Monte Cristo Campground
5Heads up5 fires, nearest 5 mi
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $20–$40Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 2019 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 6 notices
In the agency’s own words
Monte Cristo Campground is a small, developed campground located off the Angeles Forest Highway (County Road N3) in the Angeles National Forest and is part of the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument. Positioned at about 3,600 feet elevation, it’s one of the closer forest camping options to the Los Angeles area, offering scenic mountain and high-desert views. The campground includes 19 first-come, first-serve campsites suitable for tents, trailers, and RVs up to approximately 30 feet, with a few larger double sites available. Monte Cristo Campground is open year-round, with a nightly fee of $20 and a check out time of 11 am. Keep reading
Recreation
Monte Cristo is positioned for a variety of outdoor activities like hiking, scenic drives, and wildlife viewing. The campground can serve as a base for nearby hikes including routes toward Granite Mountain, Rabbit Peak, Round Top, and Iron Mountain along forest roads and fire roads. Forest roads and local trails give hikers access to ridge climbs and panoramic overlooks of the San Gabriel front range. The Angeles Forest Highway itself is a scenic route with multiple pullouts, overlooks, and access points for exploring the forest by vehicle. Nearby destinations like Hidden Springs Picnic Area and Switzer Picnic Area are popular for day hikes and water features.
Facilities
Monte Cristo campground offers developed campground facilities including 17 individual campsites ,2 double sites, picnic tables, fire rings, vault toilets, piped potable water and RV access up to ~ 30'. Cell phone coverage is generally poor or nonexistent. Fire restrictions may be in effect depending on conditions, so it’s suggested to check current Forest Service alerts before arrival.
Natural Features
Monte Cristo lies in the backside foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains and transitions between high desert and mountain ecosystems. The area includes sycamore trees and a mixed woodland/shrub habitat, with a creek that seasonally flows through the campground. It has expansive mountain vistas and rugged ridges characteristic of the San Gabriel range. It has a high-desert climate with warmer and drier conditions than the higher elevation forest sites. There are also wildlife viewing opportunities typical of the region.
Nearby Attractions
Hidden Springs Picnic Area & Switzer Picnic Area – Short drives offer scenic streamside areas, hike options, and seasonal swimming spots. Chilao Campground & Visitor Center – A larger developed campground with trail networks and interpretive displays, about 18 miles away. Angeles Forest Highway Scenic Route – Great for scenic driving, photography, and exploring adjacent trailheads.
What the agency tells you
No generators, amplifiers, live bands, or loud music. Quiet hours are from 10 pm to 6 am.
Bears frequent the area. All food and scented items must be properly stored.
Check out time is 11 am. Check in time is 2 pm.
Everything else this campground posts · 3
Call (661) 269-2808 for current conditions and additional information.
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
Campground is open year-round but may temporarily close due to weather and/or road conditions during the winter months.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 20
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…double sites, picnic tables, fire rings, vault toilets, piped potable water and RV access up to ~ 30'.…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…tables, fire rings, vault toilets, piped potable water and RV access up to ~ 30'. Cell phone coverage is…”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Creek
- Cell signal · Cell signal · Forest Service says
- Spotty
Nothing on the booking system for the next 30 nightsread 14:34 UTC
recreation.gov lists 19 of the 20 campsites the agency files here. The rest aren’t on its booking system, so a reservation won’t get you one.
Every one of the next thirty nights is in recreation.gov’s record and not one site is being offered on any of them. That’s a campground closed or not yet released for booking, not a sold-out one.
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 rates for this season, $20–$40 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 14:34 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
20 sites
All 20 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. 20 of the 20 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| Extra Vehicle | Extra Vehicle Fee | type not stated | $5 |
| Monte Cristo | 01 | standard nonelectric | $20–$40 |
| Monte Cristo | 02 | standard nonelectric | $20–$40 |
| Monte Cristo | 03 | standard nonelectric | $20–$40 |
| Monte Cristo | 04 | standard nonelectric | $20–$40 |
| Monte Cristo | 05 | standard nonelectric | $20–$40 |
| Monte Cristo | 06 | standard nonelectric | $20–$40 |
| Monte Cristo | 07 | standard nonelectric | $20–$40 |
| Monte Cristo | 08 | standard nonelectric | $20–$40 |
| Monte Cristo | 09 | standard nonelectric | $20–$40 |
| Monte Cristo | 10 | standard nonelectric | $20–$40 |
| Monte Cristo | 11 | standard nonelectric | $20–$40 |
| Monte Cristo | 12 | standard nonelectric | $20–$40 |
| Monte Cristo | 13 | standard nonelectric | $20–$40 |
| Monte Cristo | 14 | standard nonelectric | $20–$40 |
| Monte Cristo | 15 | standard nonelectric | $20–$40 |
| Monte Cristo | 16 | standard nonelectric | $20–$40 |
| Monte Cristo | 17 | standard nonelectric | $20–$40 |
| Monte Cristo | 18 | standard nonelectric | $20–$40 |
| Monte Cristo | 19 | standard nonelectric | $20–$40 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the phone number
Where it is
Chilao Campground - Manzanita Loop0.0 mi
Grassy Hollow0.0 mi
Horse Flats Campground0.0 miZuni CampgroundAngeles National Forest · 1.8 miStreamside CampgroundAngeles National Forest · 4.8 miUpper Shake CampgroundAngeles National Forest · 15 miThe agency publishes this point for 4 campgrounds; it’s likely a district office, not the campground. Use the agency’s own page for directions.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Santa Clarita, CA
Typical weather
Typical October night 56°F, day 81°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical December night 44°F. Bring the bag rated for it.
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.
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
Monte Cristo Campground is in California’s 27th congressional district. Its representative, George Whitesides (D), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: A. See every public-lands vote →
How we know
every fact on this page, and where it came from
“…piped potable water and RV access up to ~ 30'. Cell phone coverage is generally poor or nonexistent. Fire restrictions may be in effect depending…”