Best Dispersed Camping near San Dimas, CA

Great free camping when campgrounds are booked. Easy to navigate with GPS. Many large and small sites along the road. Some spots more secluded than others.  Smaller rigs, medium clearance and lite off-road capabilities recommended. Good cellular reception in my particular location.

First come first served dispersed camping just outside Big Bear. Near bike trails. Was not crowded mid week, but spots were filling up closer to the weekend. There are a lot of flat spots to choose from.

Specs if this campground are wrong, no toilets/water/etc.

Great for campers that meet 2 criteria 1) You have a Jeep, Truck it similar vehicle that can go off-road. 2) You enjoy dispersed camping (no water/restrooms etc)

If both are yes, this place is amazing.

Deep in nature, beautiful area, no cost and you can almost always find a spot, even on a Saturday in summer.

If you go the the end of 3N06 (main off-road path) there is a good hike that you can take for several hours.

My husband and I were looking for good boondocking spots yesterday and we decided to check out this spot, after finding it on The Dyrt and a few other sites. It's definitely a beautiful place, and most of the road to the site is paved, but the road up to the actual spot is gravel, with lots of potholes and washboard areas, which would make it difficult for an RV. But the biggest issue for RVs is an area of the road that is very steep and immediately turns into a hairpin turn that we didn't even want to try in our 4x4, since the road is very thin and our SUV (a 2009 Nissan Pathfinder) is kind of thick. I'm sure it's probably nothing for people who are used to using their 4x4 for more than regular driving in the snow, etc., but it was too dodgy for us. There is no way that even a Class C rig would be able to take that steep incline and immediately do that sharp turn. And since there's nowhere to turn around in that spot, you'd have to back your rig down the incline and then quite a ways down the pitted, gravel road to get out of it. 

It's full of trees and seems fairly remote, but we had 5 cars pass us as we were backing away from the incline, so it's obviously a busy spot - you wouldn't be there alone, and this was on a Thursday.

First time headed out here and it was a great spot for a disconnected weekend. Trail was fun (definitely needed 4x4) and the sites around has good shade and good size open spots. Best to get there early as possible to secure a spot.

The trail was closed as of May 7, 2023, No idea when it will be open.

The turn is not marked well, in fact the coordinates are a little bit off. If you miss the turn like we did you have to go 5 miles or more to get a turnabout big enough to turn around. You climb a big steep hill to get to the turn in. On the way back down from the turnaround we almost burned out or brakes. We decided not to go to the site because it looked like a one lane road and too tight for our 35 ft bumper pull. Disappointed because pictures from others looked great and it is a beautiful area. We found a spot near the road that I’ll post for others.

It is not a real campground, just a the parking area of a view point. So the view was great. I parked at one end of the area but in the evening lots of couples and teenagers came and the parking area was well used. Some people stood silently admiring the view, while others played loud music. There were also tire tracks on the ground that suggested to me, some young people come here to test their driving skills. I spent the night and no-one took really notice of me. 

There are no toilets, campfire sites or shade but good cell service.

By Rim of the world scenic byway and mormon rocks. Easy in and out but next to train tracks. Quick stop friendly ;)

We didn't follow the directions all the way to the pin, there was plenty of parking on the way. There is some garbage, target shooting in the distance and the occasional maniac driving through too fast and kicking up lots of dust. Generally it was quiet.