U.S. Forest Service · San Bernardino National Forest · CA

Horse Springs Campground (San Bernardino National Forest)

4Heads up4 fires, nearest 8 mi
Wildfire
Mtz/Bdc/83A fire · 8.2 mi away · 0 acres · updated Oct 15, 2026
Wildfire
Powerline fire · 17 mi away · 0 acres · updated Oct 14, 2026
Wildfire
Orange 2 fire · 18 mi away · 0 acres · updated Oct 15, 2026
Wildfire
Lac-374626 fire · 45 mi away · updated Oct 17, 2026
ReservableBooking 6 months out; today unlocks April 17. Season not published.
Book on recreation.govWe make nothing when you book
Right now
Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
Sites
41 on recreation.gov
Drawn from the record · 5,770 ft · 0% tree cover · Bortle 5 sky
5,770 ftElevation
1.2 miWater · Coxey Creek
4.3 miSW of Lucerne Valley, CA
0%Tree cover
Bortle 5Night sky · 1135th darkest of 1,201 in CA

The place

the agency’s own description · what’s there

In the agency’s own words

This location is available on a first-come, first-served basis only. Visitors are required to physically arrive at the campground to purchase and claim a site. Once on-site, you may be able to pay for your campsite(s) by scanning a QR code using the Recreation.gov mobile app, and the Scan and Pay feature. If this option is available, you will need to first download the free Recreation.gov mobile app https://www.recreation.gov/mobile-app prior to your arrival as some remote a reas have limited or no cellular service.

Tents and rigs

Sites
4
Hookups
None
Accessible sites
None listed
Source: Recreation.gov campsite records · Aug 23, 2026

Around the campground

Cell signal · Cell signal · Forest Service says
Spotty
Source: 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. · Sep 8, 2026

No reading yet, book on recreation.gov

recreation.gov lists 1 of the 4 campsites the agency files here. The rest aren’t on its booking system, so a reservation won’t get you one.

No availability snapshot inside the last 36 hours, so this page draws nothing rather than ageing a reading into fiction.

Booking window6 months outBooking opens 6 months ahead; today unlocks arrivals through April 17, 2027. The agency publishes no reservable season in the record we hold, so the window may close earlier than that.recreation.gov
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

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.

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 · 9

What you actually pay

The sign priceU.S. Forest Service
The U.S. Forest Service publishes no per-night rate for this campground that we can read, so there’s no sign price to print. That’s a gap in the record, not a free campground.
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
The agency publishes no nightly rate for this campground, so there’s nothing to add the $8 booking fee to. We won’t total a receipt with a number missing from it.
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 · 4

rules read Sep 9, 2026 · record Aug 23, 2026 · How we know all this

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

The sites

4 sites · the site map

All 4 sites

1 of 4 sites located
Standard1
Aerial · Esri World Imagery
Scan and PayScanPay 2type not stated
Scan and PayScanPay 3type not stated
Scan and PayScanPay 4type not stated
Scan and PayStandardstandard nonelectric1.2 mi

OpenStreetMap has no toilet mapped within 1 km of this campground, so no site here carries a toilet distance. That’s a gap in the map, not a finding about the campground.

Getting there

the map and the coordinate · the phone number

The weather

the next four days · the thirty-year normal

Next four days, and the thirty-year normal

Forecast

Today62°Partly Sunny2% rain
Tonight51°Partly Cloudy2% rain
Sunday62°Mostly Sunny2% rain
Sunday Night54°Mostly Clear

NWS forecast for Lucerne Valley, CA

Typical weather

Typical October night 43°F, day 63°F.

Coldest month of the year: typical January night 29°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.

90°32°20°

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.

Measured at: LAKE ARROWHEAD, CA (USC00044671), 10 miles away and 565 ft lower

The land, and who answers for it

what threatens it · who answers for it

Roadless country, and what’s coming for it

Roadless
Deep Creek23,869 acres · 5 mi · inventoried roadless area

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

Who answers for this land

Jay Obernolte, official portrait

Horse Springs Campground (San Bernardino National Forest) is in California’s 23rd congressional district. Its representative, Jay Obernolte (R), 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.

How we know

every fact on this page, and where it came from
Right now: U.S. Forest Service publishes no season and no closure for this campground, and it takes no bookings we can read. That’s a gap in the record and not a locked gate: the number below is the only way to be sure.
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. · Sep 8, 2026

“…prior to your arrival as some remote a reas have limited or no cellular service.”