Boulder Gulch
1Heads up1 fire 3.5 mi away
- Right now
- Closed for the seasonOut of the season the agency publishes
- A night
- $36From, per site
- Sites
- 652 on recreation.gov
- Season
- April 1 – September 30Open April 1 through September 30
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 4 notices
In the agency’s own words
Boulder Gulch Campground is nestled in the foothills of the high desert at an elevation of 2,650 feet, just a short drive from Lake Isabella. The facility sits in the Giant Sequoia National Monument, offering countless recreational opportunities for visitors. Keep reading
Recreation
At the nearby Lake Isabella visitors enjoy trout and bass fishing, boating, windsurfing, swimming and water skiing. There are also hiking, horseback and mountain biking trails in the area.
Facilities
This campground consists of about 58 paved sites and includes a fish cleaning station and flush toilets. The Giant Sequoia Mercantile offers a wide variety of books, maps, gifts, local art, camping supplies and other merchandise.
Natural Features
The Sequoia National Forest, located at the southern end of the Sierra Nevada in central California, takes its name from the giant sequoia, the world's largest tree, which grows in more than 30 groves on the Forest's lower slopes. The Forest comprises about 1.1 million acres, and elevations range from about 1,000 to 12,000 feet, creating precipitous canyons and mountain streams with spectacular waterfalls, such as Salmon Creek Falls near Fairview and Grizzly Falls on the Kings River. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (760) 376-1269.
Charges & Cancellations
Cancellations Individual Campsites: Cancellations up to 2 days before a reservation start date incur a $10.00 cancellation fee. A visitor who cancels a reservation the day before or on the day of arrival will pay a $10.00 service fee AND forfeit the first night's use fee including tax and applicable add-on for a campsite. Cancellations for a one-night reservation will forfeit the entire amount paid and will not be subject to an additional service fee. No-Shows A no-show visitor 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. Staff will hold a campsite until check-out time on the day following the arrival date. No-shows are assessed $20.00 service fee and forfeit the first night's rate, taxes and applicable add-on for a campsite. Refunds Visitors may submit a refund request through their Recreation.gov profile within 7 days of the end date of their reservation. Refunds will not be issued after the 7 days has ended. Refunds for debit or credit card payments will be issued as a credit to the original bank or credit card used to pay. For check or cash purchases, Recreation.gov will mail a Treasury check for refunds of cash, check, or money order payments to the address associated with the reservation. Treasury check refunds may take up to 6-8 weeks to arrive. In the event of an emergency closure, the Recreation.gov team or facility manager will refund all fees and will attempt to notify you using the contact information within the Recreation.gov visitor profile.
What the agency tells you
Porta Potties available on site
Click here for more info about the Sequoia National Forest
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.
Everything else this campground posts · 1
There is an extra vehicle fee of $8.00/night on the 2nd vehicle in each single campsite and on the 3rd & 4th vehicle in any double campsite, provided these vehicles are not joined to the 1st vehicle by a hitch and towed onto the site. In the case of motorcycles, the 1st and 2nd are considered to be one vehicle and the 3rd and 4th are also considered to be one vehicle. So the fee would be a single $8.00/night of stay for the 3rd/4th motorcycle.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 65
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 30 ft
- Paved pads
- 4 of 65
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets
- “…and includes a fish cleaning station and flush toilets. The Giant Sequoia Mercantile offers a wide variety…”
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Waterfall, Lake, River, Creek
- Hiking
- Night sky · 889th darkest of 1,201 in CA
- Bortle 4
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
recreation.gov lists 2 of the 65 campsites the agency files here. The rest aren’t on its booking system, so a reservation won’t get you one.
No availability snapshot inside the last 36 hours, so this page draws nothing rather than ageing a reading into fiction.
Watch for a cancellation
Full? Watch it.
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 · 13
What you actually pay
“There is an extra vehicle fee of $8.00/night on the 2nd vehicle in each single campsite and on the 3rd & 4th vehicle in any double campsite, provided these vehicles are not joined to the 1st vehicle by a hitch and tow…” · the U.S. Forest Service’s own agency notice
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $36 a night, plus one $8 recreation.gov reservation fee for the booking. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night, booked once. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.
“Cancellations Individual Campsites: Cancellations up to 2 days before a reservation start date incur a $10.00 cancellation fee. A visitor who cancels a reservation the day before or on the day of arrival will pay a $10.00 service fee AND forfeit the first night's use fee including tax and applicable add-on for a cam…” · 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 · 7
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
65 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 58 mapped sitesAll 65 sites
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 58 of the 65 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. 62 of the 65 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| AREA BOULDER GULCH | 001 | type not stated | |||||
| AREA BOULDER GULCH | 002 | standard nonelectric | 107 ft | 1,106 ft | 242 ft | $36 | |
| AREA BOULDER GULCH | 003 | standard nonelectric | 92 ft | 1,152 ftIsabella Lake | 276 ft | $36 | |
| AREA BOULDER GULCH | 004 | standard nonelectric | $36 | ||||
| AREA BOULDER GULCH | 005 | standard nonelectric | 74 ft | 1,113 ft | 185 ft | $36 | |
| AREA BOULDER GULCH | 006 | standard nonelectric | 74 ft | 1,057 ft | 115 ft | $36 | |
| AREA BOULDER GULCH | 007 | standard nonelectric | 93 ft | 986 ft | 98 ft | $36 | |
| AREA BOULDER GULCH | 008 | standard nonelectric | 57 ft | 901 ft | 99 ft | $36 | |
| AREA BOULDER GULCH | 009 | standard nonelectric | 52 ft | 1,035 ft | 131 ft | $36 | |
| AREA BOULDER GULCH | 010 | standard nonelectric | 52 ft | 1,062 ft | 128 ft | $36 | |
| AREA BOULDER GULCH | 011 | standard nonelectric | 61 ft | 1,138 ft | 204 ft | $36 | |
| AREA BOULDER GULCH | 012 | standard nonelectric | 59 ft | 1,094 ft | 183 ft | $36 | |
| AREA BOULDER GULCH | 013 | standard nonelectric | 63 ft | 1,077 ftIsabella Lake | 316 ft | $36 | |
| AREA BOULDER GULCH | 014 | standard nonelectric | 83 ft | 1,075 ftIsabella Lake | 300 ft | $36 | |
| AREA BOULDER GULCH | 015 | standard nonelectric | 44 ft | 1,018 ftIsabella Lake | 379 ft | $36 | |
| AREA BOULDER GULCH | 016 | standard nonelectric | 44 ft | 995 ftIsabella Lake | 389 ft | $36 | |
| AREA BOULDER GULCH | 017 | standard nonelectric | 76 ft | 957 ftIsabella Lake | 481 ft | $36 | |
| AREA BOULDER GULCH | 018 | standard nonelectric | 67 ft | 1,033 ftIsabella Lake | 427 ft | $36 | |
| AREA BOULDER GULCH | 019 | standard nonelectric | 65 ft | 1,033 ftIsabella Lake | 477 ft | $36 | |
| AREA BOULDER GULCH | 020 | standard nonelectric | 53 ft | 1,166 ft | 414 ft | $36 | |
| AREA BOULDER GULCH | 021 | standard nonelectric | 81 ft | 1,113 ftIsabella Lake | 386 ft | $36 | |
| AREA BOULDER GULCH | 022 | standard nonelectric | 56 ft | 1,116 ft | 405 ft | $36 | |
| AREA BOULDER GULCH | 023 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 1,008 ft | 310 ft | $36 | |
| AREA BOULDER GULCH | 024 | standard nonelectric | 83 ft | 1,054 ft | 266 ft | $36 | |
| AREA BOULDER GULCH | 025 | standard nonelectric | 58 ft | 950 ft | 251 ft | $36 | |
| AREA BOULDER GULCH | 026 | standard nonelectric | 52 ft | 906 ft | 211 ft | $36 | |
| AREA BOULDER GULCH | 027 | standard nonelectric | 41 ft | 862 ft | 192 ft | $36 | |
| AREA BOULDER GULCH | 028 | standard nonelectric | 41 ft | 891 ft | 155 ft | $36 | |
| AREA BOULDER GULCH | 029 | standard nonelectric | 55 ft | 773 ft | 219 ft | $36 | |
| AREA BOULDER GULCH | 030 | standard nonelectric | 51 ft | 803 ft | 247 ft | $36 | |
| AREA BOULDER GULCH | 031 | standard nonelectric | 43 ft | 734 ft | 274 ft | $36 | |
| AREA BOULDER GULCH | 032 | standard nonelectric | 51 ft | 788 ft | 298 ft | $36 | |
| AREA BOULDER GULCH | 033 | standard nonelectric | 43 ft | 717 ft | 315 ft | $36 | |
| AREA BOULDER GULCH | 034 | standard nonelectric | 56 ft | 779 ft | 353 ft | $36 | |
| AREA BOULDER GULCH | 035 | standard nonelectric | 57 ft | 723 ft | 359 ft | $36 | |
| AREA BOULDER GULCH | 036 | standard nonelectric | 76 ft | 851 ft | 365 ft | $36 | |
| AREA BOULDER GULCH | 037 | standard nonelectric | 64 ft | 940 ft | 394 ft | $36 | |
| AREA BOULDER GULCH | 038 | standard nonelectric | 57 ft | 955 ft | 458 ft | $36 | |
| AREA BOULDER GULCH | 039 | standard nonelectric | 95 ft | 841 ft | 460 ft | $36 | |
| AREA BOULDER GULCH | 040 | standard nonelectric | 52 ft | 972 ft | 515 ft | $36 | |
| AREA BOULDER GULCH | 041 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 1,040 ft | 413 ft | $36 | |
| AREA BOULDER GULCH | 042 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 1,043 ft | 455 ft | $36 | |
| AREA BOULDER GULCH | 043 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 1,039 ft | 368 ft | $36 | |
| AREA BOULDER GULCH | 044 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 1,047 ft | 336 ft | $36 | |
| AREA BOULDER GULCH | 045 | standard nonelectric | 65 ft | 1,041 ft | 515 ft | $36 | |
| AREA BOULDER GULCH | 046 | standard nonelectric | 65 ft | 1,056 ft | 578 ft | $36 | |
| AREA BOULDER GULCH | 047 | standard nonelectric | 66 ft | 1,082 ft | 681 ft | $36 | |
| AREA BOULDER GULCH | 048 | standard nonelectric | 66 ft | 1,025 ft | 683 ft | $36 | |
| AREA BOULDER GULCH | 049 | standard nonelectric | 79 ft | 985 ft | 603 ft | $36 | |
| AREA BOULDER GULCH | 050 | standard nonelectric | 95 ft | 945 ft | 700 ft | $36 | |
| AREA BOULDER GULCH | 051 | standard nonelectric | 52 ft | 930 ft | 532 ft | $36 | |
| AREA BOULDER GULCH | 052 | standard nonelectric | 46 ft | 1,084 ftIsabella Lake | 484 ft | $36 | |
| AREA BOULDER GULCH | 053 | standard nonelectric | 46 ft | 1,090 ftIsabella Lake | 524 ft | $36 | |
| AREA BOULDER GULCH | 054 | standard nonelectric | 65 ft | 1,217 ftIsabella Lake | 511 ft | $36 | |
| AREA BOULDER GULCH | 055 | standard nonelectric | 53 ft | 1,178 ftIsabella Lake | 409 ft | $36 | |
| AREA BOULDER GULCH | 056 | standard nonelectric | 65 ft | 1,162 ft | 475 ft | $36 | |
| AREA BOULDER GULCH | 057 | standard nonelectric | 69 ft | 1,134 ftIsabella Lake | 561 ft | $36 | |
| AREA BOULDER GULCH | 058 | standard nonelectric | 95 ft | 958 ftIsabella Lake | 569 ft | $36 | |
| AREA BOULDER GULCH | 059 | standard nonelectric | 82 ft | 864 ftIsabella Lake | 626 ft | $36 | |
| AREA BOULDER GULCH | 060 | standard nonelectric | 82 ft | 817 ftIsabella Lake | 619 ft | $36 | |
| AREA BOULDER GULCH | 061 | standard nonelectric | $36 | ||||
| AREA BOULDER GULCH | FS1-20 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | $36 | |||
| AREA BOULDER GULCH | FS1-20-n | type not stated | 20 ft | ||||
| AREA BOULDER GULCH | FS1-30 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | $36 | |||
| AREA BOULDER GULCH | FS1-30-n | type not stated | 30 ft |
25 of 65 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Hungry GulchSequoia National Forest · 0.0 mi
French GulchSequoia National Forest · 1.1 mi
Old IsabellaSequoia National Forest · 1.5 mi
Pioneer PointSequoia National Forest · 1.7 miAuxiliary Dam CampgroundSequoia National Forest · 2.0 miMain Dam CampgroundSequoia National Forest · 2.1 miFrom Highway 99 in Bakersfield, California, take Highway 178 east to the town of Lake Isabella. Take Highway 155 around the west side of Lake Isabella for 4 miles to the campground entrance.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Lake Isabella, CA
Typical weather
Typical April night 41°F, day 72°F.
Coldest night of the open season: typical April night 41°F. Bring the bag rated for it.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or moreOutside the published season
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.
The land, and who answers for it
what threatens it · who answers for it
Roadless country, and what’s coming for it
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Boulder Gulch 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 →