Falcon Group
5Heads up5 fires, nearest 11 mi
- Right now
- Closedrecreation.gov lists every site closed this weekend, read 15:47 UTC
- Sites
- 3In the agency’s record
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 6 notices
In the agency’s own words
Falcon Group Campground has three individual group campsites just off the scenic Ortega Highway in Southern California, which connects San Juan Capistrano and Temecula Valley Highway. The pleasant climate, scenery, trail system and convenient location, make this a popular destination for groups from Los Angeles and San Diego. Hiking is especially popular among campers. Keep reading
Recreation
Hikers of any level can find trails that challenge and accommodate their recreational goals around the campground. Among them are the Falcon Trail, a 1.4-mile easy trail that connects to the campground, and Trabuco Canyon Trail, which provides scenic 6.8-mile hike into the backcountry. The San Juan Trial, which is popular with mountain bikers, has a trailhead at Blue Jay campground, adjacent from Falcon Group Campground. The trail climbs a very steep set of stacked switchbacks from the floor of Hot Springs Canyon and traverses briefly before steeply ascending a ridge toward Sugarloaf Mountain. There are also many ideal picnic spots and scenic overlooks along Ortega Highway.
Facilities
There are three individual campsites within the group campground. Lupine can hold 40 people and eight vehicles, Sage can hold 30 people and six vehicles, and Yarrow can hold 70 people and 10 vehicles. The facility is adjacent to Blue Jay Campground, which has first-come, first-served individual sites.
Natural Features
The campground sits at an elevation of 3,300 ft. off the Ortega Highway scenic drive in the Santa Ana Mountains, a route that offers beautiful views of the surrounding mountains, valleys and forest. The area lies in a mixed forest and chaparral ecosystem and is inhabited by a variety of birds, plants and wildlife.
Nearby Attractions
The closest town is Lake Elsinore, which has various shops, restaurants and recreation opportunities.
What the agency tells you
Parking is limited to 6 spaces at Sage, 8 spaces at Lupine and 10 spaces at Yarrow; carpooling is recommended
Parking area is not large enough for vehicles with trailers
Camp fire rings are available as are charcoal grills.
Everything else this campground posts · 3
Mountain lions and other animals frequent the area; Be aware of your surroundings and keep all food and trash secure
Click here to learn more about Cleveland 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
- 3 · 3 tent-only, 3 group
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 25 ft
- Paved pads
- All
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Shade
- Every site
Around the campground
- On the water
- Hot springs, Lake
- Biking
- Hiking
- Mountain biking
- Scenic drives
- Stargazing
- Wilderness access
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 1192nd darkest of 1,201 in CA
- Bortle 5
Nothing to book until it reopensread 15:47 UTC
recreation.gov lists every site closed this weekend
Every one of the next thirty nights is in recreation.gov’s record and not one site is being offered on any of them. That’s a campground closed or not yet released for booking, not a sold-out one.
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 · 11
What you actually pay
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 · 4
Why this page can’t say why
recreation.gov lists every site at Falcon Group 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 60 miles · 4
The agency’s own word that these are open, not our reading of a season.
- El Cariso CampgroundCleveland National Forest · 2.8 mi · walk-up
- Crestline Group CampgroundCleveland National Forest · 42 mi · 1 site
- Spring Camp CampgroundSan Gabriel Mountains National Monument · 49 mi · walk-up
- Glenn Camp Campground (Hike or bike in 7 miles)San Gabriel Mountains National Monument · 49 mi
recreation.gov availability, read 15:47 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
3 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 3 mapped sitesAll 3 sites
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 3 of the 3 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. 3 of the 3 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
El Cariso CampgroundCleveland National Forest · 2.8 miUpper San Juan CampgroundCleveland National Forest · 3.7 mi
Wildomar CampgroundCleveland National Forest · 8.5 mi
Dripping Springs Campground (CA)Cleveland National Forest · 31 mi
Fry Creek CampgroundCleveland National Forest · 40 miFrom Southern California, take U.S. Highway 15 to State Highway 74 (Ortega Highway) in Lake Elsinore. Travel 6 miles west of Lake Elsinore on 74 and turn north on North Main Divide Road. Proceed 5 miles to Falcon Campground.
From I-5, exit for Ortega Highway (State Highway 74). Take 74 east approximately 27 miles to North Main Divide Road. Turn north and proceed 5 miles to Falcon Campground.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Lakeland Village, CA
Typical weather
Typical October night 40°F, day 79°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical December night 30°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 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
Falcon Group is in California’s 40th congressional district. Its representative, Young Kim (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →