Cold Springs Campground (CA)
4Heads up3 park alerts · 1 fire 25 mi away
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $32From, per site
- Sites
- 4038 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 3 notices
In the agency’s own words
The Mineral King area features the highest elevation campground in the parks. At 7,500 feet (2280 m), it is only open during the summer months. It takes approximately 90 minutes to drive the long narrow, winding, largely unpaved road that leads to the area and its two campgrounds. RVs and trailers are not recommended on Mineral King Road and are not permitted in campgrounds. Mineral King is not connected to the rest of Sequoia National Park by roads. Keep reading
Recreation
Trails to alpine lakes and mountain passes begin nearby.
Facilities
Nestled among amid aspen trees and conifers, the campground is located near the Mineral King Ranger Station. The campground has no sinks and no flush toilets, pit toilets only.
Natural Features
Hikes into the backcountry out of Mineral King will give visitors an ever deeper understanding of the beauty and uniqueness of Sequoia National Park. Hike to alpine lakes and over mountain passes, or climb a peak.
Nearby Attractions
There are limited services at Silver City Resort, 2.5 miles (4 km) west of the campground. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (559) 565-4404.
Charges & Cancellations
Payment in full will be charged to your credit card upon completion of the reservation. A $10.00 service fee will apply if you change or cancel your reservation. Additional fees will apply for late cancellations If your campsite remains vacant for 24 hours after your arrival date it will be cancelled and made available on rec.gov. You will be charged for the first night's campsite fee and a $10 cancellation fee, all other fees after that will be refunded. Recreation.gov policies apply to all reservations, cancellations, refunds and date changes. Call (559) 565-4404 if you will be arriving 24 hours after your arrival date so your site won't be cancelled.
What the agency tells you
If your campsite remains vacant for 24 hours after your arrival date it will be cancelled and made available on rec.gov. You will be charged for the first night's campsite fee and a $10 cancellation fee, all other fees after that will be refunded. Recreation.gov policies apply to all reservations, cancellations, refunds and date changes. Call (559) 565-4404 if you will be arriving 24 hours after your arrival date so your site won't be cancelled. RV's and trailers are not recomended on Mineral King Road and are not permitted in the campground. Upon making a campground reservation: Site occupants agree to follow ALL campground rules. Failure to comply may result in a fine. You are responsible for your guests.
Campground Rules and Regulations: • Food Storage- You are in an ACTIVE BEAR AREA. Black Bears are active day and night. When not in arms reach, you must properly store all food, drinks, scented items, coolers, and equipment used to prepare food, inside provided food storage lockers. These items must be stored day and night. Bear Locker dimensions for campsites 14-18 are 21" high x 24" deep x 47" wide. Campsites 33-41 bear lockers are 16" high x 17" deep x 51" wide. All remaining bear lockers are 28" high x 37" deep x 47" wide • 6 Person Limit- There is a maximum of 6 people per campsite. If you exceed this number, purchase 2 sites and spread your group and equipment out evenly between campsites. This is to preserve the natural resources and minimize noise levels. Reservations can be made in advance to accommodate a larger group size at a group campground. • Check-In and Check-Out is at 12 NOON- Please be prepared to show a screen shot (limited cell service) or printout of your reservation confirmation email upon arrival to the campground. Campsites need to be vacated (vehicles and occupants) by 12:00 NOON. • Parking Pad- Vehicles must be parked with all four wheels on pavement. Vehicles that do not fit on the provided parking pad must be parked in overflow parking areas. • Quiet Hours 10pm to 6am- Music, talking, and generators should not be audible beyond your immediate campsite. Unreasonable noise is prohibited any time of day. • Generator Hours- 9am to 9pm • Fire Restrictions- Check current fire restrictions at nps.gov/seki . Fires must be attended. DO NOT build additional fire rings. Glass, aluminum, and food are prohibited in fire rings. Firewood is sold locally. Dead and down wood may be gathered for your campfire. Logs must fit within the fire ring. Chainsaws are not allowed. Fires must be extinguished completely with water and be cool to the touch before leaving your campsite or going to bed. • Tents- Pitch tents only on tent pads or within campsite boundaries. • Dogs/Pets- must always be kept crated, caged, or on a leash no longer than six feet. Pets are allowed in campgrounds and picnic areas. Pets may not be left unattended. Pets are not allowed beyond 100 feet of public roads or parking areas. Pets are not allowed on any Park trails. • Preserve Natural Resources- Injuring plants or trees by cutting, breaking, or attaching nails or other hardware is prohibited. Driving off pavement is prohibited. • Bicycles- Helmets required if under 18 years of age. Bicycles are not allowed on any park trails. • Trash Disposal- Please keep your campsite clean. Place all litter/trash in bear proof campground trash dumpsters. To prevent bears from getting trash please DO NOT forget to lock or relatch the dumpster. Do not leave cigarette butts, bottle caps, confetti or litter on the ground. • Water Disposal- Do not dump grey-water on the ground or at the water spigots. Bring a tub to wash dishes or to collect shower water. All grey-water must be disposed of at the restrooms, dish sinks, or at a RV dump-station. Used water must not be allowed to run onto the ground. • Propane Tank Disposal- DO NOT leave in the park. We are unable to recycle your used propane tanks. Please take them home with you and dispose of them properly.
Tire Chains may be required at any time. Be prepared at any time of year for a wide range of temperatures and weather conditions. Check Road Conditions at nps.gov/seki Vehicles longer than 22 feet (including trailers) are not advised between Potwisha Campground and the Giant Forest Museum. Visitors with vehicles over 22 feet in total length hoping to visit the Giant Forest or camp at Lodgepole and Dorst Creek Campgrounds are advised to enter via the northern, Highway 180, entrance to these parks. Dangerous Rivers! Many drowning victims were playing near rivers. Rivers present a far greater danger than lakes or pools. Surfaces may look calm, but strong currents often run below. Be cautious walking near rivers as rocks can be slippery. Getting out of a cold, swift river is often impossible. Falling Objects - Don't linger under dead, cracked, or broken branches. Run if you hear cracks or snapping from tree roots, trunks, or branches (know that sometimes there is no sound, and very little time to react). Report falling branches or trees to a ranger.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 40 · 29 tent-only, 9 walk-in
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 20 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets - seasonal
- Drinking water
- Yes
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake
- Hiking
- Night sky · 533rd darkest of 1,201 in CA
- Bortle 3
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
recreation.gov lists 38 of the 40 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 · 19
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $32 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.
“A $10.00 service fee will apply if you change or cancel your reservation. You will be charged for the first night's campsite fee and a $10 cancellation fee, all other fees after that will be refunded.” · this campground’s own 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
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
40 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 38 mapped sitesAll 40 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. 38 of the 40 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
Measured shade is NLCD Tree Canopy Cover 2024 (USDA Forest Service / MRLC) read at the site’s own coordinate, 27% canopy or more, and only for the sites the agency gave no Shade value. It never changes the agency’s own shaded count beside it.
| Cold Springs | Site: 01 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 99 ft | 110 ft | $32 |
| Cold Springs | Site: 02 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 65 ft | 96 ft | $32 |
| Cold Springs | Site: 03 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 65 ft | 58 ft | $32 |
| Cold Springs | Site: 04 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 82 ft | 28 ft | $32 |
| Cold Springs | Site: 05 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 92 ft | 54 ft | $32 |
| Cold Springs | Site: 06 | type not stated | 20 ft | 120 ft | ||
| Cold Springs | Site: 07 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 109 ft | 182 ft | $32 |
| Cold Springs | Site: 08 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 109 ft | 212 ft | $32 |
| Cold Springs | Site: 09 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 123 ft | 168 ft | $32 |
| Cold Springs | Site: 10 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 62 ft | 201 ft | $32 |
| Cold Springs | Site: 11 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 62 ft | 227 ft | $32 |
| Cold Springs | Site: 12 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 63 ft | 311 ft | $32 |
| Cold Springs | Site: 13 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 63 ft | 303 ft | $32 |
| Cold Springs | Site: 14 | type not stated | 20 ft | 360 ft | ||
| Cold Springs | Site: 15 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 81 ft | 283 ft | $32 |
| Cold Springs | Site: 16 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 81 ft | 310 ft | $32 |
| Cold Springs | Site: 17 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 86 ft | 290 ft | $32 |
| Cold Springs | Site: 18 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 86 ft | 305 ft | $32 |
| Cold Springs | Site: 19 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 97 ft | 208 ft | $32 |
| Cold Springs | Site: 20 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 137 ft | 250 ft | $32 |
| Cold Springs | Site: 22 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 99 ft | 84 ft | $32 |
| Cold Springs | Site: 23 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 57 ft | 82 ft | $32 |
| Cold Springs | Site: 24 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 57 ft | 37 ft | $32 |
| Cold Springs | Site: 25 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 109 ft | 81 ft | $32 |
| Cold Springs | Site: 26 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 56 ft | 43 ft | $32 |
| Cold Springs | Site: 27 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 52 ft | 76 ft | $32 |
| Cold Springs | Site: 28 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 50 ft | 49 ft | $32 |
| Cold Springs | Site: 29 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 50 ft | 43 ft | $32 |
| Cold Springs | Site: 30 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 109 ft | 124 ft | $32 |
| Cold Springs | Site: 31 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 89 ft | 54 ft | $32 |
| Cold Springs | Site: 32 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 89 ft | 142 ft | $32 |
| Cold Springs | Site: 33 | walk to | 20 ft | 193 ft | 211 ft | $32 |
| Cold Springs | Site: 34 | walk to | 20 ft | 58 ft | 130 ft | $32 |
| Cold Springs | Site: 35 | walk to | 20 ft | 58 ft | 141 ft | $32 |
| Cold Springs | Site: 36 | walk to | 20 ft | 66 ft | 171 ft | $32 |
| Cold Springs | Site: 37 | walk to | 20 ft | 66 ft | 223 ft | $32 |
| Cold Springs | Site: 38 | walk to | 20 ft | 81 ft | 267 ft | $32 |
| Cold Springs | Site: 39 | walk to | 20 ft | 39 ft | 68 ft | $32 |
| Cold Springs | Site: 40 | walk to | 20 ft | 33 ft | 59 ft | $32 |
| Cold Springs | Site: 41 | walk to | 20 ft | 33 ft | 44 ft | $32 |
25 of 40 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Atwell Mill CampgroundSequoia National Park · 3.2 miAuxiliary DamSequoia National Park · 8.1 miChamise Flat Dispersed CampgroundSequoia National Park · 8.1 miOld Goldledge CampgroundSequoia National Park · 8.1 miSouth Fork RecSequoia National Park · 8.1 mi
Buckeye Flat CampgroundSequoia National Park · 9.6 miCold Springs campground is located 23 miles (37 km) from Highway 198 on the Mineral King Road. It is an approximately 90 minute drive. The road is narrow, winding and steep, deeply rutted in sections, and mostly unpaved. It is not advised for longer vehicles, including trailers and other recreational vehicles. RVs and trailers are not permitted in campgrounds.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Silver City, CA
Typical weather
Typical October night 31°F, day 59°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical December night 17°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.
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.
The land, and who answers for it
who answers for it
Who answers for this land

Cold Springs Campground (CA) 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 →