Best Dispersed Camping near Woodlake, CA

Dispersed camping at a Yellow Post campsite was great. About 4 mi. of washboard dirt road past Heart Bar Campground to Yellow post site #6. No amenities other than a picnic table and a fire ring. That means, bring plenty of water and a port-a-potty. There is no fee, however, you need to go on line to get a fire permit, which is necessary even for a propane stove. Actually, the fire permit is for anything that has a flame. This trip was over Labor Day weekend of 2022 and the use of the fire pit was forbidden at that time due to high fire hazard conditions. The campsites are quite far apart so you feel a sense of privacy. However, you will see vehicles and or horses go by on the road next to the campsite. Some of the vehicles drive fast on the dirt road which can kick up dust clouds. This is only a problem if you are downwind. The temperature was about 83 for a high and 55 for a low and the wind was light and comfortable. We were glad we had our canopy. The canopy has bug screens on 4 sides but the bugs were not too bad. We used lemon grass bug spray repellent and were comfortable. This campground is away from light sources making it great for stargazing. We enjoyed the campsite so much that we just hung out and relaxed there all weekend ...no hikes or trips away from the campsite. We hung a couple of hammocks with tarps for shade but backed our teardrop under a naturally shaded area of the campsite. We will probably camp there again. If you are not into dispersed camping, there are several campgrounds nearby. Heart Bar campground is huge with amenities and South Fork Family Campground is nice with more shade and a small stream running through. The parking for rv's at South Fork is a bit short at some of the campsites. Best to check the length for a match with your gear. This area is great for camping but make sure you have everything you need as there is no grocery store at the corner. Happy camping..!

This camping site is a nice free area super close to the Giants Trail entrance (5 minute drive). As you head in you go thru a little dirt road and at the end you see an opening for this site. There is one site located right at the start of the access road but with no views. The main area is cleared to pitch your camping tent. There are no trash cans around or toilets (closest is entrance of Giants trail) but trash may be near at the other camp sites. I did have to put my trash in the tree with a rope about 20-50ft away just for safety. Make sure you don’t keep anything smelly in your tent or around your truck because there is a local bear that comes by in the middle of the night when everyone’s sleeping. The Bear didn’t tamper with my ground tent but I ended up sleeping in my camper due to it being too cold. Although, I did hear the next campers yell out bear for safety. But nothing to worry about if you pack in and pack out and are respectful. The stream and meadow is beautiful. I would recommend this to anyone looking to have a secluded quite area that some ppl may not come to due to the friendly bear wink.

This camping area is at the end of dirt road Route 21S69, there is a sign for Dome Rock. It's very close to Ponderosa, a small town(?) with a general store and lodges, so that makes it super convenient if you need to buy some standard supplies.

At the end of the dirt road there is a parking area. You can camping anywhere in this area, no fee. Just make sure to apply for a fire permit ahead of time. There are NO facilities at this campground - no bathrooms or trash even. That said, it is a beautiful area, especially if you want to rock climb or hike with great views, including The Needles. Rock climbing info for the area can be found here.

Keep in mind that this location is at ~7,000ft elevation, so the temperatures will be cooler here, and you should plan accordingly.

We stopped here after we found that all the sites along the Kern were full. It is just North of Johnsondale and just South of the National Forest. Easy driving access to Trail of a Thousand Giants, Moro Rock, and views of the Needles. 

We camped out under the stars just after sundown and got up right after Sunrise. No one else camp out near our spot. The road is littered with turn offs for easy and free dispersed camping.

Closest bathrooms are either on the Trail of a Hundred Giants (there is a campground there too but it is closed in Winter) or down in Johnsondale.

This is one of my go to campgrounds when you want to do it all. Camping, fishing, swimming. At the moment it is closed for camping, it’s been closed for 2 years but I just heard it will be opening again in November. Yay. Please make sure to pack all your trash that is the reason it’s been closed so many people leaving toilet paper everywhere. Dig a hole and do your business in that hole only lol. This is a dispersed campground so no toilets or water anywhere besides the creek. It’s so nice hearing the creek at night. There is trout in the middle creek and they are a descent size. Great catch to BBQ some fresh trout. If you walk across you will come across a beautiful waterfall. You can use a donut floaty and slide right down. So much fun times here. This are is a descent size in a first come first serve basis. Once open you will have a lot of people camping next to you. Also wear bug spray, many mosquitoes and flies here.

This is a really nice area for camping on the side of the road here, but we only could've squeezed our 39ft Class A into maybe 2 of these spots.  Usually when a dispersed site is marked Big Rig Friendly, we'll find that there is a large paved or gravel area for us to pull into and setup before you get to dirt road or off-road sites. There is a large paved area at this location, but we received a warning citation the next day, stating that we weren't allowed to camp there.  It's confusing because this is the exact same setup as any other "snow play" or "sno-park" areas that have allowed camping in the gravel or paved areas area. 

The paved area does have a couple of small stakes that say "no camping", but in our past dispersed camping experiences, those were used to mark areas where tents and vehicles couldn't pull off-road to camp.  Apparently those stakes refer to the paved area in this case?  There wasn't any reasoning provided on our citation, other than "find another area to camp."