U.S. Forest Service · Inyo National Forest · CA

Palisades Group Campground

1Heads up1 fire 38 mi away
Wildfire
Wildfire Training fire · 38 mi away · 0 acres · updated Oct 15, 2026
ReservableOut of season, no booking; November 14 opens May 14.
Book on recreation.govWe make nothing when you book
Right now
Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
Sites
1All of them booked ahead
40 ftLongest rig
9,100 ftElevation
666 ftWater · Rock Creek
5.1 miSE of Crowley Lake, CA
32%Tree cover

The place

the agency’s own description · what’s there · 7 notices

In the agency’s own words

Palisades Group Campground lies along Rock Creek in Inyo National Forest, near Mammoth Lakes and Bishop, California. Well-suited for large families and groups, the facility provides access to fishing, hiking, scenic driving, photography and wildlife viewing. Keep reading

Recreation

Hiking and fishing opportunities abound, with local lakes and streams within walking and driving distance. The eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains are known for their exceptional trout fishing. A catch from the creek may including brook, brown, rainbow and stocked Alpers trout, while anglers may be treated to golden trout in the backcountry. There are several hiking trails in and around Rock Creek Canyon, some of which meander around high-elevation alpine lakes.

Facilities

Palisades has ample shade and a private loop with five tables and campfire rings. The site can also serve as an overflow group campground for groups of 25 or less who are not able to reserve the nearby Rock Creek Lake Group site.

Natural Features

The campground sits at an elevation of 8.800 feet, at the bottom of a steep canyon adjacent to Rock Creek and amidst aspen and lodgepole pine trees. The area is home to abundant wildlife, including black bear, mountain lions, mule deer, pine martin, pika and many species of fish and birds. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (760) 935-4824.

Nearby Attractions

For campers interested in local events, Mule Days are held in nearby Bishop over Memorial Day weekend, and the Mammoth Jazz Jubilee is hosted in Mammoth in mid-July.

What the agency tells you

Rule

Parking is limited; see host or bulletin board for instructions on parking additional vehicles

Rule

This is a high elevation facility; please use caution when traveling from lower elevations

Rule

Be bear aware; keep all food out of site in approved containers or locked inside your vehicle and remove all food from area after eating; always keep a clean camp and do not feed any wild animals

Everything else this campground posts · 4
Rule

Fire Restrictions: Fire restrictions may be imposed at any time due to hot, dry weather conditions, at which time campfires and charcoal fires may not be allowed.

Rule

Reserved Sites will be held until check out time (NOON) the day following your arrival date. Sites must be occupied by the checkout time of that following day to hold a reservation or the site will be forfeited and released to other guests. Once your reservation start date has begun, neither the Recreation.gov Contact Center nor the campground manager will be able to modify your reservation.

Rule

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.

Rule

Click here for more information about Inyo National Forest

Read them on the agency’s own page →

Tents and rigs

Sites
1 · 1 group
Hookups
None
Longest rig
40 ft
Accessible sites
None listed
Pets
Allowed
Campfires
Allowed, barring fire bans
Shade
Every site
Source: Recreation.gov campsite records · Aug 23, 2026

Around the campground

On the water
Lake, Creek
Boating
Fishing
Hiking
Historic site
Night sky · 205th darkest of 1,201 in CA
Bortle 2
Fall color · reported 14 days ago, 30 km away
Patchy color
Source: Recreation.gov activity records · Aug 23, 2026
Fall color: More Than Just Parks foliage tracker, joined to this campground by distance (30 km) · Oct 3, 2026

No reading yet, book on recreation.gov

Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.

No availability snapshot inside the last 36 hours, so this page draws nothing rather than ageing a reading into fiction.

Booking windowOut of seasonOut of season, no booking. On November 14, 2026 at 10 AM ET, availability opens through May 14, 2027.recreation.govAdd to calendar (.ics)
Max stay14 nightsthe facility record
Sites, a night, from$95From the rate schedule matched to 1 of its 1 sites. U.S. Forest Service publishes no campground-level rate we can read.derived by CAMPANAC
If plans change$10 to cancel$10 to change a reservationrecreation.gov’s schedule
Runs itU.S. Forest ServiceBooked through recreation.govthe agency’s record
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.

Free forever, no booking kickbacks.
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’ll write once, when the season that starts Fri, May 14 2027 is open for booking.

Free forever, no booking kickbacks.
Book on recreation.gov

We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.

Every line of the receipt · 12

What you actually pay

The sign priceU.S. Forest Service
Sites, a night, from$95
Derived by CAMPANAC from the rate schedule matched to 1 of its 1 sites. U.S. Forest Service publishes no campground-level rate for this campground that we can read, only per-site rate templates its own record matches to each site’s own type.
Group area, a night$95
Rates for the season the campground is in now, May 15, 2026 to Oct 3, 2026.
The booking feerecreation.gov
Reservation fee, booked online$8
One fee per reservation, however many nights you book, and it’s non-refundable. $9 if you book by phone, $3 in person.
Pass discounts only apply to the recreation (or use) fee for the facility. Other charges such as electricity or water hookups, reservation or other fees are not eligible for a discount.
What a stay costs
The agency publishes no nightly rate for this campground, so there’s nothing to add the $8 booking fee to. We won’t total a receipt with a number missing from it.
If your plans changerecreation.gov
Change fee, moving to dates outside your booking$10
Cancellation fee$10
Cancelling the day before, or the day of$10 + your first night
No-show$20 + your first night

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

rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

The sites

1 sites · the site map

All 1 sites

1 of 1 sites located
Group1
Aerial · Esri World Imagery
SleepsTakes aUp to

Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 1 of the 1 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. 1 of the 1 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.

Getting there

the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Coordinate37.48333, -118.71667
The phone760-935-4825
The agency’s pageOfficial page ↗

Where it is

Getting there

From U.S. Highway 395, take the Tom's Place exit, 13 miles south of Mammoth Lakes or 30 miles north of Bishop. Turn left on Rock Creek Road and follow for about 6 miles to Palisades Group Campground on the right.

The weather

the next four days

Next four days, and the thirty-year normal

Forecast

Overnight32°Mostly Clear
Saturday52°Sunny
Saturday Night31°Mostly Clear
Sunday52°Sunny

NWS forecast for Swall Meadows, CA

The land, and who answers for it

what threatens it · who answers for it

Roadless country, and what’s coming for it

Roadless
Rock Creek West3,626 acres · 2 mi · inventoried roadless area
Roadless
Nessie830 acres · 4 mi · inventoried roadless area
Roadless
Whisky Creek865 acres · 5 mi · inventoried roadless area

You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.

Who answers for this land

Kevin Kiley, official portrait

Palisades Group Campground is in California’s 3rd congressional district. Its representative, Kevin Kiley (I), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

How we know

every fact on this page, and where it came from
Right now: U.S. Forest Service publishes no season and no closure for this campground, and it takes no bookings we can read. That’s a gap in the record and not a locked gate: the number below is the only way to be sure.
Fall color: More Than Just Parks foliage tracker, joined to this campground by distance (30 km) · Oct 3, 2026
Cell signal: the Forest Service’s own campground description, read as text by CAMPANAC. None of this is a measurement. It’s what the land manager published about the place, and phones, carriers and weather all disagree with each other; treat it as a warning, not a promise.
Nearest place of any size: Swall Meadows, CA, 2.5 mi WSW (a census designated place). Straight line.