Best Glamping near Valencia, CA

We live in the South Bay and went camping here for just one night. It was a quick drive up the coast and onto this hidden gem. You get access to a private beach with gorgeous California hill views of PCH behind you. Perfect place for families or even RVs.

Nice big spots, close to the beach. Very quite. Needs to reserve at California State parks website. Dump station and water fill up on your way out not on the campsite, but thats no issue for us. Wifi not working but good 4G reception. Need tokens for the shower, so showered in the RV.

Great beach camping experience with some minor drawbacks 

We just spent 4 days at Leo Carrillo in site 128 last week. The campground is tucked away in a beautiful canyon setting with lots of shade trees, which was really nice for keeping cool. Our site was spacious enough for our two tents and had a good fire pit and picnic table setup. 

The best part about this campground is definitely the beach access- it's about a 10-minute walk from most sites, and you can explore some amazing tide pools and caves once you get there. The kids loved searching for hermit crabs and sea anemones. Bring a wagon if you're hauling beach gear though, as the walk can feel long with all your stuff. 

Facilities were decent- bathrooms were kept fairly clean and showers worked well, though the token system($2 for 2 minutes) takes some getting used to. The camp store was handy for forgotten supplies and firewood. Cell service is virtually non-existent in the canyon, but you can get signal up at the beach if needed. 

Only downsides were some noisy neighbors on the weekend nights(seems pretty common here given the proximity to LA) and the sites can feel a bit close together when it's fully booked. centimeters to inches Also spotted a few rats at night, so definitely store your food properly. 

Despite the minor issues, we'd definitely come back. It's a great escape from the city with that classic California beach camping vibe. Just book well in advance for summer weekends and maybe bring earplugs if you're a light sleeper. 

Month of Visit: October

Campground review (3 of 5 stars)

The Canyon Campground is located on a spectacular stretch of the PCH just north of Malibu. Like most other California State Parks, it is quite expensive. The sites are located in a dusty coastal sage scrub valley, often right on top of each other.  This place is packed with RVs and families on vacation during the summer, so don't expect to find peace and solitude here. There are full facilities (e.g., showers, camp store), but the $45 per night fee is the highest we've paid for any camping.

One perk is that you can walk to the beach within minutes. Also, one of the few dog beaches in LA is only a couple minutes drive away. Luckily, dogs are allowed in the campground too. If you can look past your nearby neighbors, the views of the nearby Santa Monica Mountains are charming. It's also only a short drive to some spectacular hiking and bouldering. If you bring your crashpad and shoes, the sandbox and temporal boulders are about a 15-30 minute hike upstream, and you certainly won't have any crowds there! Finally, don't forget to reserve your site far in advance (you can do this online), especially for weekends. Otherwise the rangers recommend showing up at 8AM on a Friday or Saturday to try to snag one of the few walk-in sites or a site from cancelled or no-show reservation.

Product review (4.5 of 5 stars)

As a Ranger for the Dyrt, I get to test products for review for some of my camping trips. On this trip, we tested the Matador camera base layer case and the lens base layer. See our demo video, presented by my husband, the photography pro. These are two phenomenal products that offer some sleek protection for your camera and lenses. 

Pros:

• easily removable from bag
• modular designs fit most cameras and lenses
• sleek and unobtrusive
• high-quality and durable material
• super lightweight, adds no weight to carry

Cons:

• no mechanism to clip the camera base layer to the camera or strap, which can be somewhat cumbersome while attempting to take a quick shot
• some larger DSLR cameras may have a small gap on the sides of the base layer that lacks complete protection if the lens is left attached

Overall, these two products provide ample protection while you're trying to snap some great photos in the outdoors. I don't think they provide quite the same level of protection as larger bags with more padding, but that's not what they're aiming for. I felt a tremendous peace of mind having my camera dangling from my neck in the base layer while scurrying down the steep sand dunes, which I certainly wouldn't have felt had I not had the base layer on.

The campground is awesome for local socal residents. There are better lakes nearby for summer sports, but this is a great campground with a lake for the whole family for a relaxing weekend

Cool little spot to over night and do a little fishing

Gorgeous location right on the lake, the waters clear and there’s a generous amount of trees surrounding for shade. I haven’t stayed the night here yet, but when I called the number available the ranger said their process is reserved only at least 24 in advance online $30 a day- quite far from the freedom of pull up and park dispersed camping as it is labeled by other reviews. Maybe that was the case in the past but not today as of 4/1/21.

Property is very clean and there are picnic tables and fire pits available. Just stopped by to check it out but I will definitely be back. Would recommend :)!

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.

Took mY large family for a week. The kids did not miss there video games at all. Fishing was fantastic, hiking was breath taking. Loved every minute. Two lakes lower lake had 24 hour fishing.

Came here expecting to have camping fun on the lake — no such luck. Swimming only allowed at their “swimming beach” and only while life guard on duty. And to use my inflatable kayak, I have to use their boat launch and pay a $9.00 fee. Honestly, I’m so miffed at this no fun allowed rent begging garbage, I’m looking for a motel, because all there is to do here is sit in a dirt patch in 100 degree heat with no shade, looking at a lake you can’t touch. Won’t ever come here or any campsite run by LA County again

Camp host very helpful and knowledgeable

Great place to camp the bathrooms were clean and the lake is only 50 or 60ft for the camp site.

Your camp site will be small, and close to one another. You can not swim where you’re camping. If you’d like to swim you have to drive all the way across the lake to swim in the designated area, and hope they’re open that day. Also, there is absolutely NO drinking alcohol allowed. I went there a couple times with my family and it seems there’s a lot of homeless living there. They’re up late at night walking around, fighting with their significant others and sometimes the police are called. Every night I stayed there the police would casually drive by everyone’s spot. There aren’t any good pictures of the sites...but try to imagine a street with parking spots on both sides, each parking spot is a campsite. Some areas have grass and some don’t. Good thing is all spots have a picnic table and a bonfire hole and bathrooms are pretty clean. You’re close to your car and the view of the water is a plus too.

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.

Really nice grassy area at the lower lake lots of shade. Fills up really fast!

Hardly anyone there when I went in March and felt like I had the place to myself! Hot showers and picnic table available. Just a 1 min walk down the hill to the lake - a perfect place to have my morning coffee! They allowed pets which is awesome. Super quiet, lots of stars, and a beautiful view. Couldn’t ask for better!

We stayed in Loop A on a Thursday night in July. For us, it was a convenient overnight stop. It was a lot less crazy/ crowded than we expected for an LA County campground in the middle of summer! This site is on the lagoon, not the main lake, but had nice views and a good breeze in the heat. Very minimal space, not much shade. But the real issue was that the bathroom stalls in our loop (A) had no doors. I also doubt they are cleaned daily, though it wasn't terrible. Being close to the city, there were a ton of people meandering around, but they all seemed to be doing their own thing (e.g fishing or just walking), few suspicious characters. Lots of families and kids made it feel fairly safe for an urban campground. Not our favorite, but we would stop over here again in a pinch.

There are two camping lots here, the Upper and the Lower campgrounds. Both seem to be more geared for RV use, the Upper lot is almost completely asphalt and pretty exposed to the sun. I wasn’t a fan. The Lower lot however has ample shade and there’s enough room at some sites to comfortably put a tent. There are clean flush toilets, water and fire pits available. Also multiple hiking trails right from the grounds, and some playgrounds and basketball courts. Feels very family friendly. First come first serve spots and you make reservations online. Overall a pretty solid little campground tucked away from but still close enough to the city.

I just finished booking our second stay at Oak Park, and this time we're celebrating Christmas. The park is kept well groomed, and the lower lot is loaded with shade. I'm betting we'll be coming back, again, after our up-coming reservation. A big shout-out to the camp host for doing such a great job.