Grays Meadows
1Heads up1 fire 38 mi away
We don’t think it should be. Every campground should hold some sites for whoever drives up.Tell your representative →
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 8 of the next 8 nights read 15:54 UTC
- A night
- $34From, per site
- Sites
- 5231 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 7 notices
In the agency’s own words
Grays Meadows Campground is situated along Independence Creek in the Onion Valley area of the eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains. Its location on the creek and proximity to the rugged John Muir Wilderness make it a popular hub for hikers, anglers, spring skiers and snowboarders. Opening and closing dates may be dependent on weather conditions. Keep reading
Recreation
Majestic mountain scenery and challenging trails draw campers to the Onion Valley area for hiking and horseback riding. The well-known and demanding Shepherd Pass Trail, which can be reached just west of Grays Meadows Campground, heads up to alpine lakes and the high peaks of the John Muir Wilderness. Independence Creek is regularly stocked with trophy-size rainbow trout. Anglers flock to the creek for its early trout fishing season, which starts the first weekend in March, ahead of much of the area.
Facilities
The facility consists of an upper and lower campground. The creek borders one side; sites 10, 12, 13, 14, 40, 41, 46 and 51 are closest to the water. Most of the campground is located in a large oak grove, providing shade. The area is frequented by bears so campers must store food in the bear-proof lockers provided on-site. Firewood is available for purchase at the campground.
Natural Features
Grays Meadows Campground offers a wandering creek, both sunny and shaded campsites and a high-desert landscape. It sits at an elevation 6,100 ft. and is bordered on the west by Mt. Williamson and Mt. Whitney, the highest peaks in the contiguous United States. The area is home to abundant wildlife, including black bear, mountain lions, mule deer, pine marten, pika and many species of fish and birds. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (602) 726-1102.
Nearby Attractions
Campers can enter the John Muir Wilderness , a land of lofty snow-capped mountains, deep canyons and vast expanses of glacially carved terrain, via nearby trails.
What the agency tells you
Be bear aware; keep all food out of site in approved containers and remove all food from area after eating; do not leave food in car; always keep a clean camp and do not feed any wild animals; campground is patrolled at night by security teams during periods of high bear activity
Two pets per site and leashed at all times.
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
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.
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.
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.
Click here for more information about Inyo National Forest
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 52
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 40 ft
- Paved pads
- 26 of 52
- Accessible sites
- 4
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, Creek, Meadow
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Night sky · 191st darkest of 1,201 in CA
- Bortle 2
Full this Saturdayread 15:54 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
OpenBooked
Every one of the 26 sites on offer is taken this Saturday. 31 are free on Wed, Oct 21. read 15:54 UTC Why the weekend fills and the week doesn’t
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.
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 · 12
What you actually pay
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.
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
recreation.gov availability, read 15:54 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
53 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 31 mapped sitesAll 53 records
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 31 of the 53 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. 52 of the 53 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| AREA GRAYS MEADOWS | 002 | type not stated | $34 | |||||
| AREA GRAYS MEADOWS | 004 | type not stated | $34 | |||||
| AREA GRAYS MEADOWS | 006 | type not stated | $34 | |||||
| AREA GRAYS MEADOWS | 007 | type not stated | $34 | |||||
| AREA GRAYS MEADOWS | 008 | type not stated | $34 | |||||
| AREA GRAYS MEADOWS | 011 | type not stated | $34 | |||||
| AREA GRAYS MEADOWS | 016 | type not stated | $34 | |||||
| AREA GRAYS MEADOWS | 022 | type not stated | $34 | |||||
| AREA GRAYS MEADOWS | 024 | type not stated | $34 | |||||
| AREA GRAYS MEADOWS | 026 | type not stated | $34 | |||||
| AREA GRAYS MEADOWS | 028 | type not stated | $34 | |||||
| AREA GRAYS MEADOWS | 030 | type not stated | $34 | |||||
| AREA GRAYS MEADOWS | 032 | type not stated | $34 | |||||
| AREA GRAYS MEADOWS | 034 | type not stated | $34 | |||||
| AREA GRAYS MEADOWS | 036 | type not stated | $34 | |||||
| AREA GRAYS MEADOWS | 038 | type not stated | $34 | |||||
| AREA GRAYS MEADOWS | 042 | type not stated | $34 | |||||
| AREA GRAYS MEADOWS | 044 | type not stated | $34 | |||||
| AREA GRAYS MEADOWS | 045 | type not stated | $34 | |||||
| AREA GRAYS MEADOWS | 048 | type not stated | $34 | |||||
| AREA GRAYS MEADOWS | 052 | type not stated | $34 | |||||
| AREA GRAYS MEADOWS | XXX | unnamed record | 40 ft | $34 | ||||
| GRAY | 001 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 51 ft | 307 ftIndependence Creek | 182 ft | $34 | |
| GRAY | 003 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 44 ft | 260 ftIndependence Creek | 133 ft | $34 | |
| GRAY | 005 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 44 ft | 217 ftIndependence Creek | 90 ft | $34 | |
| GRAY | 009 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 137 ft | under 10 ftIndependence Creek | 282 ft | $34 | |
| GRAY | 010 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 80 ft | 23 ftIndependence Creek | 415 ft | $34 | |
| GRAY | 012 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 110 ft | 19 ftIndependence Creek | 589 ft | $34 | |
| GRAY | 013 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 80 ft | 23 ftIndependence Creek | 492 ft | $34 | |
| GRAY | 014 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | yes | 49 ft | under 10 ftIndependence Creek | 136 ft | $34 |
| GRAY | 015 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 49 ft | 40 ftIndependence Creek | 88 ft | $34 | |
| GRAY | 017 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | yes | 112 ft | 98 ftIndependence Creek | 103 ft | $34 |
| GRAY | 018 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 48 ft | 187 ftIndependence Creek | 168 ft | $34 | |
| GRAY | 019 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 48 ft | 187 ftIndependence Creek | 178 ft | $34 | |
| GRAY | 020 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | yes | 31 ft | 283 ftIndependence Creek | 83 ft | $34 |
| GRAY | 021 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | yes | 31 ft | 268 ftIndependence Creek | 79 ft | $34 |
| GRAY | 023 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 103 ft | 474 ftIndependence Creek | 198 ft | $34 | |
| GRAY | 025 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 81 ft | 428 ftIndependence Creek | 103 ft | $34 | |
| GRAY | 027 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 81 ft | 444 ftIndependence Creek | 105 ft | $34 | |
| GRAY | 029 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 148 ft | 492 ftIndependence Creek | 215 ft | $34 | |
| GRAY | 031 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 112 ft | 366 ftIndependence Creek | 234 ft | $34 | |
| GRAY | 033 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 112 ft | 258 ftIndependence Creek | 213 ft | $34 | |
| GRAY | 035 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 73 ft | 267 ftIndependence Creek | 87 ft | $34 | |
| GRAY | 037 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 89 ft | 12 ftIndependence Creek | 244 ft | $34 | |
| GRAY | 039 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 89 ft | 21 ftIndependence Creek | 157 ft | $34 | |
| GRAY | 040 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 49 ft | 29 ftIndependence Creek | 127 ft | $34 | |
| GRAY | 041 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 49 ft | under 10 ftIndependence Creek | 83 ft | $34 | |
| GRAY | 043 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 117 ft | 55 ftIndependence Creek | 58 ft | $34 | |
| GRAY | 046 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 72 ft | 22 ftIndependence Creek | 203 ft | $34 | |
| GRAY | 047 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 72 ft | 48 ftIndependence Creek | 213 ft | $34 | |
| GRAY | 049 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 143 ft | 79 ftIndependence Creek | 404 ft | $34 | |
| GRAY | 050 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 102 ft | 98 ftIndependence Creek | 547 ft | $34 | |
| GRAY | 051 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 102 ft | under 10 ftIndependence Creek | 555 ft | $34 |
The agency files 1 more record here that isn’t a site for the night. It types it MANAGEMENT rather than a campsite. It’s in the table above, marked for what it is, and it isn’t counted as a site.
25 of 53 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Onion ValleyInyo National Forest · 2.8 mi
Whitney PortalInyo National Forest · 13 miMt. Whitney Trailhead CampgroundInyo National Forest · 13 mi
Lone PineInyo National Forest · 13 miGrays Meadows is 6 miles west of the town of Independence, California. Take U.S. Highway 395 to Independence. Turn west on Market Street (which turns into Onion Valley Road) and follow for 6 miles. The first gate accesses sites 36-52. The second gate is 0.25 miles up the road and accesses sites 1-35. Campground manager is at site 7.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Independence, CA
Typical weather
Typical October night 31°F, day 59°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical December night 17°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 · a letter you can send
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
Grays Meadows 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 →
Who can change it · 3
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
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
- Your senator, on the same appropriationAlex PadillaU.S. Senator · California
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.
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 Grays Meadows, Inyo National Forest, California
Dear Kevin Kiley, I’m a constituent in California’s 3rd district. I tried to camp at Grays Meadows, Inyo National Forest, California, and couldn’t. recreation.gov lists 31 of the 52 campsites the agency files at Grays Meadows, and every one of them is booked ahead, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 26 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. Grays Meadows keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Grays Meadows. 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 Grays Meadows (Inyo National Forest, California) via campanac.com
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 Grays Meadows, Inyo National Forest, California
Dear Adam B. Schiff, I’m a constituent in California. I tried to camp at Grays Meadows, Inyo National Forest, California, and couldn’t. recreation.gov lists 31 of the 52 campsites the agency files at Grays Meadows, and every one of them is booked ahead, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 26 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. Grays Meadows keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Grays Meadows. 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 Grays Meadows (Inyo National Forest, California) via campanac.com
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 Grays Meadows, Inyo National Forest, California
Dear Alex Padilla, I’m a constituent in California. I tried to camp at Grays Meadows, Inyo National Forest, California, and couldn’t. recreation.gov lists 31 of the 52 campsites the agency files at Grays Meadows, and every one of them is booked ahead, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 26 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. Grays Meadows keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Grays Meadows. 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 Grays Meadows (Inyo National Forest, California) via campanac.com