not very backpacky question: campgrounds in seki

[Satchel Buddah]

hi all
I have two kids visiting from France in july. I am planning to do a couple 3 day easy backpack trips (alta, redwood canyon) with one or two zero days in between, before continuing the journey in the north sierra region.

My basic idea is to resupply/wash/rest in between these small trips by using the drive-in campgrounds in seki. Using these "civilized" campgrounds is something I have never done before. I was thinking of lodgepole, are there sites in there that I should favor over others? or should I go somewhere else entirely ?
If you are familiar with these and would have advice as per best sites in the campground to book or other campground picks that would be lovely.

if you have recommendations in yosemite/tahoe-truckee area as well for the same kind of arrangements I would love them.

thank you for you advice!

[Harlen]

Hi There Satchel,

You asked for other recommendations away from SEKI, so here's ours:

For short trips, we just love the Eastern Sierra, and usually much prefer to enter the Sierra from that side. The eastside trails put you almost immediately into spectacular mountain country, with streams and lakes, and endless hiking and climbing possibilities. It is just so much easier to drive here and there to the Eastside trailheads, and the area itself feels wide open and scenic in every direction.
Two of our favorite free camping areas are around the Alabama Hills, and off the many dirt roads above the towns of Lonepine, Independence, and Big Pine. For specifics in terms of formal drive-in camp grounds, we are less well-informed. We much prefer the funky, and less predictable experience of "guerilla camping." [The deal is to always leave these places cleaner than you find them, pack trash, bury human and dog shite deep, or pack it out, don't light it all on fire... you know all of this.]
There are an array of hot springs to choose from (Google them) beginning to the north of Big Pine, and some of the finest are east, northeast of Convict Creek, and some give you amazing views back into the Eastern Sierra mountain wall, and all around. Always camp a reasonable distance away from the communal springs. You can go out at night with a spotlight to avoid the rattlers, but more to see all of the kangaroo rats, rabbits, mice, coyotes, and who knows what all else? Yet another favorite camping area is at the edge of the Jeffrey Pine forest at the south side of Mono Lake. You'll need to take water to all of these sites, but at all of them you have water to get cleaned up in (Mono Lake is fascinating to swim in, but about twice as salty as the sea... usually you can splash around in the clean fresh water that runs into Mono Lake at that end from Rush Creek.
You can get a sort of a wash in big lake just south of Lonepine- "Diaz Lake." There they allow free swimming for both humans and their dogs, so we use that place to wash the dust and rust off. I know there are some proper paid campgrounds on the Eastside, but we use them so infrequently that they escape our memory. Isn't here a nice camping location both at the top of the Onion Valley TH, (in from Independence) and another a few miles below? There's another below Big Pine, and other nice looking campgrounds off the road from Bishop into the mountains- the road the leads to North Lake, South Lake, and the little town of Aspendell.
A favorite campground is off the road to Westguard Pass, on the way into the White Mts. I'll add the name in a minute*(see below)- we think it may be "Pinyon CG?" You can perch yourselves on the rocks to the west of the CG, for a splendid long view of the Eastern Sierra, from across the Owens Valley- it's a really nice vantage point. This same road can lead you up to the long ridge line of White Mountain, where you are bound to see a lot of wildlife early and late in the day: snowshoe hares, many marmot, many hawks and golden eagles if lucky, there are even bighorn sheep up there. Same road takes you to the Bristlecone Pine Forest, which our kids always liked.

There are so many great backpacking trips and long day trips that can be done from the east side, that I won't begin to suggest any- you will have to sort out what's available in the way of wilderness permits. If you are interested in day hikes (no permit nec.) we can give you guys some of our our favorites Satchel.
Hope you all have a great time wherever you go, the Harlens.

p.s. The west side of the Sierra is also fantastic, and there are amazing forests to see! You can't go wrong Satchel!

*Here are the camping areas on the slopes the White Mts.:

Grandview Canyon campground (8,500'): No reservations
Fossil, Juniper, Pinon, and Poleta group campgrounds (7,200'): Reservations available via National Recreation Reservation Center, Online, Phone: (877) 444-6777.
Sounds like you may be able to just free camp up there with a campfire permit. Check in.

[AlmostThere]

Lodgepole has a laundry and showers, and a small restaurant. The other campgrounds do not.

Yosemite is probably done for in terms of reservations. You could prowl the reservations website for cancellations, but the valley is VERRRRRRRRYYYYYYYYYYYYY crowded. If you do get a spot by some miracle I recommended driving up in the wee hours of the morning to avoid sitting in a line at the park gate for hours.

[LMBSGV]

I’ve stayed at Lodgepole a few times. The best campsites are what is called “Upper Lodgepole,” campsites 105-144. However, I suspect nearly all of Lodgepole may already be reserved for all of July. If you want to do Redwood Canyon (a great 1 or 2 day backpack), you can also stay at Dorst Creek (no showers) or Grant Grove, where according to the SEKI website, “The showers at Grant Grove Village are scheduled to be closed for all of 2018, including the summer season.”

On the west side, there’s also the National Forest campgrounds at Stony Creek or Big Meadows Road. You may be able to get a shower at Stony Creek at the resort. There are lots of campsites on Big Meadows Road and dispersed camping is even possible. The times I’ve driven up the road to trailheads, there are lots of available campsites in the campgrounds.

Finally, you can drive to Cedar Grove in King’s Canyon where there are showers. On weekdays, you can almost always get a great campsite at Moraine Campground.

[wildhiker]

The problem with using "civilized" campgrounds where you can resupply and wash up, is that these are far more popular among the general public than backcountry or dispersed camping (the kind Harlen describes), but, because they require substantially more investment, spaces are limited. Combine that with nearly 40 million people living in California plus millions more who come every summer from around the world - many to specifically see our natural areas - and you end up with campgrounds booked up months in advance. I would suggest checking out recreation.gov (for federal sites) and reservecalifornia.com (for CA state parks) NOW to see if any "civilized" sites are available anywhere in the vicinities where you want to go, and then book them, even if they don't sound that scenic. You just want to use them to rest and cleanup.

Another tactic we use sometimes on an extended road trip is to camp in dispersed sites (like Harlen suggested on the east side) or primitive "developed" campgrounds, but to head into nearby towns for facilities. I have found that many towns in rural areas have public swimming pools where you can pay a small fee to shower up and then take a swim - do a little internet searching. The towns have the grocery stores you need and even the laundromats.

One special civilized campground that I definitely recommend if you make it up to the Lake Tahoe area is Grover Hot Springs State Park, probably 45 minutes south of Tahoe on the east side in a really quiet undeveloped area. I just checked and weekends in July are just about completely reserved already, but there are numerous sites still available mid-week. The campground is in a lovely Jeffrey Pine forest. Next to it is a big green meadow with the hot springs on the edge. They are piped into a "hot" pool (about 102F, I think?) and a "cool" pool (about 85F?). Of course, they have showers, too. But no nearby towns with supplies, If you are camping, you don't have to pay to use the pools and you can visit them in the evening (at least, that used to be the case - check the park website). There are some lower granite mountains around the meadow and even some hiking trails. It's really a very pleasant spot to soak in the hot springs!

-Phil

[zacjust32]

Lodgepole and Stony Creek both have showers and laundromats you can pay for; Dorst Creek doesn't but it's only a 5 minute drive from Stony. I agree with others that you should check availability ASAP and reserve what you can, especially in July. Big Meadows Road has lots of dispersed camping places that I use often when I don't want to get a campground and deal with all the hassle, but there are less amenities and no water, so keep that in mind. If you happen to be looking for a spot on a weekday you might get one, ask the ranger and be firm (but not difficult) when asking, they often have cancellations or no-shows but don't always communicate that on signage. Weekends you're better off just going dispersed in the National Forest, and it'll probably be busy there too.

[Satchel Buddah]

thank you all very much for the tips! very helpful. <3
Attacking the sierra from the east makes total sense - love it. sneak camping close to alabama hills sounds lovely too... Also thank you for bringing up the white mountains, has been on my list for years so we will definitely take a swing that way. And love the alternate strategies for escaping the crowds, with some swimming pools and hot springs thrown in which would be perfect to break summer drives/connecting trips. Going to take a tight look at all that.
For the seki bit I saw there was still available stuff in lodgepole (plus we are not bound to weekends, and I found available permits of a lot of potential hikes still). I was going to avoid yosemite valley like the plague, probably a sad zoo in that period, maybe a dayhike off Tioga road to say we "did" it.
My summer keeps getting more exciting! Thank you all