Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Mono Hot Springs, CA

Before my trip here, I was worried about the lack of reviews. It was the first time my in-laws were going to be out in the wild!

However, I enjoyed this campground. It was a perfect place for stargazing! Reservations for the sites are non-specific. I'm thankful my big family got a double site (#14). It was huge. My family and I were in awe of the view the entire drive there. Bring dramamine and roll your windows down if you get motion sickness. I loved how spaced out each site was from each other. A lot of bats love to fly around at night. No cell service for some providers, but AT&T had service. Bring plenty of water for drinking, cooking, washing, etc.

This campground is about 1.5-2 hours from Shaver Lake, about 15 minutes from Edison Lake, 20 minutes from Mono Hot Springs(they have a store with ice), a short walk to the small creek. I'm not sure if you can swim in the creek--I wouldn't--but I saw an employee adding nets of fish inside. 

FYI: A bear cub even walked through the campground searching for food one afternoon. Throw your trash away and don't leave food out. When dumping your trash, please lift the entire lid. During my stay here, the front half was stuffed and the back half was empty.

My wife and I took a trip up for just the weekend. The drive is pretty interesting once you get to the single lane road. We didn’t stay in the campgrounds but we did get to experience the dispersed camping. If you go up to Mono Hot Spring and don’t have a reservation there are plenty of campgrounds both before and after the main mono hot spring campgrounds.

There’s a store and a burrito shop in Mono Springs. The store has a decent amount of supplies. Due to Covid-19 the burrito shop is closed but the store is still open.

Dog friend which is huge for my wife and I sense we take Teddy (our dog) everywhere with us. They have water bowls for the pups and an area outside the burrito shop to tether your pups at.

Great campsites - deep, lots of space, and quiet. The most remote location I've ever driven into - Kaiser Pass Rd. is a thing unto itself. Really cool chatting up some PCT and JMT hikers as they "laid over" at VVR next door. And we enjoyed some time at Mono Hot Springs, +/-5 mi back down Kaiser Pass Rd. Didn't catch any fish...but I think we probably had to meander a little further away from camp for the good fishing. Kids were playing in the [known] good fishing spots along San Joaquin River...so that was a bust. Oh - P.S. there were most-definitely bears!

Located about 3 miles before Florence lake off of Kaiser Pass Road is this beautiful campground. Each site has a picnic table, fire pit, bear box, and tons of trees that offer shade throughout the day. Half of the camp sites go along the lake itself. The other half of the sites go along the other side of the road and you can see a beautiful view of Ansel Adams Wilderness. At night you have the most beautiful view of the start sky. I would strongly suggest to bring insect/mosquito repellent because you definitely will get bit up a lot due to the standing water from the lake. The campsite is $23 a night, has at least one vault toilet, is dog friendly. You are close to Florence lake, groceries, hiking trails, and Mono Hot Springs too. It is definitely child friendly as well. Our one year old loved seeing the stars at night and the blue jay that liked hanging out at our campsite. I would also suggest if you come at night to drive slower than normal along the road at the campsite because you can easily miss an empty site and since Jackass Meadows is closed due to flooding and the beetle, Ward lake is the closest alternative.

I love Rancheria campground! It is a great place to stay for a week or longer and go explore all the surrounding area has to offer! There is already so much to do at the lake as well but the other lakes and hikes in the area are some of my favorite! It is also a great place for fishing. The campground is on the opposite side of the lake from the marina and store and cabins. Making it a little quieter and more peaceful, I prefer to try and get a site that is not as close to the lake sometimes as there is less foot traffic past your site then. No matter where your site is ots not far to the lake, it is nice to have bikes as the roads through the campground are well maintained. There are vault tiolets and some flush tiolets, water and bear boxes. Also firepits and tables. Summer time is very busy and extremely busy on the weekends but there is so much space that you can get away from others if you want or go to the marina side and rent kayaks and boats. Very clean, very safe, lots of families. Near mono hot springs! Definitely recommend giving it a try if you like camping with a little more amenities.

If you read a few of the other reviews there is mention of the road getting to Mono Hot Springs.  You can't describe enough what a crazy road it is.  Do not take the warnings lightly.  Your first drive down this road will leave you white knuckled.  But so worth it!

I was taking a fly fishing trip in the morning and figured I would camp the night.  All campsites were taken.  But there are tons of other sites that you can just set up camp.  Basically pull off any area and set up camp.

I ended up sharing a campsite with a couple adventure riders for the first night and second night set up camp with the fly fishing guide just off to the side of the main campground.

In the campground each site had a fire ring, cooking area and bear box.

The camp host was amazing and so sweet!  She even gave me some tips on where to fish.

Pit toilets but super clean and no stink at all.  Again the camp host does an amazing job.

They also offer cabins, an amazing restaurant, a little country type store and a spa type area, or so I am told I did not check that out.

There are a couple hot springs you can walk to, again I did not check those out.

I was there for fishing.  

The river runs right close to the campsites and it is amazing fishing, I was told that it gets stocked often.

But the real gem is taking a drive around the roads around the area and finding more hidden fishing spots.