. There is some limited light pollution emanating from the other side of the foothills, but because you are surrounded by foothills you get some good, dark surroundings to really appreciate the stars. Similarly, the sunrise and sunset were slightly late/early because the sun was contending with the surrounding hills. When the sun was rising over the hills, there was a beautiful glow to them.

Pros Site 61: You have absolutely no neighbors, which gives you more privacy and the ability to face out in any direction and enjoy the scenery.

Predators: Coyotes, rattlesnakes, meat bees (bring cheap canned meat to set out during the day and they will leave you alone for the most part)

Cool Wildlife: Various birds, though I was never able to get a good enough look to identify them. There were also bats at night that really helped with the bug problem and created a cool ambience while stargazing. My husband loved listening to them hunt!

Overall: We enjoyed the site, but were extremely grateful that we are redundancy packers. If we didn't have our extras, we probably would not have had a good time since it was 100+ degrees every day we were there and the grounds weren't totally as advertised. (Toilets, showers, etc)