Old Isabella
1Heads up1 fire 3.9 mi away
This is how it should work.
- Right now
- OpenThe agency lists it open
- Season
- Year-roundOpen year-round
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there
In the agency’s own words
Located off Highway 178 on the southern side of Lake Isabella, this facility offers visitors a vault toilet, trash service, a visitor information station, and campsites above the high-water mark. Below the high-water mark, visitors can drive their vehicles to the shoreline and camp at the water's edge. Below the high-water mark, portable toilets and trash receptacles are provided for visitor convenience during the summer. Adjacent to the camping site there is a public boat launch and courtesy dock with a large, paved parking area for vehicles and boat trailers, flush toilets, and drinking water. Keep reading
ExplorUS All developed campground areas on the Forest operate under a concessionaire permit with ExplorUs. For additional information, please visit About Explorus - Hospitality Management (goexplorus.com) or call their home office at (661) 702-1420, or their Lake Isabella office at 760-376-1269. The interagency America the Beauitful pass Annual , Senior , Access , Volunteer , and Military is accepted. Campfire permits are required for campfires, barbeques, and camp stoves. Permits are available at your local Ranger Station or online at preventwildfireca.org For Kern River Ranger District recreation information, please call 760-376-3781.
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets · Vault Toilets · Portable Toilets
- “…this facility offers visitors a vault toilet, trash service, a visitor information station, and… / …water's edge. Below the high-water mark, portable toilets and trash receptacles are provided for visitor… / …area for vehicles and boat trailers, flush toilets, and drinking water. ExplorUS All developed…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…and boat trailers, flush toilets, and drinking water. ExplorUS All developed campground areas on the…”
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Store
- Nearby
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River, Beach
Nothing to book, just show up
One of 1,623 federal campgrounds where the site still goes to whoever pulls in first. Get there before noon on a summer weekend.
recreation.gov publishes no availability for a campground you can’t reserve, so there’s no thirty-night reading to draw here. The season bar above is what the agency does publish.
Every line of the receipt · 5
What you actually pay
How we know this receipt · 4
record Aug 24, 2026 · How we know all this
Getting there
the map and the coordinate
Where it is
French GulchSequoia National Forest · 1.4 mi
Boulder GulchSequoia National Forest · 1.5 mi
Hungry GulchSequoia National Forest · 1.5 miMain Dam CampgroundSequoia National Forest · 1.6 miThe weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Lake Isabella, CA
Typical weather
Typical October night 46°F, day 81°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical December night 31°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
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
Old Isabella is in California’s 20th congressional district. Its representative, Vince Fong (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →