Chilao Campground - Manzanita Loop
5Heads up5 fires, nearest 6 mi
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $20From, per site
- Sites
- 4241 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 5 notices
In the agency’s own words
Manzanita Loop is one of two camping loops at Chilao Campground, located northeast of Los Angeles in the San Gabriel Mountains. It is accessed via the Angeles Crest Highway, a scenic byway that winds through oak woodlands, chaparral, high desert terrain, and pine forests. Situated in the high country of the Angeles National Forest within the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument, Manzanita Loop offers cooler mountain temperatures, panoramic views of surrounding peaks and ridges, and diverse forest habitats. Keep reading
Recreation
Manzanita Loop provides convenient access to hiking, mountain biking, and horseback riding. Nearby trails include the Silver Moccasin National Recreation Trail, which connects to sections of the Pacific Crest Trail. The Angeles Crest Highway offers scenic overlooks and access to additional trailheads. Birdwatching, wildlife viewing, and stargazing are popular activities due to the campground’s elevation and reduced light pollution.
Facilities
Manzanita Loop has 41 campsites, each equipped with a picnic table and fire ring/grill. Amenities include potable water, four vault toilets, bear-proof dumpsters, large parking spurs, and one shared group fire ring. RVs up to 40 feet in length are allowed.
Natural Features
Manzanita Loop sits at an elevation of approximately 5,300 feet within the transverse range of the rugged San Gabriel Mountains. The landscape is characterized by a mix of coulter pines, manzanita shrubs, scrub oaks, and chaparral plants covering steep mountain slopes. This mid-elevation environment supports diverse wildlife, including birds, deer, coyotes, bighorn sheep, black bears, and bobcats. The campground is located less than one mile from the San Gabriel Wilderness, a designated wilderness area encompassing over 36,000 acres within the Angeles National Forest. The wilderness preserves its natural character across extremely rugged terrain, with elevations ranging from approximately 1,600 to over 8,200 feet. Vegetation transitions from dense chaparral at lower elevations to pine- and fir-covered slopes at higher elevations; offering significant biodiversity, seasonal temperature variation, colorful wildflowers, and wildlife viewing opportunities.
Nearby Attractions
The Chilao Visitor Center is located approximately 1 mile east of the campground and features interpretive exhibits, short trails, seasonal programs, and a birdwatching deck. The visitor center is open on Saturdays and Sundays from 9 am to 3 pm.
What the agency tells you
No generators, amplifiers, live bands, or loud music. Quiet hours are from 10 pm to 6 am.
Bears frequent the area. All food and scented items must be properly stored.
Check out time is 11 am. Check in time is 2 pm.
Everything else this campground posts · 2
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
- 42
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 42 ft
- Paved pads
- 2 of 42
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- 14 of 42 sites
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…Amenities include potable water, four vault toilets, bear-proof dumpsters, large parking spurs, and one…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…and fire ring/grill. Amenities include potable water, four vault toilets, bear-proof dumpsters, large…”
Around the campground
- Night sky · 1183rd darkest of 1,201 in CA
- Bortle 5
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
recreation.gov lists 41 of the 42 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.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 12
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $20 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.
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
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
42 sites
All 42 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. 42 of the 42 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| Extra Vehicle | Extra Vehicle Fee | type not stated | 31 ft | $5 |
| Manzanita | 1 | standard nonelectric | 31 ft | $20 |
| Manzanita | 10 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $20 |
| Manzanita | 11 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | $20 |
| Manzanita | 12 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $20 |
| Manzanita | 13 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $20 |
| Manzanita | 14 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $20 |
| Manzanita | 15 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $20 |
| Manzanita | 16 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $20 |
| Manzanita | 17 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $20 |
| Manzanita | 18 | standard nonelectric | 34 ft | $20 |
| Manzanita | 19 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $20 |
| Manzanita | 2 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $20 |
| Manzanita | 20 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $20 |
| Manzanita | 21 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $20 |
| Manzanita | 22 | standard nonelectric | 39 ft | $20 |
| Manzanita | 23 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $20 |
| Manzanita | 24 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $20 |
| Manzanita | 25 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $20 |
| Manzanita | 26 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $20 |
| Manzanita | 27 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $20 |
| Manzanita | 28 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $20 |
| Manzanita | 29 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $20 |
| Manzanita | 3 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $20 |
| Manzanita | 30 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $20 |
| Manzanita | 31 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $20 |
| Manzanita | 32 | standard nonelectric | 42 ft | $20 |
| Manzanita | 33 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $20 |
| Manzanita | 34 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $20 |
| Manzanita | 35 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $20 |
| Manzanita | 36 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $20 |
| Manzanita | 37 | standard nonelectric | 39 ft | $20 |
| Manzanita | 38 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $20 |
| Manzanita | 39 | standard nonelectric | 38 ft | $20 |
| Manzanita | 4 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $20 |
| Manzanita | 40 | standard nonelectric | 38 ft | $20 |
| Manzanita | 41 | standard nonelectric | 26 ft | $20 |
| Manzanita | 5 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $20 |
| Manzanita | 6 | standard nonelectric | 38 ft | $20 |
| Manzanita | 7 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $20 |
| Manzanita | 8 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $20 |
| Manzanita | 9 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $20 |
25 of 42 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Grassy Hollow0.0 mi
Horse Flats Campground0.0 mi
Monte Cristo Campground0.0 miZuni CampgroundAngeles National Forest · 1.8 miStreamside CampgroundAngeles National Forest · 4.8 miUpper Shake CampgroundAngeles National Forest · 15 miFrom the Los Angeles basin side of the San Gabriel Mountains: drive to La Canada via the I-210 (Foothill Freeway) to the State Highway 2 (Angeles Crest Highway) exit. Turn north towards the mountains. Stay on State Highway 2 for approximately 25 miles to Forest Service Road 3N21 (look for the Chilao Overnight Campground sign); turn left onto 3N21 and travel west for approximately 1 mile. The Manzanita Loop entrance will be on the left-hand side of 3N21.
The agency publishes this point for 4 campgrounds; it’s likely a district office, not the campground. Use the agency’s own page for directions.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Santa Clarita, CA
Typical weather
Typical October night 56°F, day 81°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical December night 44°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
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
Chilao Campground - Manzanita Loop is in California’s 27th congressional district. Its representative, George Whitesides (D), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: A+. See every public-lands vote →