Escondido Campground
1Heads up1 fire 14 mi away
- Right now
- Closedrecreation.gov lists every site closed this weekend, read 15:37 UTC
- A night
- $30When it reopens, per site
- Sites
- 9In the agency’s record
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 14 notices
In the agency’s own words
Escondido Campground is one of the best kept secrets in the Santa Lucia Mountains. This family-friendly campground boasts scenic vistas that will take your breath away. Surrounded by spectacular rock formations and sprawling oaks this campground rests in a beautiful grassy meadow. The outdoor activities are endless. Hiking, biking, wildlife viewing, picnicking, and bird watching are just a few of the activities you can do while visiting this Los Padres National Forest gem. Keep reading
Recreation
Escondido Campground has trailheads located near the campground and is only a short drive to multiple other trails with access to backpacking, hiking, biking and horseback riding. Hitching posts for your horses are available at the campground trailhead. Sandstone landscapes, wildflowers and wildlife are part of the experience in this pristine part of the forest.
Facilities
Open daily and year-round, there are nine campsites and each include a picnic table and fire ring. Two vault toilets are located near the campsites. You should plan to be completely self-sustainable for the duration of your trip. There is no potable water (drinking water) onsite. There is no dump station.
Natural Features
Escondido Campground has a diverse and thriving environment that contains ponderosa pine, oak madrone and sycamore trees, just to name a few. The Arroyo Seco River runs through this canyon terrain and only a short distance from the campground. A variety of wildlife viewing and backpacking opportunities await at this hidden treasure.
Nearby Attractions
Hiking trails, biking, fishing, horseback riding are within minutes of this campground. The San Antonio Mission, one of the oldest of the California Missions, is within a 15-minute drive.
What the agency tells you
In order to contact our offices, please use the email: customerservice@pmcparks.com or view our website: CampOne.Com for answers to frequently asked questions.
Camping fee includes 1 vehicle and 1 tent, trailer or RV.
$10 fee for each extra vehicle.
Everything else this campground posts · 11
No drinking water is available.
Pets are allowed.
No public showers in the region.
Quiet hours are 10 p.m. - 8 a.m.
Fireworks are prohibited at all times.
If hiking alone, tell someone where you plan to go and then stick to your plans.
Don't take unnecessary chances - help for emergencies is miles away.
Bring your gnat/mosquito repellent in Spring/Summer/Fall
Fires are allowed only in designated fire rings.
Click here for more information on Los Padres 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.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 9 · 9 tent-only
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 50 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Little
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…a picnic table and fire ring. Two vault toilets are located near the campsites. You should plan to…”
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- “…for the duration of your trip. There is no potable water (drinking water) onsite. There is no dump station.…”
Around the campground
- On the water
- River, Meadow
- Biking
- Hiking
- Night sky · 494th darkest of 1,201 in CA
- Bortle 3
Nothing to book until it reopensread 15:37 UTC
recreation.gov lists every site closed this weekend
OpenBookedClosed
Tell me when it reopens
Watch for it to come back
One email when the agency reopens it, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check the agency’s own record once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time it stops saying closed.
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.
Every line of the receipt · 12
What you actually pay
“$10 fee for each extra vehicle.” · the U.S. Forest Service’s own agency notice
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
Why this page can’t say why
recreation.gov lists every site at Escondido Campground closed this Friday and Saturday night. The U.S. Forest Service has published no closure notice we hold, so this page can’t say why, and it won’t fill the gap with a guess. A closed night isn’t a sold-out one: the reservations its record still carries were taken before the sites were closed.
There’s no notice to quote and no reason to argue with, so this page offers you the watch and the list below, and no letter.
Open within 150 miles · 4
The agency’s own word that these are open, not our reading of a season.
- Friis CampgroundLos Padres National Forest · 84 mi · walk-up
- Hi Mountain CampgroundLos Padres National Forest · 86 mi · walk-up
- Horseshoe Springs CampgroundLos Padres National Forest · 110 mi · walk-up
- Miranda Pine CampgroundLos Padres National Forest · 112 mi
recreation.gov availability, read 15:37 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
9 sites
All 9 sites
| ESCONDIDO CAMPGROUND | 01 | tent only nonelectric | 42 ft |
| ESCONDIDO CAMPGROUND | 02 | tent only nonelectric | 42 ft |
| ESCONDIDO CAMPGROUND | 03 | tent only nonelectric | 40 ft |
| ESCONDIDO CAMPGROUND | 04 | tent only nonelectric | 50 ft |
| ESCONDIDO CAMPGROUND | 05 | tent only nonelectric | 32 ft |
| ESCONDIDO CAMPGROUND | 06 | tent only nonelectric | 25 ft |
| ESCONDIDO CAMPGROUND | 07 | tent only nonelectric | 42 ft |
| ESCONDIDO CAMPGROUND | 08 | tent only nonelectric | 30 ft |
| ESCONDIDO CAMPGROUND | 09 | tent only nonelectric | 40 ft |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Memorial CampgroundLos Padres National Forest · 2.4 miArroyo Seco Group CampgroundLos Padres National Forest · 6.2 mi
Arroyo SecoLos Padres National Forest · 6.8 mi
Kirk Creek CampgroundLos Padres National Forest · 10 miNacimiento CampgroundLos Padres National Forest · 11 mi
China Camp CampgroundLos Padres National Forest · 11 miTake Highway 101 to Jolon Road, turn onto Mission Road, to Del Venture Road. Travel 12 miles to the campground. Last 3 miles is unsurfaced.
The weather
the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Typical weather
Typical October night 43°F, day 83°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical December night 33°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 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
What threatens this place
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Escondido Campground is in California’s 18th congressional district. Its representative, Zoe Lofgren (D), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: A. See every public-lands vote →