Looking for dispersed camping near Lake Hughes? The Dyrt can help you find the best dispersed campsites for your next trip. From secluded to easily reachable, we offer dispersed campsites near Lake Hughes just for you.
The entire OHV area and surrounding public lands are open to primitive camping. Within Jawbone Canyon, there are a number of excellent primitive camping sites and OHV staging/off-loading areas. Most of the sites within the OHV area are accessible by 2-wheel drive vehicles with trailers.
Either "Green or Red Sticker" OHV registration is mandatory for ALL vehicles that are not "street legal." Visitors from outside the state of California must have a valid permit/registration from an off-highway vehicle program in your home state. If you do not have a valid permit/registration from your home state, you will have to purchase a "Non-Resident OHV Permit" for California. This sticker can be purchased at the Jawbone OHV Station.
Guide
Hot and dry. Boondocking only. Lots of campsites.
GuideHey, it's free. Weekends are busy but weekdays are exceptionally peaceful. Be advised the Jawbone canyon store charges RV's $40.00 for potable water. Fill up before you come out here.
Scout
This is just a few parking lots that overlook the valley and gives a view of the city skyline in the distance. Several others were also sleeping in their vehicles along the road and in the parking lots, so you won’t be alone. There were two others in our lot that stayed the night too. The view is gorgeous in the morning sunrise!
That being said, it did seem like maybe a teen hangout or something - cars did flow in and out occasionally through the night until around midnight, so that wasn’t great but not awful either. I’d use it again if I needed it as it’s hard to find free places to sleep with a great view like that when traveling through cities.
Ranger
This is a fairly easy hike through what would not be considered a typical hike. It starts off going through Thomas Aquinas College, winding through horse property and oil fields, before finally opening up into Santa Paula Canyon. The trail has changed many times over the years because of the nature of flooding through the canyon, but follow the signs through the middle of the canyon and the main trail will head up the mountain to the right.
Atop the hill on the saddle, nestled among the trees is the primitive Big Cone campsite. It is one of my favorite spots simply because it is close and when my kids were young it was a fairly easy hike to get to, and there's a nice reward when you get there.
From Big Cone Camp you can easily reach the waterfalls and pools that make this area known as the "punch bowls". Depending on weather and water conditions there are some nice water rock slides, and a few pools you can jump from the cliffs into.
Please pack out your trash. Because this hike is local and easy, there are many party people that frequent the area and leave their trash.
Traveler
Very remote absolutely nothing out there. Definitely somewhere you need to be aware of your surroundings. You can get far enough away from the highway that you don’t need to worry about people driving by. There is nothing out here. The road to it is unmarked and very unmaintained Would definitely recommend high clearance vehicle if you want to be further away then 100 feet from the highway. Lots of wash outs. Beautiful sunrise. We were the only people there.
ScoutI loved car camping here! When I stayed, there were no other people who stayed the night, but quite a few people came throughout the night just for 20 minutes at a time or so. Wasn’t too noisy at all. Unfortunately I didn’t have any service (Visible/Verizon), so that was a little scary. Other than that, no complaints at all!
ScoutGreat view but on the weekend we had multiple cars doing donuts really close to our van. I felt uncomfortable with that. Next night we moved to the other look out and someone still did donuts behind us- it’s a smaller lookout. Loud music and people talking next to us until about 1 am there is a pull off before this that was very quiet near a trail and nobody bothered us. During the week it’s more quiet. Close to town so that is a plus. Would recommend to smaller vans or car sleepers. I did not feel unsafe except for the donuts that happened near us. If you have dogs I would recommend the trail pull off my dogs really enjoyed the hike
ScoutIt’s basically car camping along the Angeles Crest highway, there’s small pull out spots and, some spots overlooking the forest but kids do tend to party up here and, drive about 100 miles a hour up and, down the road all hours of the night. It can get a bit scary, if you’re alone. Oh cell service non-existent unless you’re closer to the bottom but even then it’s spotty. It’s not a typical campground but it does do the job for a couple days. You will see cars vans along the pull outs coming up but I believe you can car camp on the overlook I have not as I’m more a quiet type person. Be careful though there’s a white van that teams up with a black truck they tried to break in my car while I was sleeping. It is very dangerous and luckily I carry at all times and have cameras.
GuideThis is literally just a roadside pull-off. Only really useful in a pinch. No space for a tent. Sleep in your vehicle.
GuideIt is not a real campground, just a the parking area of a view point. So the view was great. I parked at one end of the area but in the evening lots of couples and teenagers came and the parking area was well used. Some people stood silently admiring the view, while others played loud music. There were also tire tracks on the ground that suggested to me, some young people come here to test their driving skills. I spent the night and no-one took really notice of me.
There are no toilets, campfire sites or shade but good cell service.
ScoutI really liked it! The place looks beautiful, especially with sunset and sunrise and there is a lot of space. Just the toilet was hard to find. You just have to drive 2 min more on the road. It doesn‘t have water, showers or trash dispencers.
TravelerCame here with friends to ride and we had a great time. We showed up on a Friday with plenty of sites still available. Everything is so spread out that we had a lot of privacy to ourselves.
It can get really warm so we set up under a shaded tree which helped a lot. We had a fire pit for the evenings too, so that was nice.
Lots of trails to ride - for beginners to advanced. We zipped around in a side by side and everyone was responsible and nice.
I'd definitely recommend this spot of you are looking for a quiet place to camp with privacy and ample space.
Discover the beauty of dispersed camping near Lake Hughes, California, where nature enthusiasts can enjoy the great outdoors without the constraints of traditional campgrounds. This area offers a variety of options for those looking to escape into the wilderness.
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According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular dispersed campground near Lake Hughes, CA is willow springs blm with a 3.5-star rating from 2 reviews.
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