Best Dog-Friendly Camping near McArthur, CA

Confused? This lake must be seasonal because we could not find it while traveling around this campsite. There is a small marshy area and grass as if the lake is there at other times of the year. The campsites have very little privacy, but there are bathrooms, amenities, nice day-use area, pet exercise area, etc. This park is on the border of California near Lakeview… so while I did not necessary think it was worth the drive to go see this campground, the nearby town is a great little American escape for groceries, a great little Saturday Farmers Market, a nice cup of coffee, or just to explore.

There is a large group site. Restrooms and showers. RV hookups and a clean out station. Dog friendly but not very private. Almost no vegetation separating sites.

Its ideal if you’re coming from California and headed to Oregon. A couple hours away from Crater Lake.

This was a very open campground, very little privacy allotted for each site. There were some tree cover and grass. The lake was not very swimmable as it was dry, so we went to a nearby creek and enjoyed that.

It was pretty awesome to be on the state lines of Oregon and California, able to be two places at once. The town of New Pine Creek spans both states and has lots of fun places to visit and see.

Howards Gulch Campground • Modoc National Forest • $12

Northern California • Basin & Range Birding Trail 15 Northeastern location

Just past a hundred miles of farmfield coming from the North we enter the Modoc National Forest, and turn left against our GPS’ wishes into Howard’s Gulch Campground (Forest Service). Pay attention to the signs. It's analog but it's right. It’s a small, primitive camp in Northern California with 12 sites. Two which are walk in only and none which are for large RV’s. The fee is $12 which is significantly more than the next campground down the road which is free, but the consistency of the Forest Service sites makes it worth it. 

The trees are tall and red, and according to a conveniently placed sign, coniferous. There are also signs indicating common birds of the area and their habitats, along with a 1.5 mile trail built by the U.S. Forest Service, California Department of Forestry and the California Department of Corrections. The trail has been dedicated “for your hiking pleasure…” This campground is also part of the Basin & Range Birding Trail system of Northern California and Southern Oregon.

Like all forest service campgrounds there is a fire pit and a picnic table in each site. Most of the sites are spaced relatively privately, but since you’re in the middle of nowhere you’ll probably be sharing the camp with one, maybe two other campers. In addition, some sites have a stand alone charcoal grilling set-ups.

Trails like this one lead right from camp. Bring your binoculars.

There are plenty of water taps. At least five, but since it isn’t potable there isn’t really much benefit. Since the water is being “treated with chemicals” I wouldn’t even recommend boiling it for use leaving it for the dousing of fires, but the camp is under no-burn restrictions. Rightfully so, considering the summer California has had so far.

Toilets are standard vaults, but there are three of them for 12 sites. Two of which are recent new builds. Being low in the gulch you’re surrounded by walls on three sides to the outer side of the camp loop. The inner loop still backs up to a cliff wall for an unusually located tall mound...and OHMYGOD MY WIFE JUST CHOPPED HER THUMB! SHIT! SHIT!SHIT!SHIT!SHIT!SHIT!SHIT!

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The reason to camp here is…you’re on your way somewhere else most likely. Coming from Oregon to Yosemite or Tahoe or vice versa. But if you do you won’t be disappointed and if you like birds you’ll be pleasantly surprised. The nearest town is at least 20+ miles if you need anything so come prepared. My Wife's thumb is fine by the way. Despite a serious scare at the time. She field dressed it like a boss using our first aid kit (which we've since upgraded). She'll have a reminder scar, but her badass level went up like a million points. I give Howard’s Gulch 3 Tent Stakes of Awesomeness for being a solid campground with nice sites and trails leaving right from camp but not much else going on. Also, there is no indication of who Howard is. I certainly didn't meet him.

Pro-Tip #1: Prepare for summer heat. You aren’t at elevation here.

Pro-Tip #2: Bring binoculars.

Pro-Tip #3: Bring water and anything else you might need. No place near by to get anything.

This campground is HIGH up in the mountains (over 5,000 feet) so remember sunscreen, water, and the fact that it’s going to get plenty cold at night regardless of the season. There is a lot of BLM boondocking activity in this area so it’s nice to have an actual campground.

There are seven sites in total and according to signage you can stay for a maximum of 14 days. This is plenty even when you take into consideration the vast number of hiking trails and off circuit lakes to explore. It’s a beautiful corner of California and highly underrated.

RVs can fit in these spots but the maximum length is about 24 feet. Vault toilets. No camp host and no cell service.

Jake from the Dyrt here! Camp Freedom has a prime location for those who enjoy the outdoors, check out the list of nearby activities to do during your stay!  Check them out and leave a review about your stay on the Dyrt!

The park was easy to find, but a slow drive from the turn off in Likely due to the road being a little rough. Then the road leading to the park was a bit more narrow and it seemed like you were driving onto a private ranch. Our nightly rate included the weekly 1/2 price golf package. Check in was easy and we proceeded to back-in site 14 with FHUs. The road at the site was wide so back-in was easy. The utilities are more toward the front of the site, which made them very convenient for our rig. Great water pressure so suggest using your reducer. Our site backed up on the meadow and we were told this was an off leash area. The sites along the meadow had trees that provided some shade. The playground is on the far side of the meadow, however per reviews, this place is not considered kid friendly and that is a positive draw for us. We came to relax in the quiet and play golf, not have to hear and watch the campground babysit people’s kids as we are seeing way too much of that these days. The very nice lady at check in said we probably would not get WiFi in our far back location. Our Weingard Connect 2.0 did pull in some signal, but it wasn’t very good. However, we did get three bars on Verizon and our MiFi worked fine. We got 4 OTA channels so we put out our satellite and were pleasantly surprised we got an easy shot of the southern sky with the trees around the site. There are pull through and group sites up near the club house, but many were quite close together and not many shade trees. There are also a variety of tent sites available, some with 15/20 AMP. Our pups enjoyed the 1.4 mile nature trail, 3 mile trail around the golf course, and running off leash in the meadow area. The pups were allowed to go golfing with us, but we opted to leave them in the a/c as the temps were unseasonably high. We had a blast playing the golf course plus checked out Mill Creek Falls and Blue Lake both about 30 minutes away. Alturas has your main amenities plus we found reasonably priced diesel 5 miles out of town on US 395 North at Chimney Rock Travel Center just past the CA Agriculture check.  We’ll be back!

Little evidence that there had been any other campers here in weeks. Cobwebs in the outhouse, campfire circles washed clean by rain. If you want a beautiful, but relatively private camping experience, this is a wonderful spot.

This campground is not far from the highway, on a nicely maintained gravel road. Some private homes not too far from the grounds. There were about 10 sites here, each had fire pit. You should be careful to read about fire restrictions in the area, just in case. At the time we were there, you could have fires in designated areas, but please make sure they’re out cold when you’re done! The front part of the camp ground has drive in sites and across the bridge, over the creek, there were a handful more walk up sites that were nicely shaded and removed. Those back sites had these sort of ovens as opposed to traditional fire pits. The pit toilets were decently clean, but quite dark inside. There are water spigots, but no water comes out - we later saw a sign posted saying that the water system was shut off. There’s little to no Verizon service. Overall, it was a nice quiet, shady place to stay!

Free usfs camping! Secluded little campground right off 299. Follow directions on Dyrt app as coordinates don’t quite take you to the actual campground. There is signage as you turn off 299 but mileage is off. Pit toilets, trash and seasonal? water (was off when we were here in late October). Sites may be small for a big rig but fit our van with plenty of room.

So many beautiful trees in the campground and plenty of places to hang a hammock. 

We stayed for a long weekend, deer were plentiful and it was a perfect spot to enjoy nature.

My wife and I stay here quite often. It is a nice campground on a beautiful lake. There is a trail that circumnavigates the entire shoreline and is some of the best birding on the Modoc National Forest. The trout fishing is mediocre but can be good at times. The crawdad fishing is really the ticket however, lots of them and they are big. only downer is it is a fee site.

Awesome lakes, great camping, vault toilets

very helpful when we had car trouble, a bit pricey but worth it for the location. Good portion of the sites are directly on the water.

Lots of sites and plenty of shade. Located above the lake within easy walking distance. Very well cared for with camp hosts present and ready to enforce rules. It is a great base camp for exploring the lake area or the Warner Mountains.

Looked nice to camp and the creek might have been a nice place to drop a line. But, no spots available to camp as hunters used campsites for their personal parking lot and even took over the area to the south of the campsites. There were three trailers there but I lost count of the trucks there. We went up the road further to the Trailhead and hunting vehicles everywhere. So we went further and found a nice spot to camp. It would be nice if the campsites were clearly marked and were used as such.