Oak Grove Campground
5Heads up5 fires, nearest 26 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 29 of the next 30 nights read 16:43 UTC
- A night
- $15–$30Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 62All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 4 notices
In the agency’s own words
Located on the Cleveland National Forest, Oak Grove Campground is nestled in a valley of large oak groves and manzanita. Keep reading
Recreation
Oak Grove Trail is a short walk of 1.5 miles and is located across Rt. 79, behind the Ranger Station. Oak Grove Trail is the oldest established trail on the Palomar Ranger District. Although a steep trail, it offers great views of the San Jacinto and San Gorgonio Mountains and the Oak Grove Valley as you gain elevation. The trail connects with the Oak Grove Truck Trail offering access to High Point Lookout (an additional 5 miles one way). Be prepared with plenty of drinking water. Hikers interested in exploring will find nearby Agua Tibia Wilderness worth the drive as well.
Facilities
The campground is composed of two loops: Oak and Ribbonwood. Each campsite offers a picnic table and grill. There are flush toilets in Ribbonwood loop, and vault toilets on Oak loop. Drinking water is available.
Natural Features
The attractive campground is comprised of chaparral vegetation such as canyon live oaks, ribbonwood and chamise and offers open, but secluded sites. The area offers stargazers an opportunity to view the clear night skies. Birders will be pleased with the variety of wildlife and opportunities for viewing. The Cleveland National Forest also boasts such species as mountain lion, bobcat, mule deer, coyote, gray fox, ringtail cat, long tail weasel, opossum, jackrabbits, desert cottontails, and California ground squirrel among many others.
Nearby Attractions
Palomar State Park and Palomar Observatory are located on county Rt. S6, where an active telescope is available for viewing by the public. Temecula Wine Country is also within driving distance. The closest town is Warner Springs
What the agency tells you
No handicap accessible toilets and no showers at this facility
Area is hot during summer months
Be sure to check current area fire restrictions prior to visiting this, or any campground. Conditions frequently exist which prohibit the use of wood and charcoal fires. Please contact the Palomar Ranger District at (760) 788-0250 or visit here for updated information.
Everything else this campground posts · 1
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
- 62
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 25 ft
- Paved pads
- All
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed at 56 of 62 sites
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets · Vault Toilets
- “…a picnic table and grill. There are flush toilets in Ribbonwood loop, and vault toilets on Oak loop.…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…one way). Be prepared with plenty of drinking water. Hikers interested in exploring will find nearby…”
Around the campground
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Historic site
- Visitor center
- Night sky · 1067th darkest of 1,201 in CA
- Bortle 4
Full this Saturdayread 16:43 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
2 campgrounds have sites open within 30 miles, read 15:40 UTC. See them
OpenBookedNot on the booking system
Every one of the 15 sites on offer is taken this Friday and Saturday. 54 are free on Tue, Oct 20. read 16:43 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.
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, $15–$30 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 · 2
Sites the agency is offering this Friday and Saturday that nobody has taken, nearest first. read 15:40 UTC
- Corral Canyon CampgroundCleveland National Forest · 15 mi · 36 of 38 site-nights open
- Bobcat Meadow CampgroundCleveland National Forest · 15 mi · 32 of 36 site-nights open
recreation.gov availability, read 16:43 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
63 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 58 mapped sitesAll 63 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. 62 of the 63 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| Oak Loop | 001 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 85 ft | 1,056 ft | $15–$30 |
| Oak Loop | 002 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 66 ft | 1,021 ft | $15–$30 |
| Oak Loop | 003 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 66 ft | 965 ft | $15–$30 |
| Oak Loop | 004 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 89 ft | 837 ft | $15–$30 |
| Oak Loop | 005 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 77 ft | 800 ft | $15–$30 |
| Oak Loop | 006 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 77 ft | 761 ft | $15–$30 |
| Oak Loop | 007 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 77 ft | 681 ft | $15–$30 |
| Oak Loop | 008 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 87 ft | 639 ft | $15–$30 |
| Oak Loop | 009 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 77 ft | 575 ft | $15–$30 |
| Oak Loop | 010 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 77 ft | 629 ft | $15–$30 |
| Oak Loop | 011 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 63 ft | 552 ft | $15–$30 |
| Oak Loop | 012 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 63 ft | 567 ft | $15–$30 |
| Oak Loop | 013 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 79 ft | 624 ft | $15–$30 |
| Oak Loop | 014 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 67 ft | 750 ft | $15–$30 |
| Oak Loop | 015 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 67 ft | 817 ft | $15–$30 |
| Oak Loop | 016 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 80 ft | 881 ft | $15–$30 |
| Oak Loop | 017 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 79 ft | 894 ft | $15–$30 |
| Oak Loop | 018 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 80 ft | 960 ft | $15–$30 |
| Oak Loop | 019 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 67 ft | 1,022 ft | $15–$30 |
| Oak Loop | 020 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 67 ft | 1,040 ft | $15–$30 |
| Oak Loop | 021 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 76 ft | 1,151 ft | $15–$30 |
| Oak Loop | 022 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 76 ft | 1,142 ft | $15–$30 |
| Oak Loop | 023 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 76 ft | 1,212 ft | $15–$30 |
| Oak Loop | 024 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 81 ft | 1,275 ft | $15–$30 |
| Oak Loop | 025 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 84 ft | 1,218 ft | $15–$30 |
| Oak Loop | 027 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 147 ft | 1,155 ft | $15–$30 |
| Oak Loop | Host - 026 | host pad | 25 ft | $15–$30 | ||
| Ribbonwood | 028 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | $15–$30 | ||
| Ribbonwood | 029 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | $15–$30 | ||
| Ribbonwood | 030 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 120 ft | 1,076 ft | $15–$30 |
| Ribbonwood | 031 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 100 ft | 959 ft | $15–$30 |
| Ribbonwood | 032 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 82 ft | 892 ft | $15–$30 |
| Ribbonwood | 033 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 82 ft | 916 ft | $15–$30 |
| Ribbonwood | 034 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 76 ft | 816 ft | $15–$30 |
| Ribbonwood | 035 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 76 ft | 775 ft | $15–$30 |
| Ribbonwood | 036 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 101 ft | 735 ft | $15–$30 |
| Ribbonwood | 037 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 108 ft | 666 ft | $15–$30 |
| Ribbonwood | 038 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 116 ft | 588 ft | $15–$30 |
| Ribbonwood | 039 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 101 ft | 555 ft | $15–$30 |
| Ribbonwood | 040 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 102 ft | 454 ft | $15–$30 |
| Ribbonwood | 041 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 102 ft | 442 ft | $15–$30 |
| Ribbonwood | 042 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 80 ft | 351 ft | $15–$30 |
| Ribbonwood | 043 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 80 ft | 297 ft | $15–$30 |
| Ribbonwood | 044 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 74 ft | 238 ft | $15–$30 |
| Ribbonwood | 045 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 74 ft | 290 ft | $15–$30 |
| Ribbonwood | 046 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 100 ft | 263 ft | $15–$30 |
| Ribbonwood | 047 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 55 ft | 362 ft | $15–$30 |
| Ribbonwood | 048 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 55 ft | 377 ft | $15–$30 |
| Ribbonwood | 049 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 58 ft | 466 ft | $15–$30 |
| Ribbonwood | 050 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 58 ft | 432 ft | $15–$30 |
| Ribbonwood | 051 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | $15–$30 | ||
| Ribbonwood | 052 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | $15–$30 | ||
| Ribbonwood | 053 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 65 ft | 540 ft | $15–$30 |
| Ribbonwood | 054 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 68 ft | 550 ft | $15–$30 |
| Ribbonwood | 055 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 65 ft | 563 ft | $15–$30 |
| Ribbonwood | 056 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 72 ft | 620 ft | $15–$30 |
| Ribbonwood | 057 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 110 ft | 751 ft | $15–$30 |
| Ribbonwood | 058 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 110 ft | 845 ft | $15–$30 |
| Ribbonwood | 059 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 69 ft | 926 ft | $15–$30 |
| Ribbonwood | 060 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 69 ft | 863 ft | $15–$30 |
| Ribbonwood | 061 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 77 ft | 975 ft | $15–$30 |
| Ribbonwood | 062 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 52 ft | 934 ft | $15–$30 |
| Ribbonwood | 063 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 52 ft | 985 ft | $15–$30 |
The agency files 1 more record here that isn’t a site for the night. It names it a host pad. It’s in the table above, marked for what it is, and it isn’t counted as a site.
25 of 63 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Fry Creek CampgroundCleveland National Forest · 5.9 mi
Observatory CampgroundCleveland National Forest · 5.9 mi
Crestline Group CampgroundCleveland National Forest · 6.6 miIndian Flats CampgroundCleveland National Forest · 8.1 miAtáxam Mámta’ash CampgroundCleveland National Forest · 8.1 mi
Dripping Springs Campground (CA)Cleveland National Forest · 12 miFrom Interstate 15 take the 79 East. The campground is on the north side of the highway, across from the fire station. From Temecula, take State Rt. 79 south 24.1 miles and turn left at campground sign.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Aguanga, CA
Typical weather
Typical October night 40°F, day 79°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical December night 30°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 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 · a letter you can send
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
Oak Grove Campground is in California’s 48th congressional district. Its representative, Darrell Issa (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. 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 moneyDarrell IssaU.S. Representative · California’s 48th 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 Oak Grove Campground, Cleveland National Forest, California
Dear Darrell Issa, I’m a constituent in California’s 48th district. I tried to camp at Oak Grove Campground, Cleveland National Forest, California, and couldn’t. All 62 sites at Oak Grove Campground are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 15 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. Oak Grove Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Oak Grove Campground. 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 Oak Grove Campground (Cleveland National Forest, 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 Oak Grove Campground, Cleveland National Forest, California
Dear Adam B. Schiff, I’m a constituent in California. I tried to camp at Oak Grove Campground, Cleveland National Forest, California, and couldn’t. All 62 sites at Oak Grove Campground are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 15 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. Oak Grove Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Oak Grove Campground. 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 Oak Grove Campground (Cleveland National Forest, 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 Oak Grove Campground, Cleveland National Forest, California
Dear Alex Padilla, I’m a constituent in California. I tried to camp at Oak Grove Campground, Cleveland National Forest, California, and couldn’t. All 62 sites at Oak Grove Campground are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 15 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. Oak Grove Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Oak Grove Campground. 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 Oak Grove Campground (Cleveland National Forest, California) via campanac.com