Best Tent Camping near Los Olivos, CA

Figueroa Campground is a 33-35 site campground behind Los Olivos, CA. It is surrounded by live oaks and gorgeous manzanita trees, so there is a lot of shade available.

Each site has a fire ring and a picnic table. There are no hook ups, and only pit-toilets are available. Note that there is NO DRINKING WATER available at Figueroa Campground, so be sure to bring plenty of water, especially if you plan to hike or backpack through the area.

There is a a lot of hiking trails available in the nearby area. Both Figueroa Mountain and nearby Grass Mountain are extremely popular hiking spots, especially in early spring when the wildflowers bloom in late March or early April . During the wildflower bloom, the sides of the hills and mountains can look solid vibrant ORANGE from afar - the wild California poppies grow dense in this area. Purple mountain lupine flowers are also found during the wildflower bloom.

If you or anyone in your party does not want to/cannot hike, the top of Figueroa Mountain is completely assessable by car - all of the big lookout points for optimal wildflower viewing are accessible by car, so the wildflowers are essentially accessible to everyone, hikers or not.

The Davy Brown Creek and Manzana Creek trails are also accessible from the Figueroa Mountain area; the area is popular for cyclists and off-road cyclists.

WARNING: You ARE in black bear country! While it is unlikely that a black bear will enter the campground, I would suggest locking your food and coolers in your car at night, as there are no food lockers in the campground. When hiking be aware of your surroundings: Black bears, coyotes, mountain lions, bob cats, and coyotes have been seen on the trails.

While the campground is fairly remote in the the hills, you are only 20 minutes away from Los Olivos, and 30 minutes away from Santa Ynez. Los Olivos has a great market with groceries, a bakery/coffee shop, a deli, and beer and local wine. There are many local vineyards, wineries, and breweries nearby. The Firestone Walker brewery, taproom, and Resturant is close-by - we highly recommend their food and beers!

CAMPSITE SPECS

Fees: $20/night (+ $10/ extra vehicle)

Plumbed Toilets: No - vault

Drinking Water: No

Showers: No

Picnic Table: Yes

Firepit: Yes

Cooking Grate: Yes

Shade: Yes

Cell Service: No

Animal Bins/Food lockers: No

Trash: Yes

Nira is a small, primitive campground in the San Rafael wilderness behind the Santa Ynez Valley. The campground is a bit of a haul to get back to, and is often used as a base for backpackers entering the San Rafael wilderness or the Manzana Creek trail. I myself have only tent camped at Nira, just to go somewhere different - my boyfriend and his friends have backpacked out of Nira into the San Rafael Wilderness and to the Manzana Schoolhouse on multiple occasions.

Nira is the second, smaller campground back on Sunset Valley Road - Davy Brown Campground is up the road a little ways. Nira is small, with only 12 sites in a densely wooded live oak grove. The oaks provide a lot of shade and help separate the various camp sites. The Manzana Creek runs behind the campground; the main road leading into Nira is right above the campground, however, you’re pretty far back in the hills, so there isn’t a lot of noise from traffic.

Each site has a fire ring and a picnic table. There are no hook ups and only pit-toilets are available. There is NO DRINKING WATER available at Nira Campground, so be sure to bring plenty of water, especially if you plan to backpack through the area.

WARNING: You ARE in black bear country! While it is unlikely that a black bear will enter the campground, I would suggest locking your food and coolers in your car at night, as there are no food lockers in the campground. When hiking the Manzana Trail be aware of your surroundings: Black bears, coyotes, mountain lions, bob cats, and coyotes have been seen on the trail. CAMPSITE SPECS

Fees: $20/night (+ $10/ extra vehicle)

Plumbed Toilets: No - vault

Drinking Water: No

Showers: No

Picnic Table: Yes

Firepit: Yes

Cooking Grate: Yes

Shade: Yes

Cell Service: No

Animal Bins/Food lockers: No

Trash: Yes

I am a native of Santa Barbara, CA, so I grew up going to Cachuma Lake. Cachuma Lake’s main recreational area is on a bluff overlooking the lake. There you can find tent sites, yurts, cabins, and full hookups for RVs. There are also smaller campgrounds at lake level - we prefer to stay in the Mohawk Shores campground, which is at lake level. The Mohawk Shores campsites are in a more densely packed oak grove, offering more shade and more privacy than the upper-level campgrounds. A few years ago they started pricing the “lakeside” sites in Mohawk more expensively than the rest of the sites in the area; ironic though, since the lake has been so empty the last few years due to the drought, and these sites are no longer lakeside.

The campsites each have their own picnic table and firepit with a grate, and water spigots are available in various places around the campground. Mohawk has its own bathroom with flushable toilets and coin-operated showers - the bathrooms and showers are kept clean. I prefer to shower in the showers located in the upper-level campgrounds, as they are in their own individual, lockable stalls, rather than the locker-room type set up in the bathroom in Mohawk. There are multiple dumpsters available for trash AND recycling around all of the campgrounds.

Caution: There is a lot of poison oak around the park!

We have rented a yurt a couple times, and hope to do so again soon. The yurts have bunk beds inside (bring your own bedding!), an overhead light, and a heater. Outside each yurt is a picnic table, charcoal barbeque, a firepit, and a water spigot.

We will often bring an easy-up to use in the day-camp areas in the upper-level of the park. There are oak trees all over the park, but if day use site with a table under a tree gets snagged, it’s nice to have the easy-up for shade - if you have one, I would recommend bringing an easy-up if you are going to camp in the upper level campgrounds, not all of the sites have shade.

A small but well-stocked general store is available, as well a small (expensive) gas station. Cachuma also has a pool (for an additional fee), gameroom, playgrounds/jungle-gyms, and disc golf courses available.

Cachuma Lake is a great place for wildlife viewing and birding. I am a photographer, and love seeing all of the birds that hang out around Cachuma - ducks, coots, Western and Clark’s grebes, loons, osprey, hawks, turkey vultures, turkeys, quail, American white pelicans, cormorants, etc. I have gotten my best birding photos at Cachuma Lake. Deer can often be viewed on the shores of the lake, and we have even seen bobcats and foxes. Pontoon boat tours to view wildlife launch every day from the marina.

Keep in mind that you CANNOT SWIM in Cachuma Lake. Silly, I know, but they justify it because Cachuma lake is Santa Barbara’s drinking water source. You are allowed to boat, kayak, and fish on the lake, but no swimming! Motor boats and pontoon boats are available to rent, and now they even have kayaks to rent hourly! My dad has a small 14 ft fishing boat, and we enjoy taking the boat out on the lake to fish and sightsee.

There are endless trails around Cachuma Lake in Los Padres National Forest. There are some mellow hikes around the perimeter of the lake itself, offering nice views of the lake and the surrounding Santa Ynez and San Rafael mountains.

Figueroa Mountain is near Los Olivos - Grass Mountain and Figueroa Mountain are both beautiful hikes, especially in the spring when the wild flowers are in bloom. Both are strenuous, steep hikes, but the views are totally worth the effort.

Cachuma lake is about a half an hour from the city of Santa Barbara, 15 minutes away from Santa Ynez (if you like to gamble check out the Chumash Casino), 20 minutes away from Solvang, and 20 minutes away from Los Olivos. There is fantastic wine tasting available in any of these small towns, and everywhere in between - you are in the heart of Santa Barbara’s wine country! There are endless tasting rooms available inside the towns, and countless vineyards that you can visit to wine taste. A popular wine trail is on Foxen Canyon Road - it is a lovely drive on a country road with some really beautiful and quality wineries and vineyards.

Solvang is a fun town to visit - it was originally a community full of Danish immigrants, so the Danish theme has stuck. It is very touristy, but even as a native, I still enjoy going to Solvang. There are a lot of shops, antiques, candy stores, restaurants and tasting rooms to visit. We are partial to the Solvang Restaurant, and for more than just their Danish Aebleskivers. If you don’t know what an aebleskiver is - its DELICIOUS. Aebleskivers are round Danish pancakes that are shaped like a ball - they serve them with amazing homemade raspberry jam and powdered sugar. Everything at the Solvang Restaurant is good, from their traditional breakfasts to their Scandinavian offerings to their sandwiches.

More Food Recommendations:

Cold Springs Tavern is a historic site dating back to the 1880s when it was a stagecoach stop. Cold Springs Tavern has a full bar and serves some quality meat selections, including famous Santa Barbara style tri-tip. If you are there on a Sunday, they start serving traditional tri-tip sandwiches around 11am - BEST tri-tip sandwiches around! They cook up the meat on giant barbeques outside, and serve the sandwiches hot off the grill - just tri-tip and fresh garlic bread, YUM. They have homemade salsa and homemade BBQ sauce to dress the sandwich with. Sundays at Cold Springs Tavern is a popular spot for locals to go have a beer or a drink with tri-tip, and there’s always a fun atmosphere.

If you are in the mood for some quality Mexican food, Dos Carlitos in Santa Ynez is a favorite spot.

Los Olivos Grocery has a great deli with delicious sandwiches - both hot and cold - and a good selection tasty deli side dishes. The store also has a good selection of local wines.

CAMPSITE SPECS

Fees: $30/night

**Plumbed Toilets: Yes

**Drinking Water: Yes

**Showers: Yes (coins needed)

**Picnic Table: Yes

**Firepit: Yes

**Cooking Grate: Yes

**Shade: Yes

**Cell Service: Yes - Limited

Animal Bins/Food Lockers: No

Trash: Yes

It’s a very simple place but I found it so peaceful being surrounded by the golden plains, the breeze through the big shaded eucalyptus trees, and hearing the owls near sundown. Theres also hummingbirds that’ll get up right in your face. I was also the only one at the site so that was nice. The area is clean, vault toilets kinda gross though. Very small campground, a couple drive in sites and a couple walk in sites but each drive in site had a picnic table, fire ring, and a metal pole hook and theres one drinking water spigot for the whole campground. So not bad!! Road was surprisingly smooth majority of way and has some paved parts but there was some washboard parts too. Road to get here was long though about 13 miles from the blm sign. There was paper maps at the sign area. I got 3 bars at the campground with AT&T but was spotty on the drive over.

A small remote site on a BLM land, so it is free but it is a first come first serve site. Not many facilities or gas stations nearby so it may be a good idea to bring extra gas if you plan to explore Carrizo Plains. It is right off of Soda Lake Road, about half a mile from the road at a shady little grove. Went on a windy weekend, but campground was nestled under eucalyptus trees so it helped. There are owls in those trees, so they were hooting loud into the night. Some may like it, but it was pretty loud. There are two restrooms (vault toilets - no water), fire pits and picnic tables. Bring your own water. No trash service so pack in and pack out. Views are nice especially if you get sites facing the open plains. Went in June so it was already fire season so no camp fire was allowed. It was a non-busy weekend, but campers arrived late throughout the evening and it was almost full. Weekdays may be pretty deserted out there. Weather can get very hot so make sure to check weather forecast before heading out.

This place is magnificent, and also chaotic. Its strength is its location. Every campsite is a few steps from the beach, made picturesque by a line of palm trees. There is little shrubbery to give campers privacy, but this is as it should be. Shrubs would only block the view.

Amenities are good. Bathrooms are single occupancy and fairly clean and modern. The one I used had a high-flow faucet that delivered hot and cold water without needing to be held down or pressed repeatedly. Many dishwashing stations are also available.

There was, as I said, some chaos: children riding scooters, children riding bicycles, children driving a Barbie jeep, children running and hollering and being rambunctious. There is also a railroad track just east of the campground. Multiple Amtrak and freight trains passed during my stay. Lastly, the wind picked up in the evening and forced me to stake down my tent more securely. All told, it was a noisy stay, but the beach made it worthwhile.

Final note: the water here, while potable, does not taste very good. Recommend bringing a good supply of drinking water.

Carrizo Plains National Monument is the largest single native grassland remaining in California in SE San Luis Obispo, and my husband and I have been wanting to visit. We found Kern Cattle & Land Ranch which has now been turned into a campground for people to enjoy.

[ PROS ]

• FREE camping is the best camping! It’s first come first serve, but there was only one other camper there the weekend we visited.
• There are about 12 dispersed sites and all of them are under or near eucalyptus trees that offer really lovely shade from the harsh sun.
• Each sites comes with a picnic table, fire ring + grill, 1 parking spot, and gear pole with hook (for hanging lanterns/trash bags/food/etc.)
• There are 2 gender neutral vault toilets that are clean. The restroom is stocked with toilet paper and there is hand sanitizer available. No sink.
• So much nature to see around! We saw kangaroo rats, bats, hawks, rabbits, ground squirrels (that are going extinct), and lots of fun insects. In the evening we heard lots of coyotes in the distance.
• The evenings here are spectacular -- very little light pollution so you get a clear view of the night sky and all of the stars. The Milky Way was so vivid and we saw shooting stars the entire evening.
• I’ve been wanting to see an owl in nature for so long, and I was able to see one in broad daylight. It was so insane and magical. We heard the owls all night (they are very loud) but I love falling asleep to the sound of nature. The owl sighting was the highlight of my trip!
• There are tons of trails and places to explore. We even got to explore the last standing structure of the original ranch. You can visit the San Andreas Fault Line, Soda Lake, and Painted Rock which are all driving distance.

[ CONS ]

• The drive to and from KCL campground is a little rough. At some point you get on a dirt road that is quite bumpy and has potholes.
• It’s super hot in this part of California during the summer so make sure you pack LOTS of water. There is no water available on the campgrounds or for miles.
• No showers, obviously since there isn’t any water available.
• TONS. OF. FLIES. EVERYWHERE. It’s a little unbearable during the day having to spend the majority of your energy swatting flies. It is so arid out there that flies are constantly landing on every part of your body to lick the sweat off of you. The toilets are clean, but TONS OF FLIES. Not little house flies, but super juicy big fat flies. Luckily they go away when the sun sets.
• No fires allowed! They have fire pits, but you’re not allowed to burn wood. I believe you can use the fire pit with coals since there is a grill provided.
• No gas stations, stores, shops around for miles. Make sure you come prepared with everything you need unless you’re prepared for a long drive on the dirt roads.

Note: Pack in. Pack out. Please folks, remember to take your trash with you and leave the place better than you found it. It was sad seeing beer bottles and bullet shells littering the area. We did our  best to pick up what we could and take it with us, but LNT!!