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

Big Bend Campground

First come, first servedNo reservation, and none to be had: the sites go to whoever pulls in first.

This is how it should work.

Right now
Listed not openA database flag with no reason and no date
A night
$28From, per site
Drawn from the record · 7,720 ft · 42% tree cover · Lee Vining Creek within reach · Bortle 2 sky
7,720 ftElevation
106 ftWater · Lee Vining Creek
21.2 miNW of Mammoth Lakes, CA
42%Tree cover
Bortle 2Night sky · 136th darkest of 1,201 in CA

The place

the agency’s own description · what’s there

In the agency’s own words

Elevation 7800 feet. 17 campsites on Lee Vining Creek. Near the Tuolumne Meadows entrance of Yosemite National Park. Campsites can accommodate a 30-foot vehicle. Drinking water and vault toilets are available. 14 day stay limit. Each campsite has a bear locker for food storage. This is Bear Country; please store food properly and don't feed the bears.

Source: USFS Enterprise Data Warehouse · Aug 24, 2026

Facilities

Toilets
Vault Toilets
“…a 30-foot vehicle. Drinking water and vault toilets are available. 14 day stay limit. Each campsite has…”
Drinking water
Yes
“…can accommodate a 30-foot vehicle. Drinking water and vault toilets are available. 14 day stay limit.…”
Bear boxes
Yes
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
Creek, Meadow
Fall color · reported 11 days ago, 20 km away
Peak color
Source: Stated in the agency description
Fall color: More Than Just Parks foliage tracker, joined to this campground by distance (20 km) · Oct 5, 2026

Nothing to book, just show up

One of 1,623 federal campgrounds where the site still goes to whoever pulls in first, and a night costs $28 with nothing added. Get there before noon on a summer weekend.

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.

BookingNo reservationsNothing to book, and no release date to wait forthe record
A night$28Per site, fromthe agency’s fee record
A weekend$56DerivedFriday and Saturday, everything includedours, from the lines above
Runs itVista RecreationA private concessionaire under permit from U.S. Forest Servicethe operator link
Every line of the receipt · 5

What you actually pay

The sign priceU.S. Forest Service
A night, from$28
Night .$28
The booking feerecreation.gov
Nothing. This campground takes no bookings, so there’s no reservation fee to pay.
What a stay costs
One night, fromDerived$28
A weekend, Friday and Saturday, fromDerived$56

Derived by CAMPANAC: the lowest per-night amount the agency’s fee record states ($28), and no booking fee, because this campground takes no reservations. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.

How we know this receipt · 5
Source: USFS Enterprise Data Warehouse · Aug 24, 2026

record Aug 24, 2026 · How we know all this

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

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

Today63°Sunny
Tonight37°Mostly Clear
Saturday64°Sunny
Saturday Night35°Clear

NWS forecast for Lee Vining, CA

Typical weather

Typical October night 36°F, day 65°F.

Coldest month of the year: typical January night 21°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.

90°32°10°

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: LEE VINING, CA (USC00044881), 5 miles away and 923 ft lower

The land, and who answers for it

what threatens it · who answers for it

What threatens this place

Watch
Yosemite National Parkdefunding · 20 mi
Watch
Bodie Hillsmining · 24 mi
Roadless
Tioga Lake829 acres · 3 mi · inventoried roadless area
Roadless
Log Cabin Saddlebag15,165 acres · 3 mi · inventoried roadless area
Roadless
Horse Mdw.5,687 acres · 4 mi · inventoried roadless area

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

Source: MTJP Threatened Lands map · Oct 3, 2026

Who answers for this land

Kevin Kiley, official portrait

Big Bend Campground is in California’s 3rd congressional district. Its representative, Kevin Kiley (I), 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
Right now: U.S. Forest Service’s own recreation database flags it not open and publishes no reason and no date. That’s a flag, not a notice.
Fall color: More Than Just Parks foliage tracker, joined to this campground by distance (20 km) · Oct 5, 2026
Cell signal: the Forest Service’s own campground description, read as text by CAMPANAC. None of this is a measurement. It’s what the land manager published about the place, and phones, carriers and weather all disagree with each other; treat it as a warning, not a promise.
Nearest place of any size: Lee Vining, CA, 2.9 mi W (a census designated place). Straight line.