Crystal Springs Campground (CA)
5Heads up3 park alerts · 2 fires, nearest 5 mi
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $32From, per site
- Sites
- 3534 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 3 notices
In the agency’s own words
Crystal Springs campground is centrally located in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks in central California's rugged Sierra Nevada range. This campground is at an elevation of 6,500 feet. The 14 mid-size group sites are available for reservation on the Crystal Springs Campground Mid-Size Group Sites page . Keep reading
Recreation
There are numerous recreation opportunities in the immediate area. From your campsite, you can hike to a Sequoia Grove that includes the General Grant Tree, the Nation's Christmas Tree and only living memorial to our military veterans. Hike to the beautiful Ella Falls, a 50 foot waterfall or to Panoramic Point for a breathtaking view of the high Sierras.
Facilities
There are 35 sites at Crystal Springs Campground. Each site contains a picnic table, a fire ring, and a food storage box. Flush toilets and potable water are available at the campground. Each site can accommodate 1-6 people. There are also 14 mid-size group sites available for reservation on the Crystal Springs Campground Mid-Size Group Sites page . Crystal Springs campground is located nearby Grant Grove Village where you will find the Kings Canyon Visitor Center, a restaurant, gift store, Post Office and market. Nightly campfire programs are offered at the nearby amphitheater.
Natural Features
Crystal Springs campground is located in a mixed conifer forest of sugar pines, incense cedar, fir and sequoia trees. Summer days can be warm and dry with cool nights. Wildlife is abundant and includes black bear, mule deer, gray squirrel, golden-mantled ground squirrel, and a variety of resident birds, among many others. The dynamic landscape of the park evolves from geologic processes working over millennia to sculpt granite, marble and other forms of rock. Here in the parks are canyons carved by rivers and glaciers, towering rugged peaks and miles of underground caverns. Found throughout the park are thousands of lakes and ponds and miles of rivers and streams. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (559) 565-4357.
Nearby Attractions
Crystal Springs campground is within an hour's drive from the Giant Forest in Sequoia National Park, home of the biggest tree in the world, the General Sherman, and the Cedar Grove area of Kings Canyon National Park. Fishing is 30 minutes away at Hume Lake in Sequoia National Forest. The national forest also includes Converse Basin and Chicago Stump, where you can learn the history of logging in the area.
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 All cancellations made between midnight on the day before arrival and check out time on the day after arrival are considered late cancellations and will incur a $10.00 cancellation fee and will also forfeit the first night’s use fee. Cancellations for a single night’s reservation will forfeit the entire use fee but no cancellation fee will apply. 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) 565-4357 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) 565-4357 if you will be arriving 24 hours after your arrival date so your site won't be cancelled. 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. Food storage locker dimensions are 28" high x 33" 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. 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. A California state fishing license is required to fish in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, and Sequoia National Forest lakes and streams. Fishing licenses may be available at National Park and National Forest markets.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 35 · 3 tent-only
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 41 ft
- Paved pads
- 30 of 35
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets - seasonal
- Drinking water
- Yes
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Waterfall, Lake, River, Creek
- Hiking
- Hotel/Lodge/Resort Privately Owned
- Ranger programs
- Visitor center
- Night sky · 828th darkest of 1,201 in CA
- Bortle 4
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
recreation.gov lists 34 of the 35 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 · 20
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. Additional fees will apply for late cancellations - All cancellations made between midnight on the day before arrival and check out time on the day after arrival are considered late cancellations and will incur a $10.00 cancellation fee and wi…” · 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 Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
35 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 34 mapped sitesAll 35 sites
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 35 of the 35 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. 31 of the 35 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.
| Crystal Springs | Site: 01 | tent only nonelectric | 22 ft | 21 ft | 2,031 ft | 382 ft | |
| Crystal Springs | Site: 02 | tent only nonelectric | 22 ft | 20 ft | 2,019 ft | 396 ft | |
| Crystal Springs | Site: 03 | tent only nonelectric | 22 ft | 20 ft | 2,003 ft | 405 ft | |
| Crystal Springs | Site: 04 | standard nonelectric | 37 ft | 64 ft | 1,838 ft | 269 ft | $32 |
| Crystal Springs | Site: 05 | standard nonelectric | 39 ft | 57 ft | 1,822 ft | 288 ft | $32 |
| Crystal Springs | Site: 06 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 57 ft | 1,878 ft | 336 ft | $32 |
| Crystal Springs | Site: 07 | standard nonelectric | 39 ft | 85 ft | 1,850 ft | 360 ft | $32 |
| Crystal Springs | Site: 08 | standard nonelectric | 34 ft | 98 ft | 1,894 ft | 452 ft | $32 |
| Crystal Springs | Site: 09 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | 123 ft | 1,795 ft | 446 ft | $32 |
| Crystal Springs | Site: 10 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | 62 ft | 1,694 ft | 522 ft | $32 |
| Crystal Springs | Site: 11 | standard nonelectric | 31 ft | 62 ft | 1,633 ft | 520 ft | $32 |
| Crystal Springs | Site: 12 | standard nonelectric | 31 ft | 111 ft | 1,712 ft | 326 ft | $32 |
| Crystal Springs | Site: 13 | standard nonelectric | 34 ft | 78 ft | 1,588 ft | 89 ft | $32 |
| Crystal Springs | Site: 14 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 39 ft | 1,511 ft | 120 ft | $32 |
| Crystal Springs | Site: 15 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 39 ft | 1,476 ft | 155 ft | $32 |
| Crystal Springs | Site: 16 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | 63 ft | 1,413 ft | 203 ft | $32 |
| Crystal Springs | Site: 17 | standard nonelectric | 29 ft | 46 ft | 1,444 ft | 136 ft | $32 |
| Crystal Springs | Site: 18 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 46 ft | 1,455 ft | 132 ft | $32 |
| Crystal Springs | Site: 19 | standard nonelectric | 27 ft | 91 ft | 1,547 ft | 111 ft | $32 |
| Crystal Springs | Site: 20 | type not stated | 29 ft | 1,542 ft | 66 ft | ||
| Crystal Springs | Site: 21 | standard nonelectric | 37 ft | 56 ft | 1,631 ft | 140 ft | $32 |
| Crystal Springs | Site: 22 | standard nonelectric | 31 ft | 54 ft | 1,640 ft | 93 ft | $32 |
| Crystal Springs | Site: 23 | standard nonelectric | 37 ft | 54 ft | 1,684 ft | 145 ft | $32 |
| Crystal Springs | Site: 24 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 51 ft | 1,492 ft | 238 ft | $32 |
| Crystal Springs | Site: 25 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 51 ft | 1,442 ft | 248 ft | $32 |
| Crystal Springs | Site: 27 | standard nonelectric | 41 ft | 48 ft | 1,343 ft | 393 ft | $32 |
| Crystal Springs | Site: 28 | standard nonelectric | 27 ft | 48 ft | 1,325 ft | 369 ft | $32 |
| Crystal Springs | Site: 29 | standard nonelectric | 31 ft | 32 ft | 1,264 ft | 440 ft | $32 |
| Crystal Springs | Site: 30 | standard nonelectric | 29 ft | 32 ft | 1,241 ft | 440 ft | $32 |
| Crystal Springs | Site: 31 | standard nonelectric | 29 ft | 35 ft | 1,222 ft | 436 ft | $32 |
| Crystal Springs | Site: 32 | standard nonelectric | 15 ft | 120 ft | 1,272 ft | 337 ft | $32 |
| Crystal Springs | Site: 33 | standard nonelectric | 33 ft | 87 ft | 1,356 ft | 229 ft | $32 |
| Crystal Springs | Site: 34 | standard nonelectric | 33 ft | 97 ft | 1,447 ft | 188 ft | $32 |
| Crystal Springs | Site: 35 | standard nonelectric | 29 ft | 75 ft | 1,559 ft | 208 ft | $32 |
| Crystal Springs | Site: 36 | standard nonelectric | 31 ft | 75 ft | 1,633 ft | 227 ft | $32 |
25 of 35 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Crystal Springs Campground Mid-Sized Group SitesKings Canyon National Park · 0.0 mi
Azalea CampgroundKings Canyon National Park · 0.2 mi
Sunset Campground (CA)Kings Canyon National Park · 0.5 mi
Ten Mile Campground (CA)Giant Sequoia National Monument · 3.8 mi
Eshom CampgroundGiant Sequoia National Monument · 3.8 mi
Aspen Hollow Group (Sequoia National Forest, CA)Giant Sequoia National Monument · 4.1 miFrom Fresno, CA, take Highway 180 East for 1 1/2 hours. Vehicles over 22 feet are not advised between Potwisha Campground and the Giant Forest Museum when entering through Sequoia National Park. Vehicles over 22 feet should use the Kings Canyon National Park Entrance.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Wilsonia, CA
Typical weather
Typical October night 39°F, day 63°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical February night 25°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
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

Crystal Springs Campground (CA) is in California’s 5th congressional district. Its representative, Tom McClintock (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →