French Gulch
1Heads up1 fire 4.5 mi away
- Right now
- OpenListed open; its database flags it not open
- Sites
- 1All of them booked ahead
- Season
- Year-roundOpen year-round
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 6 notices
In the agency’s own words
French Gulch Campground sits 3 miles from the western shores of Lake Isabella, a 27-acre reservoir off the Kern River, in the expansive Sequoia National Forest. Keep reading
Recreation
Visitors can enjoy swimming, water skiiing and wind surfing at Lake Isabella. There is also excellent trout and bass fishing at the lake and in other nearby streams.
Facilities
French Gulch can accommodate groups of up to 100 guests. A marina and boat ramps are available at Lake Isabella, just to the southeast. This facility is operated by ExplorUS and comments are welcome; comment forms are available from campground hosts or online.
Natural Features
Located at the southern end of the Sierra Nevada in central California, the Sequoia National Forest takes its name from the giant sequoia, the world's largest tree, which grows in more than 30 groves on the Forest's lower slopes. The Forest comprises about 1.1 million acres, and elevations range from about 1,000 to 12,000 feet, creating precipitous canyons and mountain streams with spectacular waterfalls such as Salmon Creek Falls and Grizzly Falls. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (760) 376-1269.
What the agency tells you
Glass containers are prohibited in Kern Canyon and Isabella Lake Glass Container Prohibition Area
Electric hookups are not available
Visitors should store food in approved containers
Everything else this campground posts · 3
Click here for more info about the Sequoia National Forest
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. For current fire conditions or weather closures contact the Kern River Ranger District (760) 376-3781.
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
- Paved pads
- All
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Waterfall, Reservoir, Lake, River, Creek
- Picnicking
Something open on 6 of the next 6 bookable nightsread 16:05 UTC
Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.
OpenBookedNot reservable
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 · 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
recreation.gov availability, read 16:05 UTC · 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.
| AREA FRENCH GULCH | 001 | group standard nonelectric | 1,328 ft | 954 ft |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Pioneer PointSequoia National Forest · 0.6 miMain Dam CampgroundSequoia National Forest · 1.0 mi
Hungry GulchSequoia National Forest · 1.0 mi
Boulder GulchSequoia National Forest · 1.1 mi
Old IsabellaSequoia National Forest · 1.4 miAuxiliary Dam CampgroundSequoia National Forest · 1.4 miFrom Bakersfield, California, take Highway 178 east to the town of Lake Isabella. Turn onto Highway 155 north, following the western edge of the lake, for approximately 3 miles to the campground.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Lake Isabella, CA
Typical weather
Typical October night 46°F, day 81°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical December night 31°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
French Gulch is in California’s 20th congressional district. Its representative, Vince Fong (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →