First, let me not bury the lead, and start with the fact that if you have not been to Homer and taken in the beautiful scenery, the views of Kachemak bay and the surrounding mountains and glaciers are something that absolutely need to be seen in person. Just breathtaking. Since this campground lies on the very flat sea level strip of sand and gravel known as the spit, it offers great views in every direction.

This seasonal (it is Alaska, after all) campground is about halfway down the Homer spit (on the way to the very end which is called Land's end). The campground itself offers mostly RV sites (which it looked like had all amenities you could want) and a handful ~maybe 20 tent sites. Good amenities with clean bathrooms, had wifi, and saw a laundry room but did not use it for my stay. I can't speak for the RV experience, as I've only used the tent sites. Stayed here for a couple nights, before and after a job opportunity leaving out of Homer. The campground is still about ~2 miles or so walking down to the main harbor, as well as most of the shops and few restaurants closer to Land's end. Yes, this includes the infamous Salty Dawg saloon, which is a great spot to grab a drink and epitomizes the Alaskan fishing culture. I would add that having a vehicle is not essential if you only plan on walking down to the end of the spit, and there are a dozen or so restaurant choice if that is your thing, but a lot of stuff is just out of realistic walking distance back up the hill in Homer proper. Overall, this campsite offered a good value and a chance to really soak in the gorgeous view and lifestyle of the fishing town of Homer.

Lees Ferry was a nice stop on the way from Utah heading to Grand Canyon National Park. Nothing too crazy to rave about, except for the view! Campsite was $18 for a primitive tent site for the night but there are no reservations so it's essentially first come basis. It looked like there were maybe 50 sites in total. If you get there early enough can you get a nice view of the river below. Although there were no amenities besides bathrooms, it was a good option for a one night stopover for us. Got pretty windy in the evening so make sure you have tent stakes or at least heavy bags to keep it down. This campsite is very close between Horseshoe bend and Marble Canyon (both a must see if heading through).

This campground is a very large site, with huge amounts of RV and tent sites spread out, hookups and non-hookup sites, with a layout around the water of Lake Hemet. We only stayed for one night before continuing on to Idyllwild, so cannot speak for anything related to the actual lake but there was a lot of recreational boating and fishing going on when we were there in August. Our site was a tent site in the interior, we did not pay the extra money for a premium lakefront site. Overall it is your run of the mill campsite, but with the lake as a main attraction and focal point of course. With all of the families and kids it was more on the noisy side, and was noisy until later into the night. I would recommend this campsite on the value of the lake if that is something you are into, but other than that I would prefer something more quiet and peaceful. Another downside is visitor parking and I believe even day use of the grounds to get in were an extra charge. There is a large country style camping store before the gate. Overall, the surrounding scenery is still beautiful, and you can't really beat that.

This campsite is one of a few areas near the base of the south rim of Tahquitz. If planning on doing an overnight in Idyllwild and want to skip the crowded campgrounds in town, as well as skip the permitting process for the popular Devil's Slide trail, then this is your spot. Just a few miles from the ranger station (you will still need to get a permit from there even if you are just hiking the south rim) there are a series of "yellow-post" camping sites that are quiet and free of charge. Along with being free, these sites need no reservations but are first come first serve and only 8 parties are allowed up on the road per night. For perspective, we stayed at this site in August and had the entire area to ourselves. The road to get up to the sites is an uneven dirt and rocky (very steep at times) road, but can be accomplished even with a smaller car. The road turns from dirt to pavement before turning to dirt again to the campsites and finally to the south rim trailhead.

If you are planning on camping like this then you probably already know what you're getting yourself into in regards to water and food/no amenities, but the road is very nice and the site we stayed at was at the end of a sort of dirt cul-de-sac overlooking the ridge. The ridge has plenty of flat (not rocky which was nice) ground for small tents, but also is interspersed with a very large rocky outcrop which makes cooking dinner and watching the sunset/sunrise just perfect. The only negative thing I can think of to mention for this site was the fact that is indeed very buggy at the campsites (and for the first 1/3 of the hike up to Tahquitz if that is what you're planning) so plan accordingly with spray. Campfires are not allowed because it is so dry, so keeping the bugs away can be challenging at times. There were some mosquitoes, but it is mostly gnats and flies that are seemingly endless as well as relentless at times. However, this absolutely shouldn't deter you from staying at this beautiful site.

Hurkey Creek is a gated campground with a nice family vibe. There are plenty of tent and RV sites (over 100 sites) and the grounds are well kept and clean. The sites are relatively close together as one might expect from a typical campground, but the many tall trees interspersed provide a bit of privacy as well as shade. We only stayed one night but the grounds were only about 1/3 full and the atsmopehere was quiet. The staff at the gate were extremely friendly. Bathrooms and showers were available. We don't have any kids, but there is a playground on the premises that seemed like a popular family picnic/play area. Recommended for a nice family campground experience that is located just outside of Idyllwild.

If you're looking for a quiet, more remote campsite while hiking the Idyllwild area then look no further. These "yellow post" sites are essentially boondocking in the forest off dirt fire service roads. The best part is that you don't need reservations and they're free. This particular site has 8 campsites which do have signs to mark the general area, although it is entirely up to you to where to set up camp in the general area. The roads leading up are uneven roughly graded dirt and gravel so be prepared for that, and the campsites are spaced out quite a bit between site 1 and sites 2-8. These sites are basic and no campfires are allowed. You will obviously have no amenities and need to pack in food and water and pack out all trash. We used the site to hike Thomas mountain.

If planning a trip longer than just a day hike to the beautiful Pinnacles National Park, and since backpacking in not allowed in Pinnacles, the Pinnacles campground on the east entrance is a nice quiet place to spend a night. This campground is also a nice option to get an early start to a long hike the following morning. The campground is situated only accessible from the east side (this is important if you are coming in off the 101 on the west side of the park - you will need to make sure you plan your route properly or will end up on the wrong side of the park with the closest option Bittersweet Rd. (G13) to cut across and get to the east entrance. The campground itself was very clean, and while we used a small tent site, also offers RV sites. Sites are primarily close together but also had many trees which offered a little shade and semi-privacy feeling. Standard campground with picnic tables and metal fire pits, water located in multiple areas throughout including showers. There was also a pool located on the grounds but we did not use it.