Best Dispersed Camping near Merced, CA

Recent Dispersed Reviews near Merced, California

61 Reviews of 8 Merced Campgrounds

• 

  Jaime G.

  Guide

  

  Aug. 6, 2023

  Goat Meadow - Dispersed Camp Site

  Goat Meadow

  First Dispersed camp site, arrived at 10pm and had no problem finding a camp site. It’s super dark so arriving early would hand been best. Great experience. Were several others camped out as well. Will stay again.

• L

  Logan R.

  Scout

  

  Jun. 19, 2023

  Goat Meadow - Dispersed Camp Site

  Lots of room

  Road getting there is pretty scary at night, but it’s super close to the park. There’s a parking lot to the left for rvs/vans and a dirt path that opens into an area for tents or any dispersed camping. We stayed in tents, there’s plenty of room to find a tent spot

  No cell service

• 

  Megan A.

  Scout

  

  May. 23, 2021

  Yosemite “Boondock National” Dispersed Camping

  Correct Location Below

  As previously mentioned, these coordinates are not correct, if you travel beyond the coordinates towards the South Park Entrance and pass the Springdale Campground on your left, you will see a sign shortly afterwards that says SnowPlay area 1/2 mile and that’s where you will turn onto Mount Raymond Road, which takes you to the dispersed camping about 5 minutes from the park entrance. Plenty of spots available.

• B

  Brett H.

  Traveler

  

  Nov. 10, 2021

  Yosemite “Boondock National” Dispersed Camping

  Couldn’t find, Hannah gives wrong location

  Note: drove to “end of Mt Raymond Rd / Goat Meadow Ttailhead” following Hannah’s review as the directions. That is not the directions to this campground. It’s the directions to the Meadow campground across the 41. So, unfortunately never found this location. Leaving proper review of Meadow dispersed camping on that campground across the street so head over to that one, irs super easy to find, not busy, tons of great spots.

• 

  Samantha M.

  Guide

  

  Oct. 23, 2023

  Goat Meadow - Dispersed Camp Site

  As good as it gets

  Stayed Saturday and Sunday. This is the most perfect dispersed camping in the area. Just a few minutes from Yosemite NP entrance. Spots are pretty obvious which is great. Some have fire pits already established by previous campers. There’s a huge pile of wood that’s great for your fire. There’s a large paved area for RVs as well. Everyone was respectful. Some arrived closer to 10pm and still found a spot. No problem with noise after 10pm.

• 

  Kristi D.

  Legend

  

  Oct. 23, 2023

  Hardin Flat Road

  Lovely spot by the NP gate

  Lovely spot if you like to boondock. Hardly anyone drove by....lodge right down the road. Mountain bike/hiking trail a quarter mile up road. Extremely peaceful, pretty level and 10 minutes from park entrance. No reception!! 20 minutes from nearest town to get food

• 

  Mandy

  Guide

  

  Sep. 23, 2020

  Yosemite “Boondock National” Dispersed Camping

  “Boondock National” - Yosemite

  My friend and I decided to go on a camping/road trip with no plans or reservations. Little did we know that due to COVID, Yosemite was only allowing people in the park with a printed reservation. There was no getting passed these ladies. We asked if there was dispersed camping nearby and they directed us to a street less than a mile south of the southern entrance to Yosemite. The street was Mount Raymond. There were plenty of spots to pull off and camp out and lots of space between other campers. It was quiet and a sweet deer came by as we were setting up. She wasn’t afraid of us at all, just minding her business eating away.

  ***Only downfall: We were in an area near trees that produced a lot of sap. It was all over our car the next morning and it stuck to the bottom of our shoes pretty bad. We took sticks and really had to dig out all the gunk. Be aware of the trees you park your car under or set your tent up near.

  Stopped at Bass Lake on the way up - Great spot for day picnics (pics)

• 

  Mouni

  Traveler

  

  Sep. 23, 2024

  Kamook Staging Camp

  Not ideal

  This is more of an ATV spot, I arrived on a Sunday evening and the ATV people were set up and essentially taking up most of the spots meant for camping. They were using the many many trails meant for ATVs before I arrived and, when I parked a decent distance away from where they were set up, they opted to ride circles around my RV throwing dust everywhere and revving their engines (likely an attempt to run me off). The open space at the top of the hill where the restrooms are is meant for camping, I would NOT ADVISE taking any of the other roads as they are steep, uneven, and you will struggle to turn around.

  There’s one spot at the entrance good for camping (away from most of the ATV action) but it is taken up by a permanent boondocker.

• E

  Emerzon

  Traveler

  

  Mar. 2, 2023

  Goat Meadow - Dispersed Camp Site

  Good area

  Went to the snow play area but it was full with cars so i went about a half a mile more Down the road and got to a bridge parked there then i went of trail a bit and found a nice camping spot

• B

  Brett H.

  Traveler

  

  Nov. 10, 2021

  Goat Meadow - Dispersed Camp Site

  Amazing off grid Location, Quiet, RV access

  After accidentally driving to this location following the directions of another reviewer for the “Yosemite Boondocks” campground across 41 (which we never found) we were very happy with this location.

  First, to tell you how to properly get here and find all the spots, drive to the end of the road (don’t pay attention to the gate and “off road” dirt road you see to the left before the parking lot. Don’t go there. Go to just before the big Snow Play parking lot and head right through the dirt. There is no paved road but the area is flat and any car, truck or rv/trailer can make it back here easily. I got nervous at first about ability to turnaround so I parked prematurely near the entrance. Keep going and you’ll find at least 4 or 5 big private areas separated by huge cut logs all with plenty of room to turnaround and not have to back up.

  If you’re nervous, we watched several cars, vans, and trailers camp overnight in the big paved parking lot right past this, and that’s fine, but you’re in a parking lot. Come out to the right and you’re in heaven.

  We were the only RV here and had it to ourselves an entire week (granted it’s early November). Can’t beat the proximity to Yosemite south entrance.

• c

  cho7

  Scout

  

  Oct. 18, 2024

  Kamook Staging Camp

  Hidden space close to Yosemite NP

  I was expecting bad conditions because of the previous comments but it was actually a good surprise. It's very close to the entrance of Yosemite, in our case it was very quiet and well isolated. There is no view or wow effect but it's great location and isolated.

• D

  Dan M.

  Guide

  

  Apr. 14, 2023

  Tumey Hills Box Canyon

  Quiet at Night

  I couldn’t really identify this place as a campground. It is a shooting range. If you’re in to target practice you’d give it a five. It’s fairly desolate, a port-a-potty, (bring your own TP) and sparse camping spots. One picnic table sat in a day use area, and that gravel parking area is where we set up. It was perfectly flat and level. We didn’t even unhook the trailer. Pack it in and out as there are no services at all other than the potty. The three mile road in from I-5 is paved half way and well-graded dirt the rest. After the shooting stopped, about 8:30 PM, it was amazingly quiet. For us, needing only a stop-over, it was perfect.

• 

  Erich J.

  Guide

  

  Oct. 19, 2023

  Goat Meadow - Dispersed Camp Site

  Great stop!

  Had a lovely evening here. Camp sites are clean and free of garbage. Spread out nicely to avoid any noisy neighbors. Beautiful way to start a cross country road trip.

• k

  kenny T.

  Guide

  

  Feb. 18, 2023

  Tumey Hills Box Canyon

  Easy, open with nearby amenities!

  Easy overnight BLM spot, we stayed overnight on the way to San Jose - easy to navigate, find & park.

  Close by amenities gas stations, mcdonald’s & freeway about 10 mins out

• 

  Savannah M.

  Traveler

  

  Jan. 9, 2022

  Goat Meadow - Dispersed Camp Site

  Nope.

  This is a very back in the woods setting. We didn’t stay here because when we got out of the car for a bathroom trip, a coyote was 20 feet from the car. Needless to say I almost peed myself 🤣. We went to a different site. This one is super secluded and no one else was there at all when we were there.

• 

  Courtney F.

  Guide

  

  May. 16, 2023

  Goat Meadow - Dispersed Camp Site

  Dry camping near Yosemite

  Update 5/16: they removed the porta potties and its packed! Spots are few and far between in the lot. We ended up in paved lot due to a tree being down and blocking any access to the dispersed woods camping. They did clear it which was good because it has even very busy here with the NP closing 2 campgrounds. The spot is beautiful and super close to south entrance of the park (like 5 mins). There are trash and porta potties at thus location. Help clean up trash from snow play users so this site stays open.

• 

  Caroline D.

  Traveler

  

  May. 4, 2024

  Goat Meadow - Dispersed Camp Site

  Great free camp at the exit of Yosemite park

  Great location, close to Yosemite Park which allows you to sleep for free. the spot was clean, impressive camper vans were present and they were parked on the tarmac. lots of pitches, vans can be placed under the trees with the tents.

• 

  ty B.

  Traveler

  

  Aug. 17, 2021

  Goat Meadow - Dispersed Camp Site

  Not bad for primitive camping/boondocking

  Nice quiet place to camp next to Yosemite. Pretty bare bones just a trash can and port a potties but it’s free :) note that somewhere to the east of the trash can there must be a wasp nest as I woke up to quite a few around my tent but they didn’t seem too aggressive

• M

  Mo H.

  Traveler

  

  May. 24, 2024

  Kamook Staging Camp

  Simple Campground

  Simple campground with toilets available

  Tent and RV (4wd recommended, steep road)

• m

  miranda

  Scout

  

  Jul. 27, 2023

  Hardin Flat Road

  Great Yosemite option

  Lots of available spots along Hardin Flat Road, most with good shade. Passed 10-15 pull out spots for car campers, and at least 10 more easily accessible spots for tents. We were there peak season but mid-week and spots were easy to find. Just a 10 minute drive from the entrance to Yosemite! The spots along the creek were very buggy. We found one away from the water and not at all buggy. It turned out to be near enough to Rush Creek Lodge that you could hear kid noise from the pool during the day but it got quiet after 9pm.

• 

  Carrie

  Traveler

  

  Sep. 27, 2023

  Hardin Flat Road

  Spacious and semi secluded spots

  I liked this spot! It was about 10 mins from the gate into Yosemite. We had a lot of space, good amount of tree cover when I rained. There’s a bunch of different spots to choose from, the one by the creek would have been nice.

• N

  Nathan G.

  Scout

  

  Sep. 29, 2023

  Hardin Flat Road

  Perfect for car campers

  Was ideal for the one night and a ten minute drive from the park entrance. Quite and tranquil setting

• M

  Martin A.

  Traveler

  

  Apr. 7, 2024

  Hardin Flat Road

  Visited in April

  Went on 4/5/24 - 4/7/24. I stayed to car camp and had an overall nice time. There was a good amount of ice but with 4x4 not problem. The ice was melting so if you go anytime after the snow should be a lot less.

  There’s enough space for you to distance yourself from others.

  No bear boxes or bathrooms but very safe and easy to access.

• 

  Caroline D.

  Traveler

  

  May. 4, 2024

  Hardin Flat Road

  Few locations along the road

  we arrived at night, the pitches were already occupied. we tried to join a van already parked, but the man was not very friendly and asked us to leave. so we took the road further down and slept near the intersection.

• B

  Brad C.

  Traveler

  

  May. 29, 2024

  Hardin Flat Road

  Beautiful & Convenient BUT

  May 28, 2024

  Convenient to park entrance & beautiful landscape BUT finding a spot late at night was very difficult.

  However, I noticed that the temperature over night here was about 10 degrees warmer that other areas nearby (we were at about 51 degrees at night but areas closer to Rush Creek Lodge and on Evergreen Road were in the 40’s.

• 

  Maile H.

  Traveler

  

  May. 29, 2024

  Hardin Flat Road

  Unlabeled road and awesome

  Kind of hard to find the road i just had to guess based on the pin point but i guessed right and immediately saw spots. i turned left and there were a few spots didn't explore to the right.

  So beautiful great place to stop in order to get into the park early if you don't have a reservation

• 

  DJ M.

  Guide

  

  Aug. 11, 2024

  Hardin Flat Road

  Pine and Cedar forest

  All wheel drive, okay. Large grounds, many motorbike and trails, permit required (bikes). Camped upper level. Please pack in, pack out, don't make others clean up after you.