Observatory Campground
5Heads up5 fires, nearest 31 mi
We don’t think it should be. Every campground should hold some sites for whoever drives up.Tell your representative →
- Right now
- OpenInside the published season, our reading
- A night
- $20–$40Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 28All of them booked ahead
- Season
- April 1Opens April 1. No closing date published.
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 5 notices
In the agency’s own words
Science buffs and families are drawn to Observatory Campground for its proximity to the Palomar Observatory, a world-class center of astronomy research operated by the California Institute of Technology. Just two miles from the observatory, the campground provides visitors with a unique learning experience in the great outdoors. The facility offers a variety of amenities for both tent and RV camping. Hiking, biking and picnicking can be found nearby. Keep reading
Recreation
An exciting amateur astronomy project, Explore the Stars, occurs at the campground on several weekends each summer. A group of amateur astronomers from all across Southern California shares the beauty and awe of the night sky to more than a hundred non-astronomers at the campground. Visitors can also walk a 2.25-mile trail to the observatory itself. Day hiking, biking, picnicking and scenic driving are available in the area. The campground makes a good base camp for visiting Palomar Mountain State Park and exploring the surrounding forest.
Facilities
The campground is organized around one large loop with parking spurs for each campsite. Several sites are equipped with level cement pads to allow campers to set up their telescopes. The sites can accommodate vehicles up to 32 feet in length. Drinking water, coin-operated showers (peak season only), grills, trash cans, campfire rings, picnic tables, a flush toilet (peak season only) and two vault toilets are provided.
Natural Features
The campground sits at an elevation of 4,800 feet in the Palomar Mountains of Southern California. The site is forested with pine and oak trees, though several sites have been cleared to allow campers a wide view of the night sky.
Nearby Attractions
The campground is adjacent to Palomar Mountain State Park and under a two-hour drive from San Diego, California. A general store with basic necessities is down the road.
What the agency tells you
Contact campground or Palomar Observatory for schedule of summer special events
Campground and reservations subject to inclement weather. This campground will close temporarily during major winter weather events.
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 · 2
Click here to learn more about Cleveland 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
- 28
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 35 ft
- Paved pads
- All
- Accessible sites
- 3
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets · Vault Toilets
- “…cans, campfire rings, picnic tables, a flush toilet (peak season only) and two vault toilets are…”
- Showers
- Coin Showers
- “Drinking water, coin-operated showers (peak season only), grills, trash cans, campfire rings, picnic tables, a flush toilet (peak season only) and two vault toilets are provided.”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…vehicles up to 32 feet in length. Drinking water, coin-operated showers (peak season only), grills,…”
- Store
- Nearby
Around the campground
- Hiking
- Night sky · 1085th darkest of 1,201 in CA
- Bortle 4
Full this Saturdayread 16:15 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
2 campgrounds have sites open within 30 miles, read 15:40 UTC. See them
OpenBooked
Every one of the 22 sites on offer is taken this Friday and Saturday. 25 are free on Wed, Oct 21. read 16:15 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 · 14
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
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 · 9.9 mi · 36 of 38 site-nights open
- Bobcat Meadow CampgroundCleveland National Forest · 9.9 mi · 32 of 36 site-nights open
recreation.gov availability, read 16:15 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
28 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 28 mapped sitesAll 28 sites
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 28 of the 28 sites listed. A site with no reading is unknown, never far.
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 28 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.
| OBSERVATORY CAMPGROUND | 001/002 | standard nonelectric | 12 ft | 135 ft | 166 ft | 309 ft | $20–$40 | |
| OBSERVATORY CAMPGROUND | 003 | standard nonelectric | 12 ft | yes | 99 ft | 229 ft | 181 ft | $20–$40 |
| OBSERVATORY CAMPGROUND | 005 | standard nonelectric | 12 ft | 91 ft | 157 ft | 85 ft | $20–$40 | |
| OBSERVATORY CAMPGROUND | 006 | standard nonelectric | 12 ft | 91 ft | 68 ft | 45 ft | $20–$40 | |
| OBSERVATORY CAMPGROUND | 008 | standard nonelectric | 12 ft | 72 ft | 69 ft | 140 ft | $20–$40 | |
| OBSERVATORY CAMPGROUND | 009 | standard nonelectric | 12 ft | 72 ft | 29 ft | 91 ft | $20–$40 | |
| OBSERVATORY CAMPGROUND | 010 | standard nonelectric | 12 ft | 64 ft | 76 ft | 261 ft | $20–$40 | |
| OBSERVATORY CAMPGROUND | 011 | standard nonelectric | 12 ft | 64 ft | 117 ft | 312 ft | $20–$40 | |
| OBSERVATORY CAMPGROUND | 013 | standard nonelectric | 12 ft | 73 ft | 190 ft | 330 ft | $20–$40 | |
| OBSERVATORY CAMPGROUND | 017 | standard nonelectric | 15 ft | 172 ft | 355 ft | 281 ft | $20–$40 | |
| OBSERVATORY CAMPGROUND | 019 | standard nonelectric | 15 ft | 91 ft | 422 ft | 148 ft | $20–$40 | |
| OBSERVATORY CAMPGROUND | 021/022 | standard nonelectric | 15 ft | 91 ft | 443 ft | 82 ft | $20–$40 | |
| OBSERVATORY CAMPGROUND | 023 | standard nonelectric | 15 ft | 52 ft | 566 ft | 52 ft | $20–$40 | |
| OBSERVATORY CAMPGROUND | 024 | standard nonelectric | 15 ft | 40 ft | 538 ft | 68 ft | $20–$40 | |
| OBSERVATORY CAMPGROUND | 025 | standard nonelectric | 15 ft | 40 ft | 505 ft | 45 ft | $20–$40 | |
| OBSERVATORY CAMPGROUND | 026 | standard nonelectric | 15 ft | 110 ft | 427 ft | 152 ft | $20–$40 | |
| OBSERVATORY CAMPGROUND | 028 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | yes | 84 ft | 247 ft | 96 ft | $20–$40 |
| OBSERVATORY CAMPGROUND | 029 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 84 ft | 328 ft | 127 ft | $20–$40 | |
| OBSERVATORY CAMPGROUND | 030 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 71 ft | 256 ft | 29 ft | $20–$40 | |
| OBSERVATORY CAMPGROUND | 031/032 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 73 ft | 329 ft | 102 ft | $20–$40 | |
| OBSERVATORY CAMPGROUND | 033 | standard nonelectric | 15 ft | 69 ft | 210 ft | 96 ft | $20–$40 | |
| OBSERVATORY CAMPGROUND | 034 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 71 ft | 135 ft | 106 ft | $20–$40 | |
| OBSERVATORY CAMPGROUND | 035/036 | standard nonelectric | 12 ft | yes | 71 ft | 185 ft | 41 ft | $20–$40 |
| OBSERVATORY CAMPGROUND | 037/038 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 61 ft | 107 ft | 211 ft | $20–$40 | |
| OBSERVATORY CAMPGROUND | 039 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 71 ft | 153 ft | 139 ft | $20–$40 | |
| OBSERVATORY CAMPGROUND | 040 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 61 ft | 100 ft | 259 ft | $20–$40 | |
| OBSERVATORY CAMPGROUND | 041/042 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 133 ft | 93 ft | 374 ft | $20–$40 | |
| OBSERVATORY CAMPGROUND | 32a | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 69 ft | 278 ft | 87 ft | $20–$40 |
25 of 28 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Fry Creek CampgroundCleveland National Forest · 0.2 mi
Crestline Group CampgroundCleveland National Forest · 2.1 mi
Oak Grove CampgroundCleveland National Forest · 5.9 mi
Bobcat Meadow Campground9.9 mi
Corral Canyon Campground9.9 mi
Dripping Springs Campground (CA)Cleveland National Forest · 10 miThe closest address to the campground is 35899 Canfield Road, Palomar Mountain, California. The campground is about 2 miles north of this address along Canfield Road.
From Los Angeles, California, drive south on I-15 to State Highway 76. Go east on 76 for approximately 20 miles and turn left onto South Grade Road (County Road S6). Follow to the top of Palomar Mountain. Once at the top, turn left to continue on South Grade Road/Canfield Road. Continue for approximately 2.5 miles and turn right into the campground.
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 April night 42°F, day 61°F.
Coldest night of the open season: typical April night 42°F. Bring the bag rated for it.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or moreOutside the published season
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
Observatory 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 Observatory Campground, Cleveland National Forest, California
Dear Darrell Issa, I’m a constituent in California’s 48th district. I tried to camp at Observatory Campground, Cleveland National Forest, California, and couldn’t. All 28 sites at Observatory Campground are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 22 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. Observatory Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Observatory 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 Observatory 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 Observatory Campground, Cleveland National Forest, California
Dear Adam B. Schiff, I’m a constituent in California. I tried to camp at Observatory Campground, Cleveland National Forest, California, and couldn’t. All 28 sites at Observatory Campground are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 22 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. Observatory Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Observatory 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 Observatory 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 Observatory Campground, Cleveland National Forest, California
Dear Alex Padilla, I’m a constituent in California. I tried to camp at Observatory Campground, Cleveland National Forest, California, and couldn’t. All 28 sites at Observatory Campground are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 22 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. Observatory Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Observatory 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 Observatory Campground (Cleveland National Forest, California) via campanac.com