CAMPANAC.Powered by public lands intelligenceMore Than Just Parks

U.S. Forest Service · Inyo National Forest · CA

Four Jeffrey

2Heads up2 fires, nearest 36 mi

Wildfire

Wildfire Training fire · 36 mi away · 0 acres · updated Oct 15, 2026

Wildfire

Land fire · 46 mi away · 20 acres · updated Oct 11, 2026

Fires: NIFC/IRWIN via MTJP wildfire tracker · Oct 15, 2026

Reservable, and full this SaturdayEvery one of the 28 sites on offer is taken this Saturday, and the record lists no site held back for a walk-up. read 16:19 UTC

We don’t think it should be. Every campground should hold some sites for whoever drives up.Tell your representative →

Watch for a cancellation Book on recreation.gov ↗

Right now: Taking bookingsSites offered on 8 of the next 8 nights read 16:19 UTC
A night: $34From, per site
Sites: 106All of them booked ahead

Photos · USFS

40 ftLongest rig

9,700 ftElevation

1.1 miWater · South Fork Bishop Creek

6.1 miSW of West Bishop, CA

0%Tree cover

The place

the agency’s own description · what’s there · 7 notices

In the agency’s own words

Four Jeffrey is a mostly shaded campground with gorgeous views of Table Mountain along the South Fork of Bishop Creek. Campers enjoy fishing and swimming in the trout-stocked creek. The nearby John Muir Wilderness provides plenty of hiking opportunities to view impressive lakes and glaciers. Keep reading

Recreation

The South Fork Bishop Creek beckons anglers with rainbow, brown, brook and Alpers trout. A fish cleaning station is available on-site The area offers access to several trailheads for hiking and horseback riding into the John Muir Wilderness. The Tyee Lakes Trailhead is less than a mile up the road. The trail highlights epic views of the Inconsolable Range and the peaks surrounding South Lake.

Facilities

The campground offers several single-family sites, all with picnic tables, food storage lockers and campfire rings with grills. Amenities include accessible flush toilets and drinking water.

Natural Features

Four Jeffrey sits in a valley between Grouse Mountain and Table Mountain in Inyo National Park at an elevation of 8,100 feet. With over 2 million acres, the forest is home to many natural wonders, including Mt. Whitney, Mono Lake, Mammoth Lakes Basin and the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest.

Nearby Attractions

Take the John Muir Trail into the John Muir Wilderness and for breathtaking views of Devils Postpile.

Source: Recreation.gov data (RIDB), full extract · Aug 23, 2026

What the agency tells you

Rule

Bears frequent the area; keep all food out of sight in approved containers or locked inside your vehicle and remove all food from area after eating

Rule

Two pets per site and leashed at all times.

Rule

Please Note: One RV with tow vehicle per single site or one vehicle per tent site. One vehicle per single site is included with your reservation. Most sites can accommodate 1 extra vehicle that is not included with the reservation fee. Extra vehicle will be charged a per night fee and collected at the campground if you did not pay for an Extra Vehicle Add On. Extra vehicles must fit on the parking spur at the site.

Everything else this campground posts · 4

Rule

Fire Restrictions: Fire restrictions may be imposed at any time due to hot, dry weather conditions, at which time campfires and charcoal fires may not be allowed.

Rule

Reserved Sites will be held until check out time (NOON) the day following your arrival date. Sites must be occupied by the checkout time of that following day to hold a reservation or the site will be forfeited and released to other guests. Once your reservation start date has begun, neither the Recreation.gov Contact Center nor the campground manager will be able to modify your reservation.

Rule

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.

Rule

For more information on Inyo National Forest, click here

Read them on the agency’s own page →

Source: recreation.gov facility notices, quoted verbatim · Sep 9, 2026

Tents and rigs

Sites: 106 · 4 tent-only
Hookups: None
Longest rig: 40 ft
Accessible sites: None listed
Pets: Allowed
Shade: Every site

Source: Recreation.gov campsite records · Aug 23, 2026

Facilities

Toilets: Flush Toilets; “…grills. Amenities include accessible flush toilets and drinking water. Natural Features Four Jeffrey…”
Drinking water: Yes; “…include accessible flush toilets and drinking water. Natural Features Four Jeffrey sits in a valley…”
Bear boxes: Yes

Source: Stated in the agency description · Aug 23, 2026

Water, toilets and showers: read from the agency description, shown above · Sep 12, 2026

Around the campground

On the water: Lake, Creek; Boating; Fishing; Hiking; Horseback riding
Night sky · 261st darkest of 1,201 in CA: Bortle 2
Fall color · reported 14 days ago, 37 km away: Peak color

Source: Recreation.gov activity records · Aug 23, 2026

Night sky: VIIRS Day/Night Band annual cloud-free composite, VNL V2 2024 (Earth Observation Group, Colorado School of Mines), read at the published coordinate · Sep 8, 2026

Fall color: More Than Just Parks foliage tracker, joined to this campground by distance (37 km) · Oct 3, 2026

Full this Saturdayread 16:19 UTC

How full the weekend is nationally.

OpenBooked

Every one of the 28 sites on offer is taken this Saturday. 25 are free on Mon, Oct 19. read 16:19 UTC Why the weekend fills and the week doesn’t

Booking windowThrough October 24Bookable now through October 24, 2026, the end of this reservable season, and again for April 16, 2027. Today at 10 AM ET, availability opens through April 17, 2027.recreation.gov

Max stay14 nights2-night minimum on weekendsthe facility record

A night$34plus $8 to reserve, once per bookingthe agency’s rate schedule

A weekend$76DerivedFriday and Saturday, everything includedours, from the lines above

If plans change$10 to cancel$10 to change a reservationrecreation.gov’s schedule

Runs itU.S. Forest ServiceBooked through recreation.govthe agency’s record

Watch for a cancellation

Watch this campground

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.

Free forever, no booking kickbacks.

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.

Free forever, no booking kickbacks.

Book on recreation.gov ↗

We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.

Every line of the receipt · 13

What you actually pay

The sign priceU.S. Forest Service

A night$34

Standard Nonelectric$34

Tent Only Nonelectric$34

Rates for the season the campground is in now, Apr 17, 2026 to Oct 24, 2026.

The booking feerecreation.gov

Reservation fee, booked online$8

One fee per reservation, however many nights you book, and it’s non-refundable. $9 if you book by phone, $3 in person.

Pass discounts only apply to the recreation (or use) fee for the facility. Other charges such as electricity or water hookups, reservation or other fees are not eligible for a discount.

What a stay costs

One nightDerived$42

A weekend, Friday and SaturdayDerived$76

Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $34 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.

If your plans changerecreation.gov

Change fee, moving to dates outside your booking$10

Cancellation fee$10

Cancelling the day before, or the day of$10 + your first night

No-show$20 + your first night

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

Sign price: recreation.gov facility rate schedule, quoted as the agency publishes it · Sep 10, 2026

Booking fee, change fee, cancellation fee, no-show: Rules and Reservation Policies, Recreation.gov, the published fee schedule, curated by hand into lib/reservation-fee-schedule.json (9 rows, each carrying its own verbatim sentence). The publisher states these policies were last updated September 2019. · Sep 9, 2026

The two totals: Derived by CAMPANAC by adding the agency’s own published nightly rate to recreation.gov’s own published reservation fee. Both components are cited above; the addition is ours and is shown only where every component is known. · Sep 9, 2026

Who keeps the booking fee: Recreation.gov facility policy text, Dead Swede Campground (facility 234221) · Not on the national policy page. This is agency policy text recreation.gov publishes on individual campground pages; this site holds it verbatim on 45 active campgrounds (campground_rules.cancellation_description, scripts/load-facility-rules.mjs). · Sep 9, 2026

The contract: Reservation Gods: Who Stole Our Campsites and Sold Them Back to Us, More Than Just Parks, April 2025 · Apr 1, 2025

Source: Recreation.gov data (RIDB), full extract · Aug 23, 2026

recreation.gov availability, read 16:19 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

The sites

106 sites · which ones have room · the site map

The sites, ranked

from 31 mapped sites

66 ftbetween you and the next site, typically

Most room045 389 ft015 87 ft012 85 ft008 85 ft010 84 ft

Least room001 54 ft002 54 ft017 58 ft

Source: Derived by CAMPANAC from recreation.gov per-site coordinates (nearest-neighbor distance) · Oct 12, 2026

All 106 sites

31 of 106 sites located

Standard27Tent only4

001 002 003 004 005 006 007 008 009 010 011 012 013 014 015 016 017 018 019 020 021 022 023 024 025 026 027 028 029 030 045

Aerial · Esri World Imagery

Sites: recreation.gov (RIDB), coordinates as published · Aug 23, 2026

Imagery: Esri World Imagery

SleepsTakes aUp to

Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 31 of the 106 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. 106 of the 106 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.


AREA FOUR JEFFREY	001	tent only nonelectric		54 ft	800 ft	107 ft	$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	002	standard nonelectric	15 ft	54 ft	853 ft	72 ft	$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	003	standard nonelectric	15 ft	66 ft	918 ft	67 ft	$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	004	standard nonelectric	15 ft	63 ft	984 ft	117 ft	$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	005	tent only nonelectric		63 ft	1,043 ft	168 ft	$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	006	tent only nonelectric		59 ft	1,113 ft	236 ft	$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	007	tent only nonelectric		59 ft	1,169 ft	294 ft	$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	008	standard nonelectric	30 ft	85 ft	1,340 ft	371 ft	$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	009	standard nonelectric	22 ft	79 ft	1,357 ft	287 ft	$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	010	standard nonelectric	40 ft	84 ft	1,445 ft	327 ft	$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	011	standard nonelectric	21 ft	79 ft	1,431 ft	244 ft	$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	012	standard nonelectric	30 ft	85 ft	1,532 ft	262 ft	$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	013	standard nonelectric	20 ft	65 ft	1,526 ft	178 ft	$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	014	standard nonelectric	15 ft	65 ft	1,587 ft	227 ft	$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	015	standard nonelectric	10 ft	87 ft	1,584 ft	155 ft	$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	016	standard nonelectric	35 ft	74 ft	1,667 ft	196 ft	$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	017	standard nonelectric	20 ft	58 ft	1,562 ft	87 ft	$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	018	standard nonelectric	9 ft	58 ft	1,617 ft	143 ft	$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	019	standard nonelectric	10 ft	61 ft	1,491 ft	16 ft	$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	020	standard nonelectric	10 ft	66 ft	1,530 ft	77 ft	$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	021	standard nonelectric	25 ft	61 ft	1,440 ft	49 ft	$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	022	standard nonelectric	10 ft	63 ft	1,429 ft	73 ft	$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	023	standard nonelectric	15 ft	63 ft	1,372 ft	107 ft	$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	024	standard nonelectric	20 ft	75 ft	1,379 ft	148 ft	$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	025	standard nonelectric	15 ft	67 ft	1,308 ft	174 ft	$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	026	standard nonelectric	10 ft	80 ft	1,292 ft	253 ft	$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	027	standard nonelectric	15 ft	80 ft	1,227 ft	276 ft	$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	028	standard nonelectric	20 ft	80 ft	1,151 ft	311 ft	$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	029	standard nonelectric	15 ft	80 ft	1,231 ft	337 ft	$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	030	standard nonelectric	10 ft	66 ft	1,076 ft	210 ft	$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	031	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	032	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	033	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	034	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	035	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	036	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	037	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	038	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	039	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	040	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	041	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	042	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	043	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	044	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	045	standard nonelectric		389 ft	1,065 ft	149 ft	$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	046	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	047	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	048	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	049	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	050	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	051	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	052	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	053	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	054	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	055	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	056	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	057	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	058	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	059	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	060	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	061	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	062	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	063	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	064	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	065	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	066	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	067	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	068	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	069	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	070	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	071	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	072	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	073	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	074	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	075	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	076	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	077	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	078	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	079	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	080	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	081	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	082	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	083	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	084	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	085	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	086	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	087	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	088	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	089	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	090	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	091	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	092	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	093	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	094	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	095	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	096	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	097	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	098	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	099	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	100	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	101	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	102	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	103	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	104	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	105	standard nonelectric					$34
AREA FOUR JEFFREY	106	standard nonelectric					$34

Price: Derived by CAMPANAC: each site takes the per-night rate this campground publishes for the site’s own site type (recreation.gov rate schedule). recreation.gov publishes no per-campsite fee, and a site whose type carries no published rate is left blank rather than called free · Sep 11, 2026

25 of 106 listed

Source: Recreation.gov data (RIDB), full extract · Aug 23, 2026

Getting there

the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number

Coordinate37.25000, -118.55000

The mapSee it on the map

The driveDirections ↗

The phone760-873-3077

The agency’s pageOfficial page ↗

Where it is

Also near here

Four Jeffrey CampgroundInyo National Forest · 1.2 mi

Forks Campground (Inyo)Inyo National Forest · 1.6 mi Big Trees CampgroundInyo National Forest · 1.9 mi

Mountain Glen CampgroundInyo National Forest · 2.0 mi

Intake 2 CampgroundInyo National Forest · 2.0 mi

Bishop Park GroupInyo National Forest · 2.4 mi

Getting there

From Highway 395 in the center of Bishop, turn west on Line Street (Highway 168) and continue west for 14 miles, then drive south on South Lake Road. The campground is 1 mile up South Lake Road.

Directions: Driving directions as the agency wrote them · Sep 9, 2026

Source: Recreation.gov data (RIDB), full extract · Aug 23, 2026

The weather

the next four days

Next four days, and the thirty-year normal

Forecast

Tonight34°Mostly Clear

Saturday51°Sunny

Saturday Night35°Mostly Clear

Sunday51°Sunny

NWS forecast for West Bishop, CA

Source: National Weather Service, VEF forecast office · Oct 17, 2026

The land, and who answers for it

what threatens it · who answers for it · a letter you can send

Roadless country, and what’s coming for it

Roadless

Coyote North11,932 acres · 2 mi · inventoried roadless area

Roadless

Table Mtn.4,215 acres · 3 mi · inventoried roadless area

Roadless

North Lake2,406 acres · 4 mi · inventoried roadless area

You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.

Source: USFS Inventoried Roadless Areas via MTJP Roadless Map · Jul 29, 2026

Who answers for this land

Four Jeffrey is in California’s 3rd congressional district. Its representative, Kevin Kiley (I), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

Source: U.S. Census district boundaries and the MTJP Congressional Public Lands Score

Who can change it · 3

Write to somebody who can change it

Two offices, two different asks. The draft to the agency asks it to set aside a published share of the sites here for whoever drives up. The draft to Congress asks why that share is zero and presses for a published minimum at the campgrounds it funds.

The member who votes the moneyKevin KileyU.S. Representative · California’s 3rd district
Their official site ↗Their record →
No contact form we could verify, so that link is their own site. Contact is inside it. Washington office: 202-225-2523.
Your senator, on the same appropriationAdam B. SchiffU.S. Senator · California
Open their contact form ↗
Your senator, on the same appropriationAlex PadillaU.S. Senator · California
Open their contact form ↗

Read the draft, or change the wording

For the camper who turned up, or tried to book, and couldn’t get in. Every draft is written from this campground’s own record (its agency, its unit, its site count and its own weekend) and the buttons above copy whichever wording is selected here.

To Kevin Kiley

Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.

Subject Walk-up camping at Four Jeffrey, Inyo National Forest, California

Dear Kevin Kiley,

I’m a constituent in California’s 3rd district. I tried to camp at Four Jeffrey, Inyo National Forest, California, and couldn’t.

All 106 sites at Four Jeffrey are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 28 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked.

1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Four Jeffrey keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule.

I’m not asking you to run Four Jeffrey. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund.

The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them.

Sent about Four Jeffrey (Inyo National Forest, California) via campanac.com

To Adam B. Schiff

Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.

Subject Walk-up camping at Four Jeffrey, Inyo National Forest, California

Dear Adam B. Schiff,

I’m a constituent in California. I tried to camp at Four Jeffrey, Inyo National Forest, California, and couldn’t.

All 106 sites at Four Jeffrey are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 28 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked.

1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Four Jeffrey keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule.

I’m not asking you to run Four Jeffrey. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund.

The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them.

Sent about Four Jeffrey (Inyo National Forest, California) via campanac.com

To Alex Padilla

Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.

Subject Walk-up camping at Four Jeffrey, Inyo National Forest, California

Dear Alex Padilla,

I’m a constituent in California. I tried to camp at Four Jeffrey, Inyo National Forest, California, and couldn’t.

All 106 sites at Four Jeffrey are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 28 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked.

1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Four Jeffrey keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule.

I’m not asking you to run Four Jeffrey. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund.

The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them.

Sent about Four Jeffrey (Inyo National Forest, California) via campanac.com

How we know this · 4

Contacts: Contact forms from @unitedstates/congress-legislators · Sep 9, 2026

The figures in these drafts: Navy Ford (CVN-78) Class Aircraft Carrier Program: Background and Issues for Congress (CRS Report RS20643) · Updated December 4, 2025 · “The ship’s final procurement cost was $13,316.5 million (i.e., about $13.3 billion) in then-year dollars.”

The figures in these drafts: Salary Table 2026-GS, Incorporating the 1% General Schedule Increase, Effective January 2026 (U.S. Office of Personnel Management) · Effective January 2026 · “Grade 5, Step 1: $34,799 (annual rate, before locality pay).”

The figures in these drafts: Update to Civilian Position Full Fringe Benefit Cost Factor, Federal Pay Raise Assumptions, and Inflation Factors used in OMB Circular No. A-76 (OMB Memorandum M-08-13) · March 11, 2008 · “the civilian position full fringe benefit cost factor needs to be adjusted downward, from 36.45 percent to 36.25 percent”

How we know

every fact on this page, and where it came from

Right now: recreation.gov is offering sites on 8 of the next 8 nights, which isn’t something a closed campground does.

Sites on recreation.gov: recreation.gov’s own month availability payload for this facility, asked for October 2026 and November 2026. It names 106 of the 106 campsites the agency files here, and every one of them carries an answer either way. A campground nobody has read carries no answer at all, never a no. · Oct 14, 2026

Elevation: USGS 3DEP elevation point query at this campground’s coordinate · Sep 7, 2026

Tree cover: NLCD Tree Canopy Cover 2024 (USDA Forest Service / MRLC), one 30 m cell at this coordinate, taken as the median across the 31 campsites here that carry a reading · Sep 9, 2026

Water: USGS National Hydrography Dataset, nearest perennial lake, reservoir, river or stream to this campground’s coordinate · Sep 8, 2026

Night sky: VIIRS Day/Night Band annual cloud-free composite, VNL V2 2024 (Earth Observation Group, Colorado School of Mines), read at the published coordinate: 0.064 mcd/m² of artificial all-sky glow, ranked against the 1,201 rated federal campgrounds in California · Sep 8, 2026

Sky-glow model: Duriscoe, Anderson, Luginbuhl and Baugh (2018), a simplified model of all-sky artificial sky glow derived from VIIRS Day/Night band data, the National Park Service sky-glow model

Fall color: More Than Just Parks foliage tracker, joined to this campground by distance (37 km) · Oct 3, 2026

Reported by: iNaturalist fall color observations, reported peak color · Oct 3, 2026

Cell signal: the Forest Service’s own campground description, read as text by CAMPANAC. None of this is a measurement. It’s what the land manager published about the place, and phones, carriers and weather all disagree with each other; treat it as a warning, not a promise.

Nearest town: U.S. Census Bureau TIGER/Line 2024 places, measured by CAMPANAC to the town boundary; population is the ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimate · Sep 9, 2026