Mountain Oak
5Heads up5 fires, nearest 15 mi
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 24 of the next 24 nights; a database flag says not open read 16:25 UTC
- A night
- $30–$60Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 2714 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 7 notices
In the agency’s own words
Escape to Mountain Oak Campground in the Angeles National Forest for a restful, refreshing getaway from city life. Just northwest of the Los Angeles metro area, Mountain Oak provides a scenic and relaxing destination for camping, hiking, picnicking and wildlife viewing. The campground is also near Jackson Lake for easy access to fishing, canoeing and swimming. Keep reading
Recreation
Swim or canoe in the refreshing waters of Jackson Lake, the only lake near Wrightwood. The lake is stocked with trout and bluegills. Powerboating is not permitted in the lake, so the setting is peaceful and quiet. Hikers can find trails near the campground.
Facilities
The single-loop campground provides lots of shade from towering trees but minimal privacy from neighboring campgrounds. Ground cover is mostly pine needles and leaves. Bear-proof food containers are provided at each campground and amenities include picnic table, grills and flush toilets. Drinking water is also available. A camp host is on-site, offering firewood for sale.
Natural Features
At an elevation of 6,400 feet, Mountain Oak is shaded by oak, ponderosa and sugar pines in the Angeles National Forest. This forest, spanning across most of the San Gabriel Mountains, provides a striking backdrop for the Los Angeles area. Jackson Lake spans just 3 acres and lies in the San Gabriel Mountains. Formed by the San Andreas fault, the lake is primarily fed by snow runoff from the mountains and is hugged by grass and sand beaches. The lake is ideal for listening to nature's soundtrack, complete with sounds of birds singing and leaves rustling in mountain breezes. A diverse variety of animal life exists in Angeles National Forest, such as bobcat, mountain lion, bear and Nelson bighorn sheep. Many species of birds and smaller animals also inhabit the forest.
Nearby Attractions
The Angeles Crest Highway, part of California State Route 2, is a scenic byway that meanders through oak thickets, chaparral, high desert landscapes and pine tree forests. The ski resort town of Wrightwood is very close by. Restaurants and a disc golf course can be found at the North Resort. Take a hike on the Blue Ridge Trail or the Pacific Crest Trail. The Pacific Crest Trail is an impressive path that starts in Mexico and zigzags its way through Angeles and continues north across California, Oregon and Washington. Visit the Mountain High Downhill Bike Park.
What the agency tells you
It is advised that transportation remain on-site with your group in case of emergency evacuations.
Fire restrictions may be enforced due to dry conditions.
Bears frequent the area; all food must be kept in approved containers
Everything else this campground posts · 4
Limit 2 vehicles per campsite; extra vehicles will be charged a fee
This facility has first-come, first-served sites
Click here for more information about Angeles 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
- 27
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 38 ft
- Paved pads
- 17 of 27
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets
- “…include picnic table, grills and flush toilets. Drinking water is also available. A camp host is…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…picnic table, grills and flush toilets. Drinking water is also available. A camp host is on-site, offering…”
- Firewood
- Sold here
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, Beach
- Biking
- Birding
- Boating
- Canoeing
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Mountain biking
- Scenic drives
- Swimming
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 1147th darkest of 1,201 in CA
- Bortle 5
Full this Saturdayread 16:25 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
1 campground has sites open within 30 miles, read 16:24 UTC. See them
OpenBooked
Every one of the 11 sites on offer is taken this Friday and Saturday. 11 are free on Mon, Oct 19. read 16:25 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 · 13
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $30–$60 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
Open within 30 miles this weekend · 1
Sites the agency is offering this Friday and Saturday that nobody has taken, nearest first. read 16:24 UTC
- Lake CampgroundSan Gabriel Mountains National Monument · 0.5 mi · 1 of 12 site-nights open
recreation.gov availability, read 16:25 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
28 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 7 mapped sitesAll 28 records
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 27 of the 28 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
Measured shade is NLCD Tree Canopy Cover 2024 (USDA Forest Service / MRLC) read at the site’s own coordinate, 27% canopy or more, and only for the sites the agency gave no Shade value. It never changes the agency’s own shaded count beside it.
| AREA MOUNTAIN OAK | 001 | standard nonelectric | 38 ft | 189 ft | 739 ft | $30–$60 |
| AREA MOUNTAIN OAK | 002 | type not stated | 27 ft | 830 ft | $30 | |
| AREA MOUNTAIN OAK | 003 | type not stated | 935 ft | $30 | ||
| AREA MOUNTAIN OAK | 004 | standard nonelectric | 38 ft | $30–$60 | ||
| AREA MOUNTAIN OAK | 004 | type not stated | 943 ft | $30 | ||
| AREA MOUNTAIN OAK | 005 | type not stated | 1,027 ft | $30 | ||
| AREA MOUNTAIN OAK | 005 | standard nonelectric | 38 ft | $30–$60 | ||
| AREA MOUNTAIN OAK | 006 | type not stated | 1,096 ft | $30 | ||
| AREA MOUNTAIN OAK | 006 | type not stated | 38 ft | $30 | ||
| AREA MOUNTAIN OAK | 007 | type not stated | 1,170 ft | $30 | ||
| AREA MOUNTAIN OAK | 007 | type not stated | 38 ft | $30 | ||
| AREA MOUNTAIN OAK | 008 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 83 ft | 1,162 ft | $30–$60 |
| AREA MOUNTAIN OAK | 009 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 83 ft | 1,205 ft | $30–$60 |
| AREA MOUNTAIN OAK | 010 | type not stated | 1,254 ft | $30 | ||
| AREA MOUNTAIN OAK | 010 | standard nonelectric | 38 ft | $30–$60 | ||
| AREA MOUNTAIN OAK | 011 | type not stated | 1,270 ft | $30 | ||
| AREA MOUNTAIN OAK | 011 | standard nonelectric | 38 ft | $30–$60 | ||
| AREA MOUNTAIN OAK | 012 | standard nonelectric | 38 ft | $30–$60 | ||
| AREA MOUNTAIN OAK | 012 | type not stated | 1,331 ft | $30 | ||
| AREA MOUNTAIN OAK | 013 | type not stated | 1,264 ft | $30 | ||
| AREA MOUNTAIN OAK | 013 | standard nonelectric | 38 ft | $30–$60 | ||
| AREA MOUNTAIN OAK | 014 | standard nonelectric | 38 ft | $30–$60 | ||
| AREA MOUNTAIN OAK | 014 | type not stated | 1,231 ft | $30 | ||
| AREA MOUNTAIN OAK | 015 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 226 ft | 1,187 ft | $30–$60 |
| AREA MOUNTAIN OAK | 016 | standard nonelectric | 26 ft | 24 ft | 991 ft | $30–$60 |
| AREA MOUNTAIN OAK | 017 | standard nonelectric | 26 ft | 24 ft | 969 ft | $30–$60 |
| AREA MOUNTAIN OAK | 2-3 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 189 ft | 893 ft | $30–$60 |
| AREA MOUNTAIN OAK | XXXX | unnamed record | 30 ft | $30 |
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 28 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Lake CampgroundSan Gabriel Mountains National Monument · 0.5 mi
Peavine CampgroundSan Gabriel Mountains National Monument · 0.7 miJackson Flat Group CampgroundSan Gabriel Mountains National Monument · 1.0 mi
Appletree CampgroundSan Gabriel Mountains National Monument · 1.1 mi
Table Mountain (Angeles)San Gabriel Mountains National Monument · 2.4 miBig Rock CampgroundSan Gabriel Mountains National Monument · 2.8 miFrom Wrightwood, CA, take State Rt. 2 west 2.4 miles to Palmdale/Jackson Lake sign (County Rt. N4/Pines Highway). Turn right onto Rt. N4 and go 3.1 miles to campground sign. Turn right into campground.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Piñon Hills, CA
Typical weather
Typical October night 37°F, day 64°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical December night 25°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
What threatens this place
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Mountain Oak is in California’s 28th congressional district. Its representative, Judy Chu (D), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: A+. 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 moneyJudy ChuU.S. Representative · California’s 28th district
- 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 Mountain Oak, San Gabriel Mountains National Monument, California
Dear Judy Chu, I’m a constituent in California’s 28th district. I tried to camp at Mountain Oak, San Gabriel Mountains National Monument, California, and couldn’t. recreation.gov lists 14 of the 27 campsites the agency files at Mountain Oak, 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 11 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Mountain Oak keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Mountain Oak. 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 Mountain Oak (San Gabriel Mountains National Monument, 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 Mountain Oak, San Gabriel Mountains National Monument, California
Dear Adam B. Schiff, I’m a constituent in California. I tried to camp at Mountain Oak, San Gabriel Mountains National Monument, California, and couldn’t. recreation.gov lists 14 of the 27 campsites the agency files at Mountain Oak, 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 11 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Mountain Oak keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Mountain Oak. 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 Mountain Oak (San Gabriel Mountains National Monument, 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 Mountain Oak, San Gabriel Mountains National Monument, California
Dear Alex Padilla, I’m a constituent in California. I tried to camp at Mountain Oak, San Gabriel Mountains National Monument, California, and couldn’t. recreation.gov lists 14 of the 27 campsites the agency files at Mountain Oak, 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 11 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Mountain Oak keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Mountain Oak. 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 Mountain Oak (San Gabriel Mountains National Monument, California) via campanac.com