Coulter Group Campground
5Heads up5 fires, nearest 13 mi
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- Sites
- 1All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 6 notices
In the agency’s own words
Nestled within the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument, Coulter Group Campground offers a secluded forest setting ideal for family reunions, youth groups, scout troops, and other organized gatherings. Located within the Chilao Recreation Area at approximately 5,200 feet in elevation, the campground provides a peaceful mountain retreat with convenient access to hiking, horseback riding, mountain biking, scenic drives, and other recreational opportunities. The campground accommodates groups of up to 50 people and offers a private camping experience while remaining just minutes from the Chilao Visitor Center and Angeles Crest Scenic Byway. A potable water spigot (Woodford hydrant) is available within the campground, providing a convenient source of drinking water throughout the stay. Keep reading
Recreation
Coulter Group Campground serves as an excellent base camp for exploring the many recreational opportunities found throughout the Chilao Recreation Area. The nearby Silver Moccasin Trail is open to hiking, horseback riding, and mountain biking and connects with the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail, offering opportunities for day hikes or extended backcountry adventures. Additional Forest Service roads and trails throughout the area provide opportunities for wildlife viewing, bird watching, photography, trail running, scenic driving, and exploring the diverse landscapes of the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument.
Facilities
Coulter Group Campground features a single reservable group campsite accommodating up to 50 people. The site includes four group picnic tables, a large group campfire ring with benches, cooking grills, a vault toilet, and parking for passenger vehicles and RVs up to 40 feet in length. A potable water spigot (Woodford hydrant) is available within the campground. While drinking water is provided, larger groups are encouraged to bring additional water containers for convenience.
Natural Features
Coulter Group Campground is surrounded by a mixed conifer forest of Jeffrey pine, Coulter pine, incense cedar, and native chaparral. Fragrant pines provide some shade during the summer months, while the campground's elevation offers cooler temperatures than the surrounding valleys. The surrounding forest provides habitat for mule deer, gray squirrels, bobcats, coyotes, Steller's jays, acorn woodpeckers, hawks, and many other wildlife species. During spring and early summer, native wildflowers brighten the forest floor, while autumn brings 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 approximately 1.5 miles east of the campground, 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.
Due to limited water availability, piped water may not always be available. It is highly recommended to bring your own 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 · 3
Checkout time is 11 am. Check in time is 2 pm.
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
- 1 · 1 group
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 40 ft
- Paved pads
- All
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Not allowed
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…ring with benches, cooking grills, a vault toilet, and parking for passenger vehicles and RVs up to…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…Center and Angeles Crest Scenic Byway. A potable water spigot (Woodford hydrant) is available within the…”
Around the campground
- Biking
- Hiking
- Night sky · 1188th darkest of 1,201 in CA
- Bortle 5
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.
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 · 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
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
1 sites · the site map
All 1 sites
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 1 of the 1 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. 1 of the 1 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| AREA COULTER GROUP CAMPGROUND | 001 | group standard area nonelectric | 40 ft | 5,097 ft | 70 ft | $100 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Meadow Group CampgroundSan Gabriel Mountains National Monument · 0.1 mi
Chilao Campground - Little Pines LoopSan Gabriel Mountains National Monument · 0.4 miHorse Flat CampgroundSan Gabriel Mountains National Monument · 1.4 mi
Bandido Group CampgroundSan Gabriel Mountains National Monument · 1.7 miMt. Pacifico CampgroundSan Gabriel Mountains National Monument · 4.2 miMonte Cristo CampgroundSan Gabriel Mountains National Monument · 5.4 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 26 miles to the Lower Chilao Road (look for the Chilao Overnight campground sign). Turn left onto Lower Chilao Road and continue 0.1 mile to the "Y" intersection. Bear left into the Little Pines Loop. Proceed to Campsite 18 and turn right onto the gated road marked by a white gate leading to Coulter Group Campground.
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 Chilao. Travel approximately 7 miles to the Lower Chilao Road (look for the Chilao Overnight campground sign). Turn left onto Lower Chilao Road and continue 0.1 mile to the "Y" intersection. Bear left into the Little Pines Loop. Proceed to Campsite 18 and turn right onto the gated road marked by a white gate leading to Coulter Group Campground.
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 Monrovia, 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
What threatens this place
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Coulter 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 →