Best Glamping near Taft, CA

At first, we thought it was a tad pricey but after you realize what all you’re paying for ya wonderful!

We had an RV, two cars. and a tent and they allowed us to use one spot, for $30 a night! Which is pretty rare!

SUPER fast wifi(if that’s your thing, we were here for a little under two weeks, so it was nice!), electric hookups, picnic table and fire pit! AMAZING bathrooms and coin showers as well as coin laundry!

The ADORABLE town of Ojai is a quick 5 min drive up the road with anything you could ever want! The camp host is an amazing older guy, who’s incredibly friendly and takes pride in this campground!

They lock the gates at night (you can still get in and out!) so you feel safe, they allow pets, and even though it’s buy a road you don’t hear any noise at night!

Perk (or maybe not a perk if you’re not into it), it’s one of the most haunted campgrounds in the US!

I prefer primitive or dispersed camping because I usually like as much privacy as I can get when I'm camping, but with current fire restrictions I was limited to developed campsites if I wanted a campfire (and what's the point of camping without a campfire?). I was also planning the trip on short notice, so developed, reserveable campsites were in short supply. Then I found Reyes Creek.

The campground is very isolated. It's about a 40 minute drive from the nearest town (and therefore the nearest gas station or market - plan ahead). There is no power, or water. There's no cell service in the camp, but a 5 minute drive up the mountain there's a dirt lot they call the 'phone booth' that gets decent reception. The camp hosts were super friendly and helpful. There are 2 loops for campsites - the center of the main loop seemed pretty flat, but all the sites were visible to your neighbors. Sites on the outside of the main loop offered more privacy, but most appeared to not be very level, and not necessarily well laid out. I stayed in site 11 on the outside of the loop which was large and fairly quiet, but my 6 person tent just barely fit in between some trees which offered some shade and was only on a slight angle. The one downside was the bathrooms - vault toilets that varied in condition, but none that I used were particularly good. If bathroom condition is a major sticking point with you, you may want to look elsewhere.

As an added bonus, as isolated as the place is, right outside the entrance to the campground is a bar & grill called the Camp Scheideck Lodge. They have a full bar and great food (and the customer-only bathroom is a great step up from the campground). It just changed owners last month (second time in a couple years) and the new owner, Devin, is friendly and welcoming.

The temperature varies greatly from day to night (90's to 50's when I was there) and there are bugs a plenty, so bring repellant. Firewood is available at the camp, and ice is available at the lodge.

So if you want a little isolation with privacy, a campfire, and a friendly bar within walking distance, this place is for you. I'll definitely be coming back.

I have been coming to this campground annually since around 2009, and I've loved every trip. The campground is on the larger side, filled with grassy and shaded sites all throughout it. There is a general store, clean bathrooms, and showers.

The campground is based on a peninsula that juts into the lake, therefore it has waterfront campsites on both sides, and all the sites in the middle are only a matter of 2-3 campsites from a water's edge. When you first enter the campground, there are a few day use only spots near the general store. All campsites at the base of the peninsula are the ones that families tend to stick to, as there is a pool, its close to the store, and that is the only area on the campground with full and partial hookups. As you travel up the peninsula, limited Yurts and Cabins are along the waterfront. Most yurts have a foot trail down to the water. The Yurt I stayed in (we camped 3 nights and had a yurt the last two) slept 4-6 people, 6 if you have kids. Yurts do not have bathrooms. It has electricity and heat, two bunk beds, a view of the lake, a wrap- around patio with chairs, picnic table, fire pit, water source, grill, and ample parking space. I have never stayed in a cabin here before but they look really nice.

The general store is filled with pretty much anything you could ask for. About 3 rows of dry grocery goods, 1 refrigerated section including a very impressive selection of local craft beers, ice machine, firewood, smores stuff, fishing poles/ odd's and end's, candy, trinkets and gifts, propane, camping supplies, cooking supplies, stationary, etc. The wine selection, on the other hand, is sub-par; so a stop in SB on the way up is a must if you need wine! Keep in mind the store closes week days at 4 and weekends at 5 if i'm not mistaken.

I think the main thing that keeps this campground so peaceful (other than their strictly enforced quiet hour from 10pm-7am) is the fact that NO SWIMMING, speedboats, wake boarding or waterskiing is allowed in the lake because is is a source of drinking water in the area. That being said, you are more than welcome to rent a 4 or 6 person fishing boat or 6-10 person pontoon boat for the day or hourly at the marina fishing store. The lake is open to fish until 6pm if you have a vehicle or are on a boat- a park ranger will come around at 6 and let everyone with a car know its time to go. However, if you walk to the marina, you could fish all night for all they care. You can also purchase fishing licenses for the day, 2 days, or year, at a reasonable price (I got a year pass it was $53.74) along with endless fishing lures, bait (including live), hooks, line, and poles. In regards to actually catching fish- In the past years I always rented a boat and i caught a lot of bass and carp, an occasional rainbow trout. This time I had plenty luck from certain parts of shore! Tons of beautiful 3 lb rainbow trout and 2 lb crappie! The limit was 10 per person, and people around us definitely caught their limit, but we were conservative and only caught what we needed for the day. Some fish bite more in certain areas of the lake than others, if you don't mind to hike a mellow/ moderate journey you'll find plenty of little coves within a reasonable distance of the campground. If you're looking for a bit more strenuous of a journey word has it there is a trail that goes all the way around the perimeter of the lake- I, however, have not hiked the trail, as my husband and I were backpacking into the campsite and that was an adventure in its self and I was exhausted!

Like I mentioned before, the bathrooms and showers are very clean. No mirrors in the bathroom, there are multiple bathroom buildings throughout the campground along with the showers. Showers are individual rooms that have a locking door. Showers are pay showers, so bring a lot of quarters if you plan to stink pretty. I think it was $1.50 for 3 minutes.

Another note: This campground is near the water (the lake and the ocean) and you're in the mountains; which means it will be generally pretty windy (bring chapstick!). The wind dies down midday and at night. If you're trying to light a fire when the sun is setting- good luck. 20 minutes later- you're golden. It also gets very cold at night! I'm form Southern California, so by cold I mean mid to low 40's, then add wind- yikes. On the contrary, bring sun screen for the day- cause it gets pretty warm! I'm still suffering the repercussions of not wearing any after fishing all day lol.

Overall the campground is aesthetically pleasing on many levels. From the abundance of grass (no dirt sites), trees, rolling hills of knee high grass, blooming flowers, wildlife (ground squirrels, birds including california condors, blue jays, hawks, etc.), and, of course, the gorgeous cascading mountains plummeting straight into the lake, there's not a thing about this campsite I couldn't love.

We usually come here to ride our off road bikes, but this time decided to stay for the weekend without our bikes. There area is large and ample where you don’t have to be next to each other unless that is what you want. There are some areas that are fenced with picnic tables and pergolas with outhouses and trees, and other areas that are not. You have the option of choosing what you would like. We found a nice spot a good distance away from the camping circles and the bathrooms for dry camping, which allowed us to have some more privacy but still enjoy the views of the riders. Night time was also great, clear skies, bright moon and stars, and neon glow of the lights of the off road vehicles. Plus we brought out glow sticks which also added to the fun. Nice morning wake up call from coyotes. Breakfast outside our rv in the morning with bacon and eggs.

I will include pictures of other times we have been here and stayed in other spots so that you may get an idea of other areas within this large place.

First: the bad… it was so windy and cold. Make sure you bring warm clothes!

The good: nice level site, full hookup, picnic table, trees.. (hookup sites don’t have fire pits) Biking/hiking trail was nice:) And can bike and walk around campground! It’s a very big place to explore:) Great disc golf course!! Free to play! The store has camping items, some food (overpriced but that’s expected) , souvenirs, gas… We wanted to get propane when checking out, but nobody in the store knew how to do it, so we were told to come back in 1.5 hours, but we were leaving. It was too windy and cold to fish, which is why we went there:( check the forecast and any wind advisories!! Great restaurant, lots of space to explore. No human contact with the water. Don’t expect to swim.

Reyes creek is beautiful! Great camping spots, beautiful creeks & hikes, cute abandoned town for a photo opp and awesome camp host. We ended up in group site 1 due to Covid they can’t have big groups and it was spacious and great for our doggos to have a big area. There are 3 neighborhood dogs that come and go through your campsite but they are sweet pups and don’t cause any trouble. The abandoned town is a 3 minute walk from camp and really interesting. Some camp spots are right on the creek and the running water is a peaceful background noise for your trip. Highly recommend!

This is a huge campground that is broken into sections. A nice feature, (we did not take advantage of), is there is a water slide park near the entrance. As far as I know, this is a separate fee, but nothing astronomical. You can fish at Lake Casitas, and when we were there, the water levels were very low due to the drought. There was a nice playground within walking distance from where our site was that the kids enjoyed. We had a spigot nearby to wash our dishes, and there are flushing toilets and pay showers. There were also chemical toilets as well. We went in the middle of the summer, and of course, it was very hot. Thankfully we had our canopies to provide extra shade. Fire pits are at each site, as well as picnic tables. We had a nice time, but for us, this place was a little too big for our liking. I would go back, but I prefer smaller camp grounds.