Best Glamping near Onyx, CA

Beautiful spot. Old school mountainside camping in the tall trees. Campsites are around 6,000’, pit toilets, grills, steel fire pits, picnic tables and potable water taps. We spent a night in late May and there were only a few other sites occupied on a Wednesday night. This is a hidden gem. It was 100 in Mojave and 70 in the TMP. Gorgeous tall evergreens and some larger oaks, a few might be old growth? ***Note: this is not a place for large RVs or trailers. The road in is tight and twisty with no shoulders and some trees and rock faces snug up against it. The campground is very steep, the roads are one lane and very very curvy. Some sites are very near each other, others are more dispersed. There are large groups sites.

Kern River is a great place in the hot California Desert. This place has everything to make you feel at home. Several large sites for tents or RV's , bathrooms with full showers, a pool, splashpad and water play area. They have these weird Banana bikes which were fun. I was in complete heaven when I saw the coffee bar! There is a big pavilion with cooking areas for everyone!

This is close to several nearby attractions. They offer great wifi services. Great places if you have little ones. so much to do and all of the staff was wonderful.

They have Cabins too! I didnt stay in them but they are pretty cute.

While our first impressions were terrible (we did not love our originally reserved site - #33), once we moved to another available spot and started exploring, we ended up having the time of our lives. 

The campground itself left a lot to be desired (lots of trash, half the sites are extremely rocky / sandy with little shade, some sites have rotting or broken picnic benches and very little privacy, and there is only one place for trash upon exit), but every site has a beautiful view of the mountainside and the stars, and if you get one of the good sites along the river, you're a few steps from the best part during the summer: swimming in the Kern River. 

We stayed at site #29, where (like sites #25, #27, #28 & #30), there were nice, flat, soft surfaces to pitch your tent under the trees just beyond where you park your vehicles for privacy and shade. From these gems, the river is just a short, 1 or 2 minute walk to the River. Though nice to be near the water spouts and bathrooms, we would not recommend sites (#3-19, #22, #24, #26) Further down the river, we noticed that sites opened up a bit more and had much more space and shade, AND that the river was a lot closer - all great for larger groups and especially those with children. If we were to come back, we'd probably choose site #47 which had two shaded, flat places right near the site and was only a few steps from the river - which had a nice shaded space for chairs along it. Only downside for being on the end is that you're next to the Day Use entry point from the road.

The camp hosts, Michelle and Darren were wonderful. Kept things clean and were on top of managing the campground. I only give this three stars because there was no running water and the location was quiet but there wasn’t much to do unless you’re an avid hiker. There was no cell service with Verizon but that’s why we get away right? It was directly across from the trail of 100 giants which was highly trafficked every day. We stayed in site 9 and if you have a back in trailer, you may want to drive in the wrong direction to be able to angle things properly. Overall nice campground and enjoyed exploring this little piece of heaven.

Review

Made reservation on Recreation.gov. Arrived at 4pm. Sites are said to be assigned upon arrival. Camp host was the only tent found pitched in the entire campground. It’s during the pandemic and some places are closed. Campground sign said full. Yelled to see if anyone was there in the campsite and no answer from the camp host. Left a voicemail with campground to let them know my name and reservation info and I have was going to look for a spot. Picked a spot with shade - very few available. Some trees, but not large Sequoias like you may expect since it’s near the Sequoia National Forest. This place is desert hot and might be a bit miserable for folks to just hangout here. There’s no hookups. It’s near Lake Isabella. Went to bed and didn’t see a camp host that evening. ANTS!! So many ants in my camper in the morning. Ack!! Talked to a waitress in town and she says the campground I was at is known for an ant problem. Had to get diatomaceous earth at the hardware store in town along with ant traps galore now that my camper was overrun. Find out from the locals this campground has a reputation for being bad. I had to reconsider my plan to stay there and went elsewhere... so frustrating.