Halfway Group Campground
1Heads up1 fire 7.4 mi away
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 28 of the next 30 nights read 16:00 UTC
- Sites
- 5All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 9 notices
In the agency’s own words
Halfway Group Campground is situated along the Kern River, 4.5 miles north of the town of Kernville. Hiking, fishing, kayaking and rafting are popular activities. Keep reading
Recreation
Hiking, fishing, kayaking and rafting are popular activities in the Upper Kern River area. Click here to learn more about the area, including safety and permitting requirements and a listing of local outfitters.
Facilities
The campground offers five group sites available for tent camping. Picnic tables and campfire rings are provided, as are portable toilets. There is no drinking water available at this facility.
Natural Features
The campground sits within Sequoia National Forest at an elevation of 3,200 feet in an open area with limited shade, overlooking the Kern Wild and Scenic River. Gray pine, scrub oak, grasses and shrubs cling to steep, canyon walls along the river, and cottonwoods and willows dot the riverbanks. Sequoia National Forest, located at the southern end of the Sierra Nevada in central California, is named for 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. 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.
Nearby Attractions
The Cannell Meadow National Recreation Trail begins just north of Kernville. The trail stretches 11.5 miles as it climbs through mixed pine and fir forest to Cannell Meadow and a historic Forest Service cabin built between 1904 and 1909. Hikers are awarded beautiful views of the Kern River Valley along the trip. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (760) 376-1269.
What the agency tells you
Fire restrictions are currently in effect that prohibit building, maintaining, attending or using a fire, campfire or stove fire. Persons with a valid California Campfire permit may use portable stoves and lanterns with shut-off valves, using pressurized gas, liquid fuel or propane.
No hookups and no water
Porta Potties only
Everything else this campground posts · 6
This campground is tent only; no RVs
Swimming in the river is not recommended due to strong currents
No off-road vehicle use allowed in the campground
Bringing shade shelters is a good idea
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
- 5 · 3 tent-only, 5 group
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 20 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Portable Toilets
- “…and campfire rings are provided, as are portable toilets. There is no drinking water available at this…”
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- “…are provided, as are portable toilets. There is no drinking water available at this facility. Natural Features The…”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Waterfall, River, Creek, Meadow
- Night sky · 737th darkest of 1,201 in CA
- Bortle 3
Something open on 28 of the next 28 bookable nightsread 16:00 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.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 12
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 · 5
recreation.gov availability, read 16:00 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
5 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 5 mapped sitesAll 5 sites
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 5 of the 5 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. 5 of the 5 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| HALFWAY GROUP CAMPGROUND | Group 1 | group tent only area nonelectric | 20 ft | 103 ft | 348 ft | 2,066 ft | $60–$240 |
| HALFWAY GROUP CAMPGROUND | Group 2 | group tent only area nonelectric | 20 ft | 92 ft | 248 ft | 2,128 ft | $60–$240 |
| HALFWAY GROUP CAMPGROUND | Group 3 | group standard area nonelectric | 20 ft | 81 ft | 182 ft | 2,214 ft | $118–$240 |
| HALFWAY GROUP CAMPGROUND | Group 4 | group tent only area nonelectric | 20 ft | 81 ft | 157 ft | 2,295 ft | $60–$240 |
| HALFWAY GROUP CAMPGROUND | Group 5 | group standard area nonelectric | 20 ft | 174 ft | 153 ft | 2,466 ft | $118–$240 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Camp Three CampgroundSequoia National Forest · 0.4 mi
HeadquartersSequoia National Forest · 0.5 mi
Thunderbird Group CampgroundSequoia National Forest · 0.9 miChico Flat Dispersed CampingSequoia National Forest · 1.5 mi
Hospital FlatSequoia National Forest · 1.8 mi
Goldledge CampgroundSequoia National Forest · 4.9 miFrom Bakersfield, take Highway 178 east to Lake Isabella. From Lake Isabella, take Highway 155 around the west side of the lake to the town of Kernville. From Kernville, go 4.5 miles north on Sierra Way (Mountain 99) 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 Kernville, 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
What threatens this place
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Halfway Group Campground 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 →