Best Dispersed Camping near Imperial Beach, CA

Dispersed Camping Reviews near Imperial Beach, CA

10 Reviews of 7 Imperial Beach Campgrounds

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  Sheridan S.

  Scout

  Jun. 6, 2025

  Pine Creek Road Camp

  Beautiful location... if you can find a spot

  Great area--it's just close enough to some expensive campgrounds and a few connecting trails, so it's awesome to camp here for FREE. Pine Creek Road itself is paved, and the camping spots are packed dirt so it's easy to get around even in a FWD. Warning though: if you're nervous about driving on single lane mountain roads, this is not the place for you! Pine Creek Road is several miles long, with some sections that are on sheer cliff edges with very few turn-off spots to allow for passing.

  Additional word of warning: the camping spots are not close together and there seemed to be very few of them. Even driving slowly, I counted only 6 or 7 sites total, separated by up to a mile. I saw only 1 other spot with campers, at least 2.5 miles from my site. Some of the sites are fairly large--could easily fit 2 cars and a couple tents--but others seemed to be just large enough to pull off the road and sleep in the car (no tent space). Some spots were tucked back from the road with lots of trees (I barely saw or heard any cars, even though I was probably only ~15ft from the road); but some were barely more than a shoulder with no trees for coverage. I stayed in the same spot two nights in a row, though I packed up during the day because I assumed I'd find another spot down the road. At least in the site I picked, there was very little trash from previous campers.

  Suggestion for the permit: make sure you apply for the free permit a few days in advance especially if you plan to go on the weekend. List the place you're going as "Pine Creek dispersed camping," and keep a printed copy in your car. I didn't have trouble with any rangers, but it's better to be safe than fined. Very spotty service (Verizon), which makes navigation and planning difficult if you don't pre-download trail maps.

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• d

  david

  Traveler

  Aug. 30, 2024

  Pine Creek Road Camp

  Peaceful and secluded

  A great spot if you want to get away and enjoy some alone time. It’s a little warm in the day in august this time of year so you can’t hike around or explore too much. My girlfriend and I stopped in Julian on our way out to get a late lunch and then head to the campsite. The road is paved until you turn off Lone Creek Road and then it is a dirt road. I have a stock Rav4 and it was able to drive on it although there are a few spots you need to be careful at so you don’t scrape the bottom of your car. We only spent one night but we never saw another person during our stay

• N

  Nani D.

  Scout

  May. 27, 2024

  Pine Creek Road Camp

  Dispersed Camping

  This was a last minute Memorial Day weekend trip with my boyfriend and 2 dogs. Friday sent an email to SM.FS.DescansoRD@usda.gov requesting the free permit (after doing research and finding out you need one), filled out the form, and got it back in the same day. Easy to get there, easy directions once there just make you pass the sign that says leaving the recreation area after that you can find any spot and camp. It was a little bumpy but nothing too bad. Drove with my jeep renegade that isn’t a 4wheel drive. A little busy due to the holiday but not too bad. Cyclist riding by, vehicles, and hikers. Which was nice saying hi. Hardly any service for my carrier which is T-Mobile. Definitely will camp out here again.

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• 

  Gabriel S.

  Scout

  Sep. 15, 2024

  Pine Creek Road Camp

  Nice quick and easy getaway

  Quite easy to get to. I drive an Acura RDX and had no problems (I actually had a lot of fun driving the road). 

  There were way more flies than we were expecting. Prepare to get swarmed. Luckily just gnats and no mosquitoes from what we experienced.

  We applied for a permit on Friday and did not get it by Saturday when we departed. Luckily, no rangers patrolled during our stay.

  Some spots with good shade.

• L

  Lillian R.

  Guide

  Jun. 16, 2025

  Pine Creek Road Camp

  car camping

  This is a nice place to camp- we stayed one night. stopped at the laguna recreation area visitor center before hand to pick up a free permit. the road was recently paved so it’s easy to drive on, there’s a handful of spots just along side the road, as you go further in the road the views get better- we parked on the side of the road and then walked uphill about 8 minutes to a campsite we liked but there are definitely more where you just camp next to your car. there are more campsite further down the road when it goes back down in the valley but the views end there. we only saw 3-4 other cars the whole time.

• R

  Ruben

  Traveler

  May. 26, 2025

  Pine Creek Road Camp

  CAMPING

  Great spot for camping , if you have a big rig it’s a little tight to move around on the roads but definitely nice for sprinters / trucks / suvs or even cars ! Roads are PAVED , I think thats new because I don’t remember that last year when i went !

• A

  Amanda M.

  Scout

  Feb. 4, 2024

  Kitchen Creek Road

  Decent. Tough time of the year

  Could be maintained. Went during a very rainy season. So it could definitely be attributed to the time of year. Will be another opportunity in the future.

• M

  Marco M.

  Scout

  Apr. 29, 2024

  Kitchen Creek Road

  Pretty but busy

  People riding motorcycles, trucks,screams, not a good place for solo camping for sure

• 

  Nick M.

  Scout

  Feb. 4, 2024

  Kitchen Creek Road

  Cool

  Rainy