It’s beautiful here! Clean sites, vault toilets, potable water, picnic tables, trash service, lots of firewood for sale from the nearby farms (you‘ll need it because everything else is driftwood). About half the sites are next to the river with a path down but there’s also a nice short trail on the right side that takes you to a riverbed, perfect for taking a dip or doing dishes. There’s a picnic area but no one was using it and lots of people were using the campsites for day use then leaving. It did fill up at night though (even on weekdays). I went down to the much more popular Salt Creek area to take a shower ($0.25/2 min) and I definitely prefer this campground- much more privacy and trees, plus it’s free with Discover Pass ($5/day or $30/year)! Pretty easy to get to Port Angeles (Safeway, Walmart), and right between several sections of Olympic NP. There’s a restaurant in Joyce called Blackberry Cafe; we didn’t make it there, but were told they have the best fruit pies. Also very close to Murdoch Beach.

We got here late at night after not being able to find multiple other campgrounds we were looking for, and were very happy that there was signage all the way there and we didn’t have to drive through the dark for no reason because this is truly in the middle of nowhere. The road was manageable in a 4x4 although not well-maintained, but we did see a sedan driving it the next day that didn’t seem to have any problems. There were 3 sites very close to each other near the bathrooms and at least 2 other sites that were very overgrown and not flat, so we ended up having to camp pretty close to one other group. We were surprised to see anyone else there because it’s so remote. The picnic tables and fire rings were fine but we couldn’t find much wood to gather. The bathrooms were pretty nasty so we opted to pee in the woods. There were lots of mosquitos and some pretty big frogs around in early summer and we heard a larger animal come between us and the other group’s tent in the middle of the night but it didn’t disturb anything. The sunset on the drive there through the farms was beautiful and a bunny wouldn’t stop jumping in front of our car, as if it was leading us to the campground! We had a $5 adventure pass but no one came to check. All in all, it was fine.

We attempted to get here based on some GPS coordinates we found online (I later noticed Google has it listed as a campground in the same spot we were were looking at). However, we arrived at a locked gate with a “private property, no trespassing” sign and didn’t see any other way to get to where we thought the campground was. We had passed by the ranger station on the way and it was closed so we had to find a different spot. The official directions do seem different than where we were, so maybe try this way or get directions from the rangers: “From Santa Maria: Highway 166 to Sierra Madre Road. Sierra Madre Road to Miranda Pines Road. Take Miranda Pines Road to Forest Road #11N04 and make a right into Brookshire Campground.” If you can find it, make sure to have a California Adventure Pass ($5/day or $30/year).

This primitive campground is amazing! There were hardly any people and some fellow campers told us it wasn’t even crowded on Memorial Day weekend. It’s near the end of a well-maintained but VERY windy & narrow road (takes about 1-1.5 hours to go 20 miles) and the Mineral King ranger station/most trailheads are about 15 minutes further. The campground is full of sequoias and giant stumps and just beautiful. They have bear boxes, nice firepits, picnic tables, potable (I assume, wasn’t specified) water, and vault toilets. The bathroom did have a major fly infestation in early summer but it didn’t bother us. We loved the seclusion and hikes! I wouldn’t necessarily recommend driving there just for the campground, but would highly recommend spending some time in the area and hiking. They have the biggest marmots I’ve ever seen! The lodge in Silver City (between the two NP campgrounds) has a little store, restaurant, and extremely overpriced ice, but bring your own food with you since it’s rather hard to get back to society. Even if you don’t hike, drive to the end of the road and check out the mountain/waterfall views. $12/night