Arroyo Seco
1Heads up1 fire 13 mi away
- Right now
- Closedrecreation.gov lists every site closed this weekend, read 15:52 UTC
- A night
- $35–$80When it reopens, per site
- Sites
- 40In the agency’s record
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 11 notices
In the agency’s own words
Arroyo Seco Campground is a semi-rustic, but developed facility in California's westernmost national forest. It offers a great escape from bustling city life, into the mountain air and provides access to a variety of outdoor recreation opportunities. Keep reading
Recreation
The small non-body contact lake near the group campsites gives campers an edge on mountain fishing and small non-motorized boating. Anglers will find mostly bass and catfish in the lakes, and other species on occasion. A fishing license is required for visitors over 16 years of age. The nearby river offers a small beach where campers and day use visitors may wade and swim. All nearby bodies of water are dependent upon seasonal rain for levels to rise. The Ventana Wilderness, also known as "the gorge," provides ample opportunities for hiking, swimming, backpacking, hunting and horseback riding. No motorized vehicles are allowed (unless prior permission is granted by the Forest Service) beyond the gated road and parking lot. The 15.5-mile Santa Lucia Trail is available for hiking and horseback riding and provides access to the surrounding wilderness and a variety of other trails.
Facilities
The campground offers sites that are both modern and more primitive, for single and double-family occupancy. Campsites are available for tent or RV camping, however utility hookups are not provided and there is no dump station. Some sites are level and large enough to accommodate most RVs. Roads are paved throughout the campground. Each site is equipped with a table and campfire ring with grill. Campsites in the first loop offer accessible flush toilets, coin-operated showers and drinking water. In the more primitive area of the campground, vault toilets are provided, as well as drinking water. Some sites are fully accessible. A group campsite is available for reservations and can accommodate up to 50 people and 10 vehicles. It provides tables and a campfire circle, as well as vault toilets and drinking water.
Natural Features
The campground offers views of the Ventana Wilderness mountain peaks and one small lake (water levels depend on the season). It is nestled into the hillside, surrounded by abundant shrubbery and large oak trees. It is situated next to the Arroyo Seco River at an elevation of about 1,200 feet. A variety of birds and wildlife make their home in the area. A splash of color greets visitors at the entrance gate, where a variety of plants in bloom. In the spring and fall, the leaves on the trees change to beautiful shades of red, yellow and orange, creating a beautiful scenic landscape. In the springtime, lupines bloom all around.
Nearby Attractions
The city of Monterey provides a variety of tourism opportunities and is located about 50 miles from the campground. The west side of the Pinnacles National Monument is about 30 miles from the campground. The monument and surrounding area is popular among rock climbers during the spring and fall.
What the agency tells you
WHEELER GORGE IS CLOSED STARTING AUGUST 4TH, 2025-DECEMBER 31, 2025. DUE TO HABITAT RESTORATION PROJECT.
In order to contact our offices, please use the email: customerservice@pmcparks.com or view our website: CampOne.Com for answers to frequently asked questions.
The road to get from Arroyo Seco to Big Sur is around 70 miles on a very curvy road which is approximately a two hours' drive.
Everything else this campground posts · 8
All single campsite reservations are good for 6 people and 1 vehicle. The maximum number of people per site is 8 ($10.00 additional charge after 6 people). Maximum number of vehicles per site is 2 ($10.00 additional charge for 2nd vehicle).
Please use caution in the river; water can be swift and dangerous in the spring
Weather conditions can change rapidly; please check prior to arrival
Insects may be present; please bring appropriate provisions (repellents, etc.)
Reservations can be made three days in advance.
Single sites include one vehicle in the use fee. Double sites include two vehicles in the use fee. Any extra vehicles will be charged at the campground for $10/night per vehicle.
Click here for more information on the Los Padres National Forest
Please Do Not Move Firewood: Protect California's forests from tree-killing pests by buying your firewood locally and burning it on-site. For more information visit firewood.ca.gov.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 40 · 14 tent-only, 3 walk-in, 1 group
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 50 ft
- Paved pads
- 26 of 40
- Accessible sites
- 13
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Pit Toilets
- PIT TOILETS on 1 of 40 campsite records
- Showers
- Coin Showers
- “Campsites in the first loop offer accessible flush toilets, coin-operated showers and drinking water.”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…flush toilets, coin-operated showers and drinking water. In the more primitive area of the campground,…”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River, Beach
- Biking
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 648th darkest of 1,201 in CA
- Bortle 3
Nothing to book until it reopensread 15:52 UTC
recreation.gov lists every site closed this weekend
OpenBookedClosed
Tell me when it reopens
Watch for it to come back
One email when the agency reopens it, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check the agency’s own record once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time it stops saying closed.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
Every line of the receipt · 16
What you actually pay
“Maximum number of vehicles per site is 2 ($10.00 additional charge for 2nd vehicle).” · the U.S. Forest Service’s own agency notice
Who keeps the booking fee
The agency’s own policy text says the reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee are “retained by the reservation service contractor”, and that a campground concessionaire will decline to refund them because “they did not receive these fees”. Recreation.gov is run under contract by Booz Allen Hamilton. What share of your booking fee the contractor keeps isn’t published in any federal dataset we can read, so we print no number for it. Our reporting on the contract →
How we know this receipt · 5
Why this page can’t say why
recreation.gov lists every site at Arroyo Seco closed this Friday and Saturday night. The U.S. Forest Service has published no closure notice we hold, so this page can’t say why, and it won’t fill the gap with a guess. A closed night isn’t a sold-out one: the reservations its record still carries were taken before the sites were closed.
There’s no notice to quote and no reason to argue with, so this page offers you the watch and the list below, and no letter.
Open within 150 miles · 4
The agency’s own word that these are open, not our reading of a season.
- Friis CampgroundLos Padres National Forest · 88 mi · walk-up
- Hi Mountain CampgroundLos Padres National Forest · 90 mi · walk-up
- Horseshoe Springs CampgroundLos Padres National Forest · 114 mi · walk-up
- Miranda Pine CampgroundLos Padres National Forest · 116 mi
recreation.gov availability, read 15:52 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
40 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 39 mapped sitesAll 40 sites
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 40 of the 40 sites listed. A site with no reading is unknown, never far.
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 40 of the 40 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
Measured shade is NLCD Tree Canopy Cover 2024 (USDA Forest Service / MRLC) read at the site’s own coordinate, 27% canopy or more, and only for the sites the agency gave no Shade value. It never changes the agency’s own shaded count beside it.
| ARRO | GS1 | group standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 312 ft | 34 ft | 255 ft | $150 | |
| MCML | 001 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | yes | 24 ft | 351 ft | 289 ft | $40–$80 |
| MCML | 003 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | yes | 24 ft | 338 ft | 269 ft | $40–$80 |
| MCML | 004 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | yes | 55 ft | 354 ft | 214 ft | $40–$80 |
| MCML | 005 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | yes | 11 ft | 384 ft | 173 ft | $40–$80 |
| MCML | 006 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | yes | 11 ft | 391 ft | 166 ft | $40–$80 |
| MCML | 007 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | yes | 58 ft | 420 ft | 134 ft | $40–$80 |
| MCML | 009 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | yes | 30 ft | 430 ft | 98 ft | $40–$80 |
| MCML | 011 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | yes | 30 ft | 416 ft | 76 ft | $40–$80 |
| MCML | 012 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | yes | 60 ft | 359 ft | 46 ft | $40–$80 |
| MCML | 014 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | yes | 60 ft | 304 ft | 74 ft | $40–$80 |
| MCML | 015 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 106 ft | 202 ft | 144 ft | $40–$80 | |
| MCML | 017 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 84 ft | 194 ft | 209 ft | $40–$80 | |
| MCML | 018 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 45 ft | 210 ft | 266 ft | $40–$80 | |
| MCML | 020 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 45 ft | 210 ft | 305 ft | $40–$80 | |
| MCML | 021 | standard nonelectric | 38 ft | yes | 14 ft | 207 ft | 290 ft | $40–$80 |
| MCML | 023 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 14 ft | 197 ft | 287 ft | $40–$80 | |
| MCML | 024 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 20 ft | 203 ft | 208 ft | $40–$80 | |
| MCML | 026 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 20 ft | 202 ft | 203 ft | $40–$80 | |
| MCML | 027 | walk to | 23 ft | 17 ft | 226 ft | 193 ft | $40 | |
| MCML | 028 | walk to | 17 ft | 241 ft | 184 ft | $40 | ||
| MCML | 029 | walk to | 20 ft | 261 ft | 172 ft | $40 | ||
| MCML | 030 | standard nonelectric | 38 ft | yes | 44 ft | 366 ft | 63 ft | $40–$80 |
| MCML | 032 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | yes | 44 ft | 354 ft | 106 ft | $40–$80 |
| MCML | 033 | standard nonelectric | 34 ft | 58 ft | 329 ft | 164 ft | $40–$80 | |
| MCML | 034 | type not stated | 192 ftAbbott Lakes | 182 ft | $33.97 | |||
| PCLL | 036 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 50 ft | 119 ftAbbott Lakes | 116 ft | $35–$70 | |
| PCLL | 037 | tent only nonelectric | 50 ft | 74 ftAbbott Lakes | 88 ft | $35–$70 | ||
| PCLL | 038 | tent only nonelectric | 25 ft | 34 ft | 47 ftAbbott Lakes | 115 ft | $35–$70 | |
| PCLL | 039 | tent only nonelectric | 30 ft | 34 ft | 21 ftAbbott Lakes | 130 ft | $35–$70 | |
| PCLL | 040 | tent only nonelectric | 30 ft | 51 ft | 38 ftAbbott Lakes | 34 ft | $35–$70 | |
| PCLL | 041 | tent only nonelectric | 30 ft | 51 ft | 89 ftAbbott Lakes | 82 ft | $35–$70 | |
| PCLL | 043 | tent only nonelectric | 30 ft | 64 ft | 152 ftAbbott Lakes | 143 ft | $35–$70 | |
| PCLL | 044 | tent only nonelectric | 78 ft | 134 ftAbbott Lakes | 118 ft | $35–$70 | ||
| PCUL | 045 | tent only nonelectric | 78 ft | 61 ftAbbott Lakes | 42 ft | $35–$70 | ||
| PCUL | 046 | tent only nonelectric | 63 ft | 55 ftAbbott Lakes | 56 ft | $35–$70 | ||
| PCUL | 047 | tent only nonelectric | 85 ft | 108 ftAbbott Lakes | 216 ft | $35–$70 | ||
| PCUL | 048 | tent only nonelectric | 85 ft | 84 ftAbbott Lakes | 282 ft | $35–$70 | ||
| PCUL | 049 | tent only nonelectric | 63 ft | 53 ftAbbott Lakes | 116 ft | $35–$70 | ||
| PCUL | 050 | tent only nonelectric | 114 ft | 169 ftAbbott Lakes | 147 ft | $35–$70 |
25 of 40 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
China Camp CampgroundLos Padres National Forest · 6.3 mi
Escondido CampgroundLos Padres National Forest · 6.8 mi
White Oaks CampgroundLos Padres National Forest · 8.0 mi
Memorial CampgroundLos Padres National Forest · 8.5 miNacimiento CampgroundLos Padres National Forest · 17 miComing from the south on Highway 101 to Greenfield, take the first exit (Arroyo Seco) into town. Turn left on Elm Street and go west to Arroyo Seco Road and turn left. Arroyo Seco Road dead-ends at the campground.
Coming from the north on Highway 101, just past Soledad, turn west onto Arroyo Seco Road and continue to the campground.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Greenfield, CA
Typical weather
Typical October night 49°F, day 74°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 42°F. Bring the bag rated for it.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or more
A normal is the 1991-2020 average for the month, not a forecast: about half of all Augusts are colder than the August line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
The land, and who answers for it
what threatens it · who answers for it
What threatens this place
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Arroyo Seco is in California’s 18th congressional district. Its representative, Zoe Lofgren (D), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: A. See every public-lands vote →