How to Find a Last-Minute Campsite in California
Dispersed camping on Loon Lake
Getting a campsite in California can be downright competitive. With weekend dates at popular state campgrounds booking up months in advance and bots trolling availability for those that remain, it can be really difficult to say, “Hey, it’s going to be nice out this weekend, want to go camping?” and then actually make it happen.
But it’s not impossible. After living in California for over 10 years, I've learned a few effective strategies for finding campgrounds just a couple of weeks or days in advance. Here are some of the ways I find gorgeous last-minute places to camp in California, plus a few of my favorites sites.
First, check to see if anything is available
Before doing anything else, I’ll quickly check of some of my favorite state and regional campgrounds (like Hendy Woods near Boonville or anything in the Marin headlands) since you can sometimes get lucky with cancellations and such. Until recently, this was a pretty manual process, but I recently tested a new tool called CampChimp ($5/month) that scans all campsites in California and shows you what’s open for your dates. I like this approach a lot since it saves me from having to check availability for campgrounds one-by-one.
Hike or bike in
Bike-in site at Samuel P. Taylor State Park
There are quite a few campgrounds in California that have hike or bike sites for those arriving by foot or bike. These sites can’t be booked in advance and technically, they can’t turn you away, even if they’re full. However, the host at San Simeon Creek Campground did try to turn my friend and me away once. Luckily, we had met two other bike campers on the trail coming in who recognized us and overheard what was happening, and they insisted we share “their” half of the bike-in site (heros!).
For that (and many other reasons) I would not recommend San Simeon specifically, but I have had great experiences bike camping at China Camp and Samuel P. Taylor near the San Francisco Bay and Morro Bay State Park Campground in central California. We’ve even rolled in on holiday weekends, like July 4th, and found a space to pitch our tent.
Look for first-come first-serve sites
First-come, first-serve sites can’t be reserved in advance and are available on a “whoever shows up first” basis. Once there, you pay (unlike with dispersed camping) and there are typically facilities like toilets and water. It’s a little risky, so I’d always recommend you get to the campground early in the day and have a backup plan if you’re going to try it. I’ll usually bookmark a few spots where you can sleep in your car (iOverlander is a good resource for this) or have a few sites saved.
To find one, you can search campgrounds using The Dyrt and toggle on their “first come first serve” filter. However, I recommend always double-checking the campground website since rules can change. For example, one of my favorites, Andrew Molera State Park in Big Sur, used to be first come, first served, but this is no longer the case (though some sites may still say otherwise).
Some of my favorite first-come, first-serve sites include Pantoll and Bootjack on Mount Tam just north of San Francisco, and Castle Rock State Park to the south (popular rock climbing area).
Try dispersed camping
Dispersed camping in the Sierra Nevadas
Did you know you can camp anywhere within National Forest and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) boundaries, for free, without a reservation? It’s called dispersed camping and is allowed so long as you abide by their do’s and don’ts. You won’t have facilities, but you’ll almost always find a spot. I usually do this in the Sierra Nevadas, where there are tons of options for dispersed camping. One of my personal favorites is by Loon Lake. There are lots of dispersed sites just north of the official campground and near the start of the Rubicon Trail. It’s a bit rowdy but the lake is beautiful and fun to swim in, and—since it can be as much as 20 degrees cooler up on that mountain—ideal when the rest of the state is experiencing a heat wave. For folks in L.A., Mono Lake is another area with lots of dispersed camping options.
The main downside to this strategy: you have to drive at least two hours from San Francisco to be in any National Forest or BLM land worth camping in, and you won’t have facilities like toilets or water, and you always have to pack out everything you pack in (including garbage). It’s not a great choice for first-time campers as you’ll definitely need to do a little extra prep. If you go this route, be sure you’re up to date on backcountry best practices—especially if you’re anywhere with bears (which is pretty much all of California).
Find a private campground or glampsite
While state campgrounds book up months in advance, private campgrounds and glampsites are less likely to get picked up as fast. To find one, I usually start with Hipcamp, a platform that is similar to Airbnb but for campsites. I’ve used it to camp on private ranches, farms, and more throughout California. Quality varies, so read reviews. (Psst: If you don’t have an account, use my link for $10 off your first booking.)
You can also find a few private campgrounds off the platform, like Ocean Cove Campground on the Sonoma Coast, as well as glamping retreats that will sometimes have more availability. My favorite is Mendocino Grove (read the full review) but I hear good things about Huttopia from my fellow travel-journalist colleagues. I see other folks recommend Wildhaven in Sonoma pretty often, but I wasn’t a fan. I thought the tents were too close together and too close to the road.
