We enjoyed staying at Mt. Ashland. It is a marked campground that is FREE. Simply follow the road past the ski area and you will find it. All of the spots with fire rings were full when we got there, but there was space to park in the turnoffs or off-road past the campground for more private camping spots. It was quiet and peaceful. We stayed one night and we would stay there again! Great view from the mountain.

Lovely place, lovely drive in. Spots are scattered and hard to find at night. Had dear running around while I was setting up the tent. Pit toilets, hiking close by, accessible in any vehicle.

clean spots hiking nearby

I stayed at Mt. Ashland Campground on the second night of my month long backpacking adventure along the Oregon section of the PCT. Therefore, I accessed it completely on foot and didn't have lots of amenities with me. That being said, this was a decent Forest Service campground. Let me start off with the the positives. 1) It is free! You can stay in Forest Service run campgrounds for up to 14 days within a 30 day period which is awesome. 2) Easy access via car. You can drive right up to the spots and there is at least one parking spot per site. 3) The views are amazing of Shasta. We had a beautiful sunset and clear skies so Shasta was glorious. 4) It has all your basic amenities for a campground: pit toilets, picnic tables, fire pits (some are normal pits and some are cooking pits). Now the negatives: 1) It is free so you can get an interesting group of people staying there and there is no reservation system. So, if you get there late you could possibly be SOL for a spot. 2) There is no water. Remember to bring your own or you can walk to the bottom of the road and filter in a slow seasonal stream. Related to this, there is no camp host so you need to provide any wood for fires. 3) The pit toilets were not really maintained. They were there which is great but not very clean or supplied.

All that being said, it was a great site that I would visit again if I was car camping. The views were great and the spots were spaced out enough that you didn't feel right on top of your neighbor. The spots were relatively small, however. One perhaps two tents max. It also lends itself to some great sections of the PCT and other hiking trails.