La Panza Campground
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 23 of the next 30 nights read 16:44 UTC
- A night
- $30From, per site
- Sites
- 7All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 15 notices
In the agency’s own words
La Panza Campground is full of opportunities to relax or explore the forest. Nearby is Machesna Mountain Wilderness where hiking, hunting and horseback riding are popular. Off-high vehicle (OHV) recreation is also plentiful in the area. Keep reading
Recreation
La Panza Campground is best enjoyed by campers who prefer a rugged outdoor experience. The Pozo La Panza 18,867-acre area has approximately 44 miles of routes that vary from sandy washes to a ridgeline route including a section known to expert OHV riders as the Stair Steps. With proximity to OHV trails, this spot will keep the adrenaline junkies enthused as well as the avid hiker. Bring your bikes, motorcycles, ATVs and four-wheel drive vehicles to enjoy the amazing trail experience!
Facilities
This campground is open daily and year-round. There are 15 single and spaciously situated campsites ideal for tenting, and moderate RVs under 16 ft. Campfires are allowed only in designated fire rings. You should plan to be completely self-sustainable for the duration of your trip. There is no potable water (drinking water) or electricity onsite. There is no dump station. This is a "dry" campground with five vault toilets. The road into the campground ends cul-de-sac style, but with adequate turn around.
Natural Features
La Panza Campground is situated in a canyon setting, encompassed by a gathering of established oak trees, and accented by a seasonal creek. Fox, coyote, road runner, deer, wild pig, jack rabbit, quail, and very rare black bear, all visit this area.
Nearby Attractions
Lakes, trails, beautiful views, biking, hiking and off-road vehicle riding are all within minutes of the campground. The nearest shopping is 29 miles in Santa Margarita.
What the agency tells you
In order to contact our offices, please use the email: customerservice@pmcparks.com or view our website: CampOne.Com for answers to frequently asked questions.
No public showers in the region.
Please bring garbage bags. This facility is 'Pack it in. Pack it out.'
Everything else this campground posts · 12
Quiet hours are 10 p.m. - 8 a.m.
Fireworks are prohibited at all times.
Be bear aware; keep all food out of sight in approved containers or locked inside your vehicle and remove all food from area after eating.
Be cautious of snakes in the area. Use a 'walking stick' when hiking in this area.
No cell service in or near this campground.
Avoid hiking alone.
Make sure you have a first aid kit and other safety needs with you.
Bring your gnat/mosquito repellent in Spring/Summer/Fall
2 night minimum stay on weekends
3 night minimum stay on holidays
Click here for more information on Los Padres National Forest
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
- 7
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…a "dry" campground with five vault toilets. The road into the campground ends cul-de-sac…”
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- “…for the duration of your trip. There is no potable water (drinking water) or electricity onsite. There is no…”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, Creek
- Biking
Something open on 23 of the next 23 bookable nightsread 16:44 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 · 13
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $30 a night, plus one $8 recreation.gov reservation fee for the booking, plus the agency’s published $2 weekend rate on Friday and Saturday. 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 16:44 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
7 sites
All 7 sites
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 7 of the 7 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Navajo Flats CampgroundLos Padres National Forest · 3.2 miFriis CampgroundLos Padres National Forest · 4.2 miAmerican Canyon Seasonal CampgroundLos Padres National Forest · 4.8 mi
Turkey Flat OHV Staging AreaLos Padres National Forest · 5.1 mi
American Canyon Campground5.9 mi
Hi Mountain CampgroundLos Padres National Forest · 11 miDirections from Santa Margarita, CA: Travel Highway 58, 3 miles east, Pozo Road approximately 26 miles east, Forest Road 29S18, 1.5 miles east. Alternate route: Highway 58, 26 miles east, Navajo Road 3 miles south, Pozo Road half a mile east.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Creston, CA
Typical weather
Typical October night 43°F, day 78°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical December night 32°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
La Panza Campground is in California’s 24th congressional district. Its representative, Salud Carbajal (D), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: A. See every public-lands vote →