Bandido Group Campground
5Heads up5 fires, nearest 13 mi
We don’t think it should be. Every campground should hold some sites for whoever drives up.Tell your representative →
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 28 of the next 30 nights read 16:40 UTC
- Sites
- 5All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 8 notices
In the agency’s own words
Located along Santa Clara Divide Road in the Angeles National Forest, Bandido Group Campground sits among fragrant Jeffrey pines in the upper montane zone of the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument. At approximately 5,840 feet in elevation, the campground offers a cool mountain reprieve with convenient access to hiking, horseback riding, mountain biking, and scenic drives. Designed primarily for organized and equestrian groups, Bandido provides a peaceful base camp for exploring the surrounding mountains while remaining within easy driving distance of the Los Angeles Basin. Water is not available at the campground; visitors must bring enough water for drinking, extinguishing campfires, cooking, cleaning, and caring for livestock for the duration of their stay. Keep reading
Recreation
Bandido serves as an ideal base camp for exploring the surrounding San Gabriel Mountains. Nearby trails and Forest Service roads provide opportunities for hiking, horseback riding, mountain biking, trail running, wildlife viewing, nature photography, and scenic driving. The nearby Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail offers access to one of the nation's premier long-distance trails, while the Angeles Crest Highway provides convenient access to numerous trailheads, scenic overlooks, and other recreational opportunities. Because water is not available at the campground, visitors should plan accordingly and bring sufficient water for riders and horses.
Facilities
Bandido Group Campground offers five reservable campsites designed to accommodate organized groups and equestrian users. Each campsite includes picnic tables, campfire rings, vault toilets, food storage lockers, and horse corrals. There are no utility hookups, showers, or water available within the campground. Visitors are responsible for bringing all water needed for drinking, cooking, extinguishing campfires, cleaning, and caring for livestock during their stay.
Natural Features
Bandido Group Campground is surrounded by a mixed conifer forest of Jeffrey pine, Coulter pine, and incense cedar with chaparral-covered slopes characteristic of the San Gabriel Mountains. The area's higher elevation provides cooler temperatures than nearby valleys, making it a comfortable escape during the warmer months. Wildlife commonly seen in the area includes mule deer, bobcats, coyotes, gray squirrels, Steller's jays, acorn woodpeckers, hawks, and a variety of other mountain birds. Spring and early summer bring colorful displays of native wildflowers, while autumn offers crisp mountain air and seasonal color.
Nearby Attractions
Nearby attractions include the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail, the scenic Angeles Crest Highway (State Route 2), and several nearby hiking trails, scenic overlooks, and picnic areas. The Chilao Visitor Center, located just west of the campground along the Angeles Crest Highway, is open on weekends and offers exhibits, maps, visitor information, and interpretive programs by advance request.
Charges & Cancellations
Booking Window For most locations, you can reserve 12 months in advance for group sites. There are some exceptions, so it is best to check with each facility. Change and Cancellation Policies and Fees Camping: A $10.00 service fee will apply if you change or cancel your reservation. The $10.00 service fee will be deducted from the refund amount. You can cancel or change reservations through Recreation.gov or by calling 1-877-444-6777. Late Cancellations Group Facility: If a customer cancels a group overnight facility reservation within 14 days of the scheduled arrival date they will be charged the $10.00 service fee and forfeit the first night's use fee. Cancellations for a single night's use will not be assessed a service fee. No-Shows Camping: A camping no-show customer is one who does not arrive at a campground and does not cancel the reservation by check-out time on the day after the scheduled arrival date. Reserved campsites and group overnight facilities will be held until check-out time on the day following your scheduled arrival. If a customer does not arrive at the campground or group facility by check-out time the day after arrival or does not cancel the reservation by the times listed under "Late Cancellations" above, the customer may be assessed a $20.00 service fee and forfeit use fees. Refunds Customers must request refunds no later than 14 days after the scheduled departure date. Recreation.gov will not grant refund requests after 14 days of departure. Reservation Fee: The reservation fee is not refundable if reservation is canceled within 14 days of arrival. Refunds for Bankcard Purchases: Refunds for bank card payments will be issued as a credit to the original bank card. Refunds for Check or Cash Purchases: Refunds for Recreation.gov payments made by check or money order, and cash payments at selected campgrounds will be issued a check refund. A refund will be processed within 30 days of receipt and approval. Please Note: Refund requests made during or after departure can only be processed when approved by the facility management staff based upon local policy. Refunds for Emergency Closures: In the event of an emergency closure, the Recreation.gov team will attempt to notify users and offer alternate dates (as appropriate). If this is not possible, reservations will be cancelled and all fees paid will be refunded. Reservation fees for free tickets are non-refundable in the event of an emergency closure. Recreation.gov Billing Information Reservation transaction will appear on customer's credit card statements as "Recreation.gov 877-444-6777." Changes to Policies and Procedures Recreation.gov reserves the right, when necessary, to modify reservation policies. These policies were last updated July
What the agency tells you
You must obtain the combination to access the locked entrance gate within 15 days of your arrival date. The combination is changed on the first of the month and can be obtained by calling 661-269-2808 and providing the name the reservation is made in, the dates of the reservation, and the reservation number.
No water available-please bring enough water for cooking, cleaning, drinking and extinguishing campfires.
No generators, amplifiers, live bands or loud music. Quiet hours are from 10 pm to 6 am.
Everything else this campground posts · 5
Bears frequent the area- all food must be kept in approved containers.
Check out time is 11 am. Check in time is 2 pm.
Hay must be certified weed free. Out-of-state horses must have current Coggins test.
Call (661) 269-2808 for current conditions and additional information.
Don't 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
- 5 · 5 group
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 40 ft
- Paved pads
- All
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…includes picnic tables, campfire rings, vault toilets, food storage lockers, and horse corrals. There are…”
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- “…distance of the Los Angeles Basin. Water is not available at the campground; visitors must bring enough water…”
- Bear boxes
- Yes
Around the campground
- Biking
- Hiking
- Horseback riding
- Mountain biking
- Night sky · 1175th darkest of 1,201 in CA
- Bortle 5
Full this Saturdayread 16:40 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
1 campground has sites open within 30 miles, read 16:24 UTC. See them
OpenBookedNot on the booking system
Every one of the 4 sites on offer is taken this Saturday. 5 are free on Tue, Oct 20. read 16:40 UTC Why the weekend fills and the week doesn’t
Watch for a cancellation
Watch this campground
One email when a night opens, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We read recreation.gov once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time a site in your window is free for the nights you asked for.
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.
Tell me when the season opens
Watch for the season to open
One email when the season goes on sale, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time the agency has that season on sale.
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.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 12
What you actually pay
“Change and Cancellation Policies and Fees Camping: A $10.00 service fee will apply if you change or cancel your reservation. The $10.00 service fee will be deducted from the refund amount.” · this campground’s own no-show terms
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 · 6
Open within 30 miles this weekend · 1
Sites the agency is offering this Friday and Saturday that nobody has taken, nearest first. read 16:24 UTC
- Lake CampgroundSan Gabriel Mountains National Monument · 16 mi · 1 of 12 site-nights open
recreation.gov availability, read 16:40 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
5 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 5 mapped sitesAll 5 sites
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 5 of the 5 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| AREA BANDIDO GROUP CAMPGROUND | 001 | group standard area nonelectric | 40 ft | 209 ft | 4,770 ft | $24–$120 |
| AREA BANDIDO GROUP CAMPGROUND | 002 | group standard area nonelectric | 40 ft | 209 ft | 4,745 ft | $24–$120 |
| AREA BANDIDO GROUP CAMPGROUND | 003 | group standard area nonelectric | 40 ft | 90 ft | 4,829 ft | $24–$120 |
| AREA BANDIDO GROUP CAMPGROUND | 004 | group standard area nonelectric | 40 ft | 214 ft | 5,020 ft | $24–$120 |
| AREA BANDIDO GROUP CAMPGROUND | 005 | group standard area nonelectric | 40 ft | 90 ft | 4,746 ft | $24–$120 |
OpenStreetMap has no toilet mapped within 1 km of this campground, so no site here carries a toilet distance. That’s a gap in the map, not a finding about the campground.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Meadow Group CampgroundSan Gabriel Mountains National Monument · 1.7 mi
Coulter Group CampgroundSan Gabriel Mountains National Monument · 1.7 mi
Chilao Campground - Little Pines LoopSan Gabriel Mountains National Monument · 1.8 miMt. Pacifico CampgroundSan Gabriel Mountains National Monument · 3.1 mi
Buckhorn CampgroundSan Gabriel Mountains National Monument · 5.3 miFrom the Los Angeles Basin: Take Interstate 210 to State Route 2 (Angeles Crest Highway) in La Cañada Flintridge. Travel north on State Route 2 for approximately 28.5 miles to Three Points. Turn left onto Forest Service Road 3N17 (Santa Clara Divide Road) and continue approximately 2 miles to the Bandido Group Campground entrance.
From the Antelope Valley: From Palmdale, take State Route 14 south to the Angeles Forest Highway exit. Travel south on the Angeles Forest Highway to Upper Big Tujunga Canyon Road and turn left. Continue approximately 9 miles to State Route 2 (Angeles Crest Highway) and turn left toward Three Points. Travel approximately 10 miles to Forest Service Road 3N17 (Santa Clara Divide Road). Turn left and continue approximately 2 miles to the Bandido Group Campground entrance.
Use the combination you obtained when confirming your reservation to open the gate.
Visitors should use the driving directions provided in their reservation confirmation. Third-party navigation apps, including Google Maps, Apple Maps, and Waze, may provide inaccurate routing.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Acton, CA
Typical weather
Typical October night 51°F, day 72°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical February night 37°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 · a letter you can send
What threatens this place
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Bandido Group Campground is in California’s 28th congressional district. Its representative, Judy Chu (D), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: A+. See every public-lands vote →
Who can change it · 3
Two offices, two different asks. The draft to the agency asks it to set aside a published share of the sites here for whoever drives up. The draft to Congress asks why that share is zero and presses for a published minimum at the campgrounds it funds.
- The member who votes the moneyJudy ChuU.S. Representative · California’s 28th district
- Your senator, on the same appropriationAdam B. SchiffU.S. Senator · California
- Your senator, on the same appropriationAlex PadillaU.S. Senator · California
Read the draft, or change the wording
For the camper who turned up, or tried to book, and couldn’t get in. Every draft is written from this campground’s own record (its agency, its unit, its site count and its own weekend) and the buttons above copy whichever wording is selected here.
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Bandido Group Campground, San Gabriel Mountains National Monument, California
Dear Judy Chu, I’m a constituent in California’s 28th district. I tried to camp at Bandido Group Campground, San Gabriel Mountains National Monument, California, and couldn’t. All 5 sites at Bandido Group Campground are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 4 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Bandido Group Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Bandido Group Campground. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Bandido Group Campground (San Gabriel Mountains National Monument, California) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Bandido Group Campground, San Gabriel Mountains National Monument, California
Dear Adam B. Schiff, I’m a constituent in California. I tried to camp at Bandido Group Campground, San Gabriel Mountains National Monument, California, and couldn’t. All 5 sites at Bandido Group Campground are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 4 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Bandido Group Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Bandido Group Campground. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Bandido Group Campground (San Gabriel Mountains National Monument, California) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Bandido Group Campground, San Gabriel Mountains National Monument, California
Dear Alex Padilla, I’m a constituent in California. I tried to camp at Bandido Group Campground, San Gabriel Mountains National Monument, California, and couldn’t. All 5 sites at Bandido Group Campground are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 4 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Bandido Group Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Bandido Group Campground. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Bandido Group Campground (San Gabriel Mountains National Monument, California) via campanac.com