Best Tent Camping near San Marino, CA

Cottonwood is for the true RV’ers. Lakeside is more for tent camping. Nice park for family camping.

The first thing you should know about Tapo Canyon Park is that for actual tent camping, you will be in either decomposed granite or concrete. The second thing is that there is no cell service and no phone landlines there. 

The park is very nice, and very well maintained. There is a large grass area with an upgraded playground, ample covered picnic area for large groups, and an archery range (private, but open to the public on Saturdays).

The archery range is one of the best in California. There is a members area and the original range is open to the public on Saturdays from 9-1, with a nominal $5 fee.

The campsites are designed for RVs. I have camped here in a tent and there is no way to drive a stake into the ground. The sites are fairly large and well spread out for an RV lot. 

Each site has a fireplace, picnic table, and full hook ups. There is not much shade. The sites are very well maintained daily by the camp host Terri. 

At night you can hear the coyotes calling as they roam the rugged hills, but don't worry it's a very safe park.

I would give the park 4 stars for camping in an RV, 2 stars for tent camping, the facility as a whole is probably a 4.

Bring own gear, tent sites are primative you have to walk to toilet and showers but not far campsites are big enough for more than one family and friends

Lake fishing swimming hiking campfires

Group activities

Our campsite & the bathrooms were clean & well maintained. However the location of tent camping v RV camping is awful. We are tent campers and had a nice spot with a beautiful lake view BUT the RV site was directly in front of the lake between our tent & the lake! So when a monstrous RV drove in all we could see was the side of the thing & we had to go around it to enjoy the view.

Very well maintained campground with RV and tent sites. It’s right on the PCH so you get some great views of the pacific and the beach is just across the highway. It’s a bit noisy since the PCH is a heavily traveled highway and isn’t very remote, if that’s what you’re looking for. Great campground for families.

This is a great small, hike in camp ground with no privy but decent tent sites. There's no running water but the creek is usually running so come prepared with your own water and something to treat the creek water with. Check for fire restrictions and dig your cat holes at least 200 feet from the water. Or bring WAG bags and pack it back out. Very much like Hoegees campground. Good for families abs Scouts.

We stayed at Cabin Flat several years ago, and it's one of the most difficult campgrounds to reach near Wrightwood in the Angeles National Forest. To get here, you need to take the Blue Ridge Trail Road from Inspiration Point off of Highway 2. This road is closed during the winter, as it traverses through Mountain High Ski Resort. That said, the campground itself is very basic. I would not recommend bringing an RV here as the dirt road to get down is winding and bumpy. Tent camping only.

After experiencing both amenities this place is more or less for RVs and 4/10 as for they do have the tent camping on the steep incline and not too many sites but for RVs couldn't be happier plus the people here are nice and friendly you do have your Karen's but you're going to have them everywhere we enjoyed the lake the view the weather it could have been better over here will definitely be returning you can stay for 20 days and then you have to leave for 60 days and that's fine with me I'm looking forward to returning

I can't deduct stars for how crowded it was during Labor Day Weekend. I think it was a treat that we were able to book on a fairly short notice for a holiday weekend. The pool is awesome and huge compared to other campgrounds. It was overly crowded this Labor Day weekend but what do you expect, right? It was hot. They had a live band, movie night, roomy campsites. It was loud and rowdy in the tent camping area but calm in the RV area. I had T-Mobile and had ZERO reception here. I have since dropped T-Mobile and got Verizon because it seems like T-Mobile reception is terrible at most campsites. We are looking forward to going back soon.

Giant oval loop with camp sites all along both sides. Rv sites, tent sites and equestrian (horse) sites. Paved road is good for bike riding. Behind my Camp site was a few different hiking paths. Restroom buildings have water, toilets, and showers. It says to bring quarters for the showers but they were free. Each site is typical... Picnic bench, fire pit, and metal grill. No gathering fire wood, gotta buy it at local grocery or gas station. $20 a night. Lots of families with kids. Feels really safe here. Saw the park rangers driving around and the front has a gate guard who checks you in. Also only 10 minutes away from city.

This is a nice campground. Very close to the city but still with visiting. I’m a van camper so I rented an RV site because I wanted shade trees. The tent camping sites in the first section have very little shade. Maybe one or two sites have shade. You definitely have to bring a canopy. I camped there in Nov2020 it was a nice getaway. The view of the lake is beautiful. I enjoyed seeing all the ducks on the lake. Each campsite has a table and fire ring. The bathrooms have flush toilets and the campground is kept clean and trash cans are emptied daily. It has a fish cleaning area with running water too. Must put away all your food because the raccoons will get into it. Overall it’s a nice local place to camp if you live in Santa Clarita, Ca.

Pros: Large campsites

          Clean-ish toilets

          Lake within walking distance

Cons: Right near highway, noisy

           Lots of flies during the day

           tent sites are very flat          

Last minute trip and decided to check out Lake Campground. There are 8 sites placed on this hilly area, with a vault toilet in the center of the campground. It is located right next to the highway, so it can be pretty noisy during the day as its a popular route for motorcyclists. The campground itself was fairly clean, and all the sites were very large and spaced well away from each other. The sites weren't very flat, so options to set your tent up were very limited. Some sites had some shade, others almost none. There were tons of flies, very active during the daytime, but went away during the evening. The vault toilets were the cleanest I'd seen (For vault toilets) and the staff came through the campgrounds several times a day.

Jackson Lake is a short walk from the campgrounds. It has a nice day use picnic area with coal grills, picnic benches, and four vault toilets (in pretty poor condition). The lake was pretty small and had a stagnant smell to it. Lots of people were fishing, and a few people waded into the waters. I saw people in rafts / kayaks later in the day. The area was covered in fleas so careful with pets.

I have been to this campground twice now. I would love to go back again one day. There is a nice size creek that runs adjacent to the campsites, which appears to run only during snow melt. It was dry one of the times we camped there, the other time it was flowing very good. I would estimate that it was probably around 40-50 feet wide when we went there. You do have to drive through the creek to get to the campground, so a small car probably would not be advisable when it is really flowing. I drove my small Toyota pickup through it with no problem.

A forest adventure pass was required.

Campsites were very clean. Has pit toilets, which were also very clean. No electricity or water at the camp site. No dump station. Has fire rings.

We tent camped both times.

A mother bear and her two cubs did visit us on one of the visits. We did find what looked like mountain lion footprints. There is wild life. No bear containers at the time.

This campground is nestled in a valley/canyon and is next to Fenner Canyon Conservation Camp #41.

There really are no views other than the surrounding trees and landscape, but was still very beautiful.

It is a very quiet place to stay. Depending on the traffic from the nearby Highway 2, you might hear some of that traffic, but it is not bad at all.

At the time of visiting, we did not have cell phone service in that canyon.

Very large park for RV, cabin and tent camping. As it's listed as a "resort", we figured it would be pretty upscale. Disappointment upon our arrival. Floods have been in the area and much of the sites were closed and being cleaned?? The road closest to our site was washed away (from earlier reviews it's been months), so a long jog or drive around the perimeter to get us to the pool, laundry and hot tub…speaking of which, the pool, hot tub and laundry facilities all needed attention. You could actually see people's footprints (bottom of pool and on pool and hot tub entry steps)…that much sand, dirt, etc…I didn't venture in. When we arrived, we started driving around to find the best site for our rig. We're a 32ft class A w/20ft enclosed cargo trailer tow. So, all in all about 55ft. Well, that wasn't easy. Most of the park's electric and some sewer connections didn't exist or were "down" for repair. We have yet to actually SEE someone working on these issues. We are currently here and checked in for a two-week stay. After some boon docking prior to our arrival, we wanted all the bells and whistles the park boasted they had. Took us just over THREE HOURS to find a decent spot. Many levels to this park and most didn't have a decent WiFi (we have our own router) signal. Some sites had dumpsters blocking them from being a true "pull-thru". That left us with about two areas to choose from. It's dusty, dirty, and, really, not ready to be called a "resort"….more rustic than we'd been looking for or what website photos showed. We would not recommend this "resort" to anyone. Several folks with dogs they let simply sit outside and bark, poo, etc….strict rules against that, in most all resorts we've ever visited. Unless you plan on tenting, cabin or what have you, it's not worth it. Very disappointing! :(

Stayed a couple nights here. The staff are all really nice and the campsites were very clean. Flush toilets and hot showers are available for 4 quarvters for every two minutes. Full hookups are available in one campsite for 55 a night. Parking is very limited. At the full hookup campsites you have two small spots, and one spot at the tent camping sites. Also you can't keep your boat and trailer at the marina which still blows my mind. They could make so much money off a nightly fee for parking there. Marina has 4 slips for rent at 15 a night.

Supppsedly your not allowed to have dogs on the beaches, but they were everywhere. I have never seen so many dogs at a lake before. And many off leash with owners oblivious to what they are doing.

15 minute limit for tying off at the boat ramp which is ignored and not enforced. Launching and retrieving boats was a nightmare because of the jet skies that are docked and left there. No one could tie their boats off to get their trailers. We sat for an hour with a group of other boats all waiting for pickup and 5 jet skies were parked there the whole time. Oh and don't forget the people fishing from the launch ramp standing by the no fishing signs.

People ignore the no wake zone and in three days we only saw one boat get called out on it.

Then there's the kids that throw rocks in the water where people are fishing and the jerks on the shore yelling at anyone fishing from a boat in the coves.

It really is a nice lake and campground or would be if the rangers had better rule enforcement in place.

I took my family here for a 5 night stay during the week from Sunday to Friday.

Although the park itself is clean and rangers are nice I did not feel safe with the amount of permanent campers and sketchy characters camping here. There were mostly beat up rv’s with beat up cars next to them and very few families tent camping.

The gates never closed so there were cars coming and going at all hours of the night. The first night we had neighbors right next to us show up at 10:30pm to setup camp. They were extremely loud and didn’t care who heard them. We gave them the benefit of the doubt for a good hour or more thinking once they got their tent up they would quiet down. That never happened. This couple continued being loud and even left in their car at midnight playing loud music to then come back and continue being loud once inside their tent. We could not sleep with their constant talking. At one point they left their campsite on foot and went right through ours. When they returned about an hour later they were laughing and doing who knows what in their tent. They continued their own party until 4:30am.

Although there is a host on site rangers seem to disappear and go home well before 10pm which is considered quiet time.

There was absolutely nothing we could do from our tent. There was no answer when calling so we lost a whole nights sleep.

Once the sun came up we decided to see what these neighbors looked like so we could kindly ask them to be quiet the next night as we were staying 3 more nights. They looked like the type of people who wouldn’t care and we did not want them to retaliate against us. We did talk to the ranger station but they didn’t seem to want to address the situation besides offering a different site for us. We had to tear down everything and move camps. After multiple loading trips we were at our new campsite. We were just happy to be away from those sketchy people.

The next nights we tried to make the best of it but I wasn’t fully comfortable and didn’t feel safe in this campground knowing anyone could just drive in whenever they wanted.

If you’re looking for a safe campground to take your family look at a campground that has a strict quiet policy and a closing time so there is no entry after 10pm.

It’s pretty crazy to be camping among the million dollar homes but thankful we can. It’s a beautifully maintained spot on the cliff overlooking the ocean. So much nicer than many of the Southern California beach spots in that there is a bit more space and it's much nicer than a parking lot. Plus the fantastic benefit of miles of hiking trails right from the back of the campground and the ocean and beach right in front. Something for all. And if you want to go have a posh meal or shopping that’s just a minute away too.

Be sure to go take a look at the Crystal Cove cottages while here, it’s a pretty special spot. Try and hit up the Shake Shack too!

Only downside is not being able to have a fire but we just used our propane portable fire pit. Spots in the back have hookups and spots in the front are tent. The tent spots are a bit nicer and would fit small trailers.