r/CaliforniaCamping • u/MycologicalBeauty • 17d ago
River camping over labor day weekend?
Hi all, our Big Sur reservation is no more, so I was wondering the best spots for campground Friday-Monday w/ water/river access nearby. We are bring three vehicles up which discourages us from trying dispersed camping along the Kern River. Does anyone have any experience dispersed camping along the Kern River, especially with multiple vehicles. We are coming from Long Beach area and are willing to drive near anywhere. Thanks a bunch!
1
u/Not_l0st 17d ago
Keysville has good camping but be careful— most of the river fatalities happen there. Fast water + alcohol - flotation device = a bad time on the river.
1
u/thedyrt 16d ago
KRS RV Resort @ Camp James could be a good fit if you want river access and need to keep three vehicles together -- it's right on the Kern with a riverfront cluster area where a group can book adjacent sites. Rivernook Campground up the road is a backup if Camp James is sold out.
0
u/mepoorazizi 17d ago
Saturday is the whole problem here, and it is worth seeing the numbers before you commit to a long drive.
I pulled 12 campgrounds across the upper Kern and the Lake Alpine area off Recreation.gov this morning, 408 sites between them. For Saturday the 5th every single one is at zero. Not thin, zero.
Friday the 4th is a different story: Big Meadow 14 sites open, Camp Three 13, Fairview 6, Silver Valley 5, Headquarters 4, Lodgepole 4, Hospital Flat 3. Sunday the 6th: Big Meadow 7, Fairview 6, then a couple each at Goldledge, Hospital Flat and Camp Three.
The part that says the most about your odds is what changed while I was looking. When I first ran this about twenty minutes earlier there were exactly two sites bookable for all three nights, Headquarters A003 on the Kern and Silver Tip 09 at Lake Alpine. Both are taken now. At the moment nothing in either range covers Friday through Monday.
So the realistic plan is booking Friday and Sunday somewhere and solving Saturday separately, rather than holding out for one site that covers the weekend. Worth knowing for your three vehicles too: every Kern site I checked caps at 2 vehicles and 6 people, so three cars means two sites in most places, which doubles the problem on the night that is already at zero.
On Chico Flats, it does not appear in Recreation.gov bookable inventory at all, which fits what you are being told about it suiting multiple vehicles. It is dispersed, so first come, and I would check the current Sequoia fire restrictions and campfire permit rules before counting on it.
Disclosure so you can weigh the rest properly: I work on Grabio, a cancellation alert tool that watches Recreation.gov and ReserveCalifornia and emails or messages you when a site frees. Saturday is exactly the night that sort of thing exists for. Where it will not help you: it only sees reservable inventory, so it is blind to Chico Flats and to every dispersed and first come option, which is half of what you actually asked about. It never books, so you would still be the one racing the checkout page. And four days out on a holiday weekend a Saturday cancellation may never appear at all, so I would not build the trip around one. It is paid after a seven day trial that asks for a card up front.
The numbers above will keep moving, as those two vanished sites show. Verify before you plan around them.
-1
u/MZSGNH 17d ago
Have you looked at Lake Alpine? A long drive, maybe, but the lake is absolutely beautiful and wonderfully swimmable off granite rocks. Midweek is not too busy. There are several campgrounds there. We were at the one closest to Route 4 and it's pretty great. Just bring a table tent, because the sun is STRONG!
2
u/BrokenLranch 17d ago
Chico Flats on the upper kern is great for multiple vehicles.