Best Cabin Camping near Stevinson, CA

If you’re doing the long drive from the Bay Area to LA, a nice place to stay is Mercey Hot Springs.  It takes about 20 minutes to get there from the freeway and is in the middle of nowhere.  Camping is $50 per person, but it gives you access to the pool and the hot tubs.  There are both clothing optional hot tubs and hot tubs for bathing suits.  The best campsites are the ones with no hook-ups.  They are under the trees and right next to the pool.  The RV sites with hook-ups are in an open field area with no tree cover.  There are also airstreams and cabins available to rent.  Camping gives you 24 hour access to the hot tubs.  There is no food available here and the closest town is 30 minutes away so be sure to come prepared.  There is also a sauna and a nice hike up in the hills.  Nice quiet place. Everyone is super chill and no one really bothers you about swimming after hours.

Cabin had bunk beds. Small refrigerator

FHU and Electric/water sites. Also has cabins, yurts, covered wagons you can rent. Has pool, playground and petting zoo. Well kept and easy to work with

2 adults and 1 kid in the basic cabin over Easter weekend a few years ago. We really enjoyed our stay and the property. Petting zoo animals were adorable. Nice location to Yosemite. Friendly interactions with staff.

It wasn’t as nice as the photos depicted. Water shortage? The grasses were long and dried up, there appears to have been a wooden bridge as a shortcut to the pool/restroom/laundry room/Deli, but no longer. The restrooms were barely tolerable and the woman’s had a bad odor. There’s a dishwashing station that is no longer serviceable, just a stainless sink set in a covered table with no water or even plumbing to include drains. You have to pay for WiFi and sometimes the signal drops. For the cost of the campground the WiFi should be free! Lesser known campgrounds even have free WiFi. There are Conestoga Wagons, Cabins and Yurts. None were occupied. Reason?

With a pool, petting zoo, a corral where they have a fire and s'mores followed by a movie, this is a great place to camp with the kids.

The showers are free and usually clean although on Saturday evening the campground was full and the bathrooms were dirty and out of TP.

There are tent sites, RV sites and cabins so something for everyone.

There were A LOT of stray cats on the property which kind of drove our dog crazy. But at least the campground is pet friendly.

If you plan to go into Yosemite NP, it's a long drive so plan accordingly. Our family really enjoys Rainbow Pools and Yosemite Pine's proximity to Rainbow Pools is part of why we stay here. The kids can jump and swim there and that's all they really want to do anyway so being close to that is key for us. So many of the places in the park where we used to get in the water do not allow swimming anymore.

It’s a cozy place with boat rentals! Plenty of shade and bathrooms available. Only reason got 4 star is the constant blue-green algae, making the water unavailable for swimming. Regardless of that, you can still fish and go on boat rides.

Full hookups, close to the lake

Pretty dry in the summertime, lots of foxtails, so be aware if you have fur babies. Flies were a bit of a problem. The lake was beautiful and refreshing. Would come back again but maybe early spring. Our campsite was set up a little backwards. The picnic table and bbq and hookups were on the oppisite side of our trailer door. But only noticed this at our site.

I guess if you stayed on the water it might be nice but the campground itself was pretty bad. 1st they have blocked any phone signal so even with my WeBoost I could not work from here. 2nd the flies were horrible. 3rd my site was across from overflowing trash can. 4th the hookups are on the wrong side so you can't back in where you should. The photos on their website are very deceptive. They shot them so your site looks close to the water but it's not. If there's a problem there is no one you can call. I was tired, it was late, and I had to leave and drive down to Merced and sleep in Lowe's pkg lot. 2 stars because I emailed them, and they did give me a refund. I guess if you're local and this is all you know.....

Awesome

I chose Casa De Fruta because of their Passport America discount. I had to be in the area for a day, so I’ve decided to try this one. It was half price for three nights. It is an older park, it has seen better days but the RV sites are full-hookup and concrete.

I saw lower sites that looked like tent sites, it is perfect if you want less highway noise. There are some“permanent resident” sites in the back of the park. Bathrooms are kept clean. They have a pool, but it is not heated, so I couldn’t use it in October. It was in the ’70s during the day and pretty cold during the night. 

I had to use my small heater to keep myself warm. It’s a great weekend place for families with cute fruit and candy stores, carousels for the kids, little train, and animals. The weekend I came there was a Rennesaince Faire in the back and I’ve heard there are other fun festivities going on in the area, like the Garlic Festival, Strawberry Festival etc. One funny thing happened, I locked my bike to the bench but I lost the key. The office was kind enough to have maintenance to come out and help me. They cut my lock and finally, I was able to get my bicycle back. Typical me!🙂 Overall, I had a good time at the park, not much to do after you visit the little stores, but it is perfect for a night or two stays.

To be honest, I didn't experience much of the campground, but that parts that I did were above my expectations. A friend and I went in March of 2021 to ride the mountain bike trails. I reserved our spots on-line with no knowledge of the layout aside from the PDF map. It turns out I picked a nicely isolated spot with great hill top views. 

Down the hill from us - about 1/8 mile - was a nicely maintained bathroom. as my buddy said, it was a 4.5 of 5 stars. It was clean, smelled good and, get this, had nice toilet paper! This was a pleasant surprise after a night of tacos and beer. 

Our spaces were basic, but included covered picnic benches. These came in handy for drying our wet biking clothes.

Shortly after our arrival the nice ranger rolled by to say hi. I imagine he may have had other objectives, but since you can't get in without passing through the ranger station I can't imagine it was to check our permit. 

The place was not crowded (rain was in the forecast, and the forecast was accurate), so we can't tell what it's like when full. The rain didn't impact the trails much - they drain well and have a lot of sand it seems - so we rode upon arrival, again after a few beers that afternoon, again the next morning and again after a couple beers that afternoon. On day 3 I stuck around by myself just to enjoy the solitude. It was a good move. 

During our stay I think there was a fishing competition. Down the hill and around the corner was a boat launch and that place looked to have some activity. Regardless, the lake wasn't obnoxiously noisy as some lakes can become. 

Overall we were very pleased with the camping and the trails. I know the area gets really hot in summer, so it may not be great then. We plan to return in the fall after the height of camping season subsides and the temps becomes moderate.

Since my initial visit in 2021 I've been back 4 or 5 times now. I guess that means I like it.

Generally, it's a great place - especially for mountain biking fans. Perhaps also for fishing and other activities, but that's outside my scope of interest. 

On my first return visit I went to the same spot as the first visit. It was a bad choice - crowded and full of RVs who ran their generators all night long. The next morning I scouted out some better spots. The ranger was quite accommodating and allowed me to move to a quiet spot on top of a hill. This area has become my "go to" as it's close to the Exchequer trailhead and away from boaters. 

Subsequent visits have been much better.

Could be a 5 star place, but shade is hard to come by in some areas and some clusters of camp sites get noisy when they're used by groups. 

None of my complaints will stop me from going again - the trails are great and keep getting better.

The photos are from various visits.

beautiful lake and lots of fun!