Best Tent Camping near Lancaster, CA

The first thing you should know about Tapo Canyon Park is that for actual tent camping, you will be in either decomposed granite or concrete. The second thing is that there is no cell service and no phone landlines there. 

The park is very nice, and very well maintained. There is a large grass area with an upgraded playground, ample covered picnic area for large groups, and an archery range (private, but open to the public on Saturdays).

The archery range is one of the best in California. There is a members area and the original range is open to the public on Saturdays from 9-1, with a nominal $5 fee.

The campsites are designed for RVs. I have camped here in a tent and there is no way to drive a stake into the ground. The sites are fairly large and well spread out for an RV lot. 

Each site has a fireplace, picnic table, and full hook ups. There is not much shade. The sites are very well maintained daily by the camp host Terri. 

At night you can hear the coyotes calling as they roam the rugged hills, but don't worry it's a very safe park.

I would give the park 4 stars for camping in an RV, 2 stars for tent camping, the facility as a whole is probably a 4.

Our family stayed here for 2 nights. We enjoyed our time but the kids were disappointed they couldn't touch the water at the lake. I brought a small plastic pool for them to get wet in at our site because it was hot. They do not take reservations and they do fill up quickly so claim your spot early if you plan on going. Fishing is nice if you have a boat of some kind. The boat has to have a trolling motor only though. Not a whole lot of shade in the RV sites there is more shade in tent areas. Bathrooms near RV sites were clean and nice. Down by the tent sites not so much there were ants everywhere. We will probably stay here again as it is only 30 minutes from our house but we will bring our generator and stay near tent sites with shade.

Our campsite & the bathrooms were clean & well maintained. However the location of tent camping v RV camping is awful. We are tent campers and had a nice spot with a beautiful lake view BUT the RV site was directly in front of the lake between our tent & the lake! So when a monstrous RV drove in all we could see was the side of the thing & we had to go around it to enjoy the view.

We stayed at Cabin Flat several years ago, and it's one of the most difficult campgrounds to reach near Wrightwood in the Angeles National Forest. To get here, you need to take the Blue Ridge Trail Road from Inspiration Point off of Highway 2. This road is closed during the winter, as it traverses through Mountain High Ski Resort. That said, the campground itself is very basic. I would not recommend bringing an RV here as the dirt road to get down is winding and bumpy. Tent camping only.

This is a great small, hike in camp ground with no privy but decent tent sites. There's no running water but the creek is usually running so come prepared with your own water and something to treat the creek water with. Check for fire restrictions and dig your cat holes at least 200 feet from the water. Or bring WAG bags and pack it back out. Very much like Hoegees campground. Good for families abs Scouts.

After experiencing both amenities this place is more or less for RVs and 4/10 as for they do have the tent camping on the steep incline and not too many sites but for RVs couldn't be happier plus the people here are nice and friendly you do have your Karen's but you're going to have them everywhere we enjoyed the lake the view the weather it could have been better over here will definitely be returning you can stay for 20 days and then you have to leave for 60 days and that's fine with me I'm looking forward to returning

I can't deduct stars for how crowded it was during Labor Day Weekend. I think it was a treat that we were able to book on a fairly short notice for a holiday weekend. The pool is awesome and huge compared to other campgrounds. It was overly crowded this Labor Day weekend but what do you expect, right? It was hot. They had a live band, movie night, roomy campsites. It was loud and rowdy in the tent camping area but calm in the RV area. I had T-Mobile and had ZERO reception here. I have since dropped T-Mobile and got Verizon because it seems like T-Mobile reception is terrible at most campsites. We are looking forward to going back soon.

This is a nice campground. Very close to the city but still with visiting. I’m a van camper so I rented an RV site because I wanted shade trees. The tent camping sites in the first section have very little shade. Maybe one or two sites have shade. You definitely have to bring a canopy. I camped there in Nov2020 it was a nice getaway. The view of the lake is beautiful. I enjoyed seeing all the ducks on the lake. Each campsite has a table and fire ring. The bathrooms have flush toilets and the campground is kept clean and trash cans are emptied daily. It has a fish cleaning area with running water too. Must put away all your food because the raccoons will get into it. Overall it’s a nice local place to camp if you live in Santa Clarita, Ca.

Tried this campground out for a single day/night of camping for my family of 4.

Location - 5 out of 5 Great location in terms of close to home (40 minutes from Bakersfield). 1.5 miles from Pyramid Lake for a day trip.

Campground - 3 out of 5. $20 per night, by all means, this is only regards to the tent camping not the people or bathrooms etc. We camped in Loop 4 camp 72. While I was towards the end of the campground, very little shade was available. Prepare to bring multiple ezups for shade. Tent was easily put up as ground is soft. This camp was overrun by fire ants, so had to carefully move around their nest. There was a small section in between some trees that allowed us to get some shade, maybe even a small tent fits there. Bathrooms are flush toilets and very clean. No showers available to my knowledge. Camping came with a cement picnic table and a fire pit.

The 2 points off was just because of the shade situation. I did go through the campground all together to see which sites were more shaded and out of all of the sites perhaps 4 had some trees with good shade.

If you are looking for a weekend getaway from the city, good place to come. Just come prepared with multiple shade apparatus.

**My pictures were taken after 6pm when the sun is behind the mountains.

General: Smallish (approx. 50-site) campground that does not take reservations. No hookups, one walk-in tent site, and the others are either back-in or pull-through. Some are “double” sites that would be ideal for sharing. 

Site Quality: Varies. All sites (except four, three of which are designated handicap sites) are a mixture of sand/gravel. Not all are completely level, and some accommodate larger vehicles than others. 

Bathhouse: Pit toilets only. Some are open air and some are enclosed; the one closest to our site was clean. 

Activities: hiking, photography. Good night sky area. The nature trail is accessible directly from the campground and the Hagen Canyon trail is ¾ mile from the campground. Red Cliffs is another short trail across the highway; these are the most popular (and short) hikes in the park but there are others. The views are jaw-dropping and well worth exploring. 

Note that although there is a dump station, there is a $20 charge to use it. 

We arrived around 1 pm on a Sunday in late March and had our pick of sites, however, the campground filled in to about ¾ full by the end of the day.

Pros: Large campsites

          Clean-ish toilets

          Lake within walking distance

Cons: Right near highway, noisy

           Lots of flies during the day

           tent sites are very flat          

Last minute trip and decided to check out Lake Campground. There are 8 sites placed on this hilly area, with a vault toilet in the center of the campground. It is located right next to the highway, so it can be pretty noisy during the day as its a popular route for motorcyclists. The campground itself was fairly clean, and all the sites were very large and spaced well away from each other. The sites weren't very flat, so options to set your tent up were very limited. Some sites had some shade, others almost none. There were tons of flies, very active during the daytime, but went away during the evening. The vault toilets were the cleanest I'd seen (For vault toilets) and the staff came through the campgrounds several times a day.

Jackson Lake is a short walk from the campgrounds. It has a nice day use picnic area with coal grills, picnic benches, and four vault toilets (in pretty poor condition). The lake was pretty small and had a stagnant smell to it. Lots of people were fishing, and a few people waded into the waters. I saw people in rafts / kayaks later in the day. The area was covered in fleas so careful with pets.

I have been to this campground twice now. I would love to go back again one day. There is a nice size creek that runs adjacent to the campsites, which appears to run only during snow melt. It was dry one of the times we camped there, the other time it was flowing very good. I would estimate that it was probably around 40-50 feet wide when we went there. You do have to drive through the creek to get to the campground, so a small car probably would not be advisable when it is really flowing. I drove my small Toyota pickup through it with no problem.

A forest adventure pass was required.

Campsites were very clean. Has pit toilets, which were also very clean. No electricity or water at the camp site. No dump station. Has fire rings.

We tent camped both times.

A mother bear and her two cubs did visit us on one of the visits. We did find what looked like mountain lion footprints. There is wild life. No bear containers at the time.

This campground is nestled in a valley/canyon and is next to Fenner Canyon Conservation Camp #41.

There really are no views other than the surrounding trees and landscape, but was still very beautiful.

It is a very quiet place to stay. Depending on the traffic from the nearby Highway 2, you might hear some of that traffic, but it is not bad at all.

At the time of visiting, we did not have cell phone service in that canyon.

Very large park for RV, cabin and tent camping. As it's listed as a "resort", we figured it would be pretty upscale. Disappointment upon our arrival. Floods have been in the area and much of the sites were closed and being cleaned?? The road closest to our site was washed away (from earlier reviews it's been months), so a long jog or drive around the perimeter to get us to the pool, laundry and hot tub…speaking of which, the pool, hot tub and laundry facilities all needed attention. You could actually see people's footprints (bottom of pool and on pool and hot tub entry steps)…that much sand, dirt, etc…I didn't venture in. When we arrived, we started driving around to find the best site for our rig. We're a 32ft class A w/20ft enclosed cargo trailer tow. So, all in all about 55ft. Well, that wasn't easy. Most of the park's electric and some sewer connections didn't exist or were "down" for repair. We have yet to actually SEE someone working on these issues. We are currently here and checked in for a two-week stay. After some boon docking prior to our arrival, we wanted all the bells and whistles the park boasted they had. Took us just over THREE HOURS to find a decent spot. Many levels to this park and most didn't have a decent WiFi (we have our own router) signal. Some sites had dumpsters blocking them from being a true "pull-thru". That left us with about two areas to choose from. It's dusty, dirty, and, really, not ready to be called a "resort"….more rustic than we'd been looking for or what website photos showed. We would not recommend this "resort" to anyone. Several folks with dogs they let simply sit outside and bark, poo, etc….strict rules against that, in most all resorts we've ever visited. Unless you plan on tenting, cabin or what have you, it's not worth it. Very disappointing! :(

Spacious sites, enough for groups and numerous tents.

There's no facilities here. Heck, there's barely a sign. But it's a great spot to get away from the city for a day or two and hang out with family and friends.

Pros:

Location is great, only a 70-90 minute drive from LA

When it's not windy, it's dead-quiet and fantastic

Joshua trees everywhere

Just enough cell service to feel safe, but not enough bandwidth for your kids to stream YouTube all day

Cons:

- It's hard to find. There is no signs until you randomly pick a dirt road and go a few hundred yards, then you see a Joshua Tree Ranch sign laying on the ground.

- Once you find it, you don't know where you're going. There are no markings on any of the sites, and no markings of where the Ranch ends. Was I camping in the ranch? probably. Who knows? Just drive around until you see a makeshift fire pit someone else left behind.

- Check the weather! We did not and went on a day where the Santa Ana winds were blowing. The day was OK, but the overnight was brutal in a tent. So much noise from the tent and our screen tent outside flapping in 30+mph winds (not the fault of the property, but be aware!)

Very cool place, quiet, lots of places for tents. Very nice and friendly people work at the cafe at the entrance. There is a lake nearby. We'll come again!