U.S. Forest Service · Sequoia National Forest · CA

Auxiliary Dam Campground

2Heads up2 fires, nearest 5 mi
Wildfire
Cyrus fire · 4.6 mi away · 543 acres · 95% contained · updated Oct 16, 2026
Wildfire
Carrier fire · 35 mi away · updated Oct 17, 2026
The agency doesn’t say how you get a siteIts record carries no access type, so treat it as a place to phone before you drive.
Right now
OpenThe agency lists it open
Season
Year-roundOpen year-round
Drawn from the record · 2,620 ft · 0% tree cover · Isabella Lake within reach · Bortle 4 sky
2,620 ftElevation
637 ftWater · Isabella Lake
In townLake Isabella, CA
0%Tree cover
Bortle 4Night sky · 937th darkest of 1,201 in CA
Open year-roundToday

The place

the agency’s own description · what’s there

In the agency’s own words

Located on the southern end of Lake Isabella off Highway 178 near the town of Lake Isabella, this facility offers flush toilets, drinking water, trash service, a dump station and some campsites with stoves and picnic tables above the high water mark. Below the high-water mark, visitors can drive their vehicles to the shoreline and camp at the water's edge. Below the high-water mark portable toilets and trash receptacles are provided for visitor convenience during the summer. ExplorUS All developed campground areas in the Forest operate under a concessionaire permit with ExplorUs. Keep reading

For additional information, please visit About Explorus - Hospitality Management (goexplorus.com) or call their home office at (661) 702-1420, or their Lake Isabella office at 760-376-1269. The interagency America the Beautiful pass Annual , Senior , Access , Volunteer , and Military is accepted. Campfire permits are required for campfires, barbeques, and camp stoves. Permits are available at your local Ranger Station or online at Campfire Permit - Ready for Wildfire. For Kern River Ranger District recreation information, please call 760-376-3781.

Source: USFS Enterprise Data Warehouse · Aug 24, 2026

Facilities

Toilets
Flush Toilets · Portable Toilets
“…of Lake Isabella, this facility offers flush toilets, drinking water, trash service, a dump station and… / …water's edge. Below the high-water mark portable toilets and trash receptacles are provided for visitor…”
Drinking water
Yes
“…this facility offers flush toilets, drinking water, trash service, a dump station and some campsites…”
Dump station
Yes
Store
Nearby
Source: Stated in the agency description
Water, toilets and showers: read from the agency description, shown above · Sep 12, 2026

Around the campground

On the water
Lake, River, Beach
Source: Stated in the agency description

Phone before you drive

recreation.gov publishes no availability for a campground you can’t reserve, so there’s no thirty-night reading to draw here. The season bar above is what the agency does publish.

Booking window6 months outBooking opens 6 months ahead; today unlocks arrivals through April 17, 2027. The agency publishes no reservable season in the record we hold, so the window may close earlier than that.recreation.gov
Runs itRocky Mountain Recreation CompanyA private concessionaire under permit from U.S. Forest Service (parent: ExplorUS)the operator link
Every line of the receipt · 5

What you actually pay

The sign priceU.S. Forest Service
The U.S. Forest Service publishes no per-night rate for this campground that we can read, so there’s no sign price to print. That’s a gap in the record, not a free campground.
Fee per vehicle per day or annual pass for $60 .$12
Dump Station Fee $12
The booking feerecreation.gov
We hold no recreation.gov booking record for this campground, so we can’t say whether a booking fee applies.
What a stay costs
The agency publishes no nightly rate for this campground, so there’s no total to show.
How we know this receipt · 4
Source: USFS Enterprise Data Warehouse · Aug 24, 2026

record Aug 24, 2026 · How we know all this

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Getting there

the map and the coordinate

The weather

the next four days · the thirty-year normal

Next four days, and the thirty-year normal

Forecast

Today84°Sunny2% rain
Tonight54°Mostly Clear2% rain
Sunday83°Sunny
Sunday Night54°Clear

NWS forecast for Lake Isabella, CA

Typical weather

Typical October night 46°F, day 81°F.

Coldest month of the year: typical December night 31°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.

110°32°20°

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 Julys are colder than the July line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.

Measured at: KERN RIVER PH 3, CA (USC00044523), 10 miles away and 83 ft higher

The land, and who answers for it

what threatens it · who answers for it

Roadless country, and what’s coming for it

Roadless
Woolstaff41,445 acres · 8 mi · inventoried roadless area
Roadless
Greenhorn Creek28,226 acres · 10 mi · inventoried roadless area

You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.

Who answers for this land

Vince Fong, official portrait

Auxiliary Dam Campground is in California’s 20th congressional district. Its representative, Vince Fong (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

How we know

every fact on this page, and where it came from