Best Dispersed Camping near McCloud, CA

We thought this might be a nice place to stay the night or even longer, but next time if we need a place to sleep we’ll just find one of the turnouts off of Hwy 299. I could see this being a good place for people who live locally to come and hang out in nature by the creek for a few days, but this isn’t a place I’d recommend as a destination. There is so much dead brush and cut trees all over the place here, possibly from cleanup after a fire?  Would recommend larger rigs avoid this area due to the number of low hanging tree branches.

Also, this is a popular shooting area because we saw a ton of ammunition casings as well as broken glass and clay pigeons and other items used for target practice. Oh, and we heard a bunch of gunshots in the middle of the night.

Once you enter the BLM land area, you will cross a narrow one lane bridge. From there you can go left, through a narrow and brush and low-hanging-tree-limbed gravel road (larger rigs beware) to a small clearing at the end which is large enough for a group, but too small for more than one party to feel comfortable there. 

If you turn right from the bridge you have a long road for a few miles along the creek. This road is at times narrow and bumpy with low hanging limbs, and at times wide and smooth and easy to drive. Along this road are several unmarked, undeveloped, and completely unmaintained clearings where you can camp. There are no fire pits or any other indication that it’s a camp site (which is a good thing because per the info board fires aren't allowed). We did pass one trailer that appears to be residing here permanently. 

The public road eventually dead ends about 2 miles in and turns into private property, at which point there’s a large-ish space where you can turn around. 

Zero cell service, though the WeBoost gave the Verizon phone a couple of weak bars. The T-Mobile hotspot and the ATT cell phone were not improved by the WeBoost.

• dispersed camping
• no amenities
• a beautiful open field with the woods in the back and Trinity lake in the front
• you could camp in the open field or in the woods

My husband and I loved this place. It was a little bumpy ride but well worth it. It was super secluded and quiet. No one else drove by at all during the two days we stayed. There was an awesome creek right next to us. FYI there was no phone service at all until you get by the school.

Mt. Shasta is a place that’s beautiful from every angle. If you’re on the road or on the mountain all it does is takes your breath away.

Stay where it’s more comfortable for you but at least go and stay and see this beauty!

Winter time really is its best time but beware and plan ahead, a lot of the camp sites are closed in that time of year!

Another one of these Dyrt campsites with zero info other than the location- thank you to whoever is adding these. This spot is a little further down the road from South Lava Beds, and would be fine, but we decided to keep going and find something a little less surrounded by blackened and burned trees and debris. There are piles of them everywhere, so I don’t know if workers come through here periodically- we didn’t see anybody when we were here on a Sunday. The area is still recovering from a 2020 fire 

(Caldwell Fire, I believe). 

Good cell reception, to our surprise. Our 26ft Class C had no problems reaching this spot, just take it slow once you leave the paved road. The dirt road is ok but there were a few dips and ruts that we had to go around. This would make a fine spot to stop over at, but it was a little too barren for us to want to stay here.

As of May 31st there isn’t access to some areas as there is snow blocking the way, some areas are wet from the snow that has already melted. The toilets up at Castle Lake are still covered in snow and inaccessible. Pack in pack out. Other than that nice peaceful area, you can hear the river running, and has a nice view of Mount Shasta.

Road dips down but rutted and I'm low clearance so can't tell what's down there. I'm in amthe o ly pullout off the side of the road before it Dios. Awesome view. Cannot hear water the other person mentioned but also haven't walked down the road yet. 3 or 4 rigs down close by. I am in a level spot but nowhere to walk except road from here. Again, great view.

Shasta is breathtaking pictures can’t do it justice A place to experience lakes streams hiking camping boating snow sports water sports the great outdoors !!

The road was rough at first but smoothed out enough that we weren't worried in our van. There are only a few pullouts here, and no one else was around.

This was a perfect spot for a quick one night stay as we were passing through. The coordinates were off though and it took us up to a private residence road so I would not follow that. There’s multiple side dirt roads leading down to the lake from the main road so I would just look for those. Beautiful views at night and in the morning! It was wide open with no other campers in site.

The coordinates and GPS lead to a random part of the highway surrounded by hills. Not real or inaccessible in vehicle, lake may be dried up.

This is disbursed lakeside camping with no facilities.

This is a good gravel road not far from main road. Lots of spaces along road. Not busy at all. No amenities of any kind.

Because of poor reception unable to find. Definitely way out there