San Miguel Island
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A public campground shut with nobody having to say why isn’t good enough.Ask why it’s closed →
- Right now
- ClosedThe agency’s own sentence, quoted below
- A night
- $15When it reopens, per site
- Sites
- 19In the agency’s record
- Season
- Year-roundOpen year-round
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 17 notices
In the agency’s own words
Wind and weather constantly sweep across the North Pacific to batter the shores of this westernmost of all the islands. This extreme weather creates a harsh but profoundly beautiful environment. Although it can be challenging to reach the San Miguel Island Campground, it's always worth the effort. Perched on a plateau, the campground offers incredible island views and access to a variety of recreational activities and unique natural and cultural resources. Keep reading
Although a century's worth of sheep ranching and overgrazing caused scientists in 1875 to describe the island as "a barren lump of sand," with the grazing animals removed, vegetative recovery is in progress. Giant coreopsis, dudleya, locoweed, lupine, buckwheat, coastal sagebrush, and poppies are all recolonizing the island to their former extent, returning San Miguel to its more natural state. Also making a comeback, after years of hunting, are the thousands of pinnipeds (seals and sea lions) that breed, pup, and haul out on the island's 27 miles of isolated coastline. Other wildlife include a variety of landbirds, 13 nesting seabird species, and unique animals like the island fox and deer mouse. Both of these little creatures are endemics -- they are found only on the Channel Islands. In addition to the variety of natural resources, San Miguel hosts an array of cultural resources as well. The Chumash and their ancestors lived on San Miguel almost continuously for nearly 12,000 years. Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo and his men laid eyes on San Miguel Island in 1542 which is commemorated by a monument on the island. Other outstanding island resources that visitors may experience on San Miguel include the caliche forest (sand-castings of ancient vegetation), fossil bones of the Pleistocene pygmy mammoths that stood four to six feet at the shoulders, 150 years of ranching history and numerous shipwrecks.
Recreation
A permit (including liability waiver) is required to visit the island. If you are traveling to San Miguel Island with Island Packers, Channel Islands Aviation, or Truth Aquatics, they will provide the forms to you upon your reservation. Private boaters can obtain the forms at a self-registration station at the Nidever Canyon trailhead entry on San Miguel Island. Several trails traverse San Miguel Island providing visitors with spectacular hiking opportunities. While many parts of the island are closed to protect wildlife, fragile plants, and geological features, several areas are open for you to explore. Visitors may explore the two-mile-long Cuyler Harbor beach and one-mile-long trail to the ranger station on their own. To see other parts of the island, such as Point Bennett or the caliche forest, you must go with a ranger or volunteer. If arriving with a concessionaire, park staff are usually available to offer guided hikes. However, there is no guarantee that hikes will be offered to all locations. Visitors must coordinate with island staff upon arrival. All hikers must stay on the trails to protect fragile vegetation and for visitor safety. No off-trail hiking is allowed. Due to the strong, persistent wind, swimming, snorkeling, diving and kayaking are limited and recommended for the experienced visitor only. In addition, landing and beach access is only allowed at Cuyler Harbor. No fishing is allowed within the marine reserves located around the island. Fishing is allowed outside of these areas. For more information about recreational activities in the park, visit https://www.nps.gov/chis/planyourvisit/index.htm .
Facilities
A one mile, steep uphill hike from the boat landing in Cuyler Harbor to the 9-site campground is required. If you fly in, then its a short, flat 1/4 mile hike. Camping is primitive and campers must bring their own food, equipment and water. Picnic table, five-foot tall windbreak, food storage box and pit toilet are provided.
Natural Features
The 9,500-acre island is a plateau at 500 feet in elevation, with two 800-ft. rounded hills and 27 miles of coastline. As the westernmost island in the park, the weather can be windy anytime of the year -- 30 knots of wind is not uncommon.
Nearby Attractions
Despite the wind, Cuyler Harbor (one-mile from the campground) is one of the most scenic beaches in the park. Beach access is only allowed at Cuyler Harbor. The guided, 16-mile roundtrip hike to Point Bennett requires some stamina, but visitors are rewarded with the chance to see one of the largest congregations of wildlife in the world-over 30,000 animals and up to five different species. All hikers must stay on the trails for visitor safety and to protect fragile vegetation and nesting seabirds. No off-trail hiking is allowed.
What the agency tells you
San Miguel Island may only be reached by boat or aircraft. Visitors are required to arrange transportation to the island before reserving a campsite. Contact Island Packers the park's authorized concessioner or bring your own private boat.
Camping reservations are required prior to arriving on the island. There are NO walk-ups at this facility
Since the island is still owned by the US Navy, was a former bombing range, and may contain unexploded ordnance, a permit (including liability waiver) is required to visit the island. If you are traveling to San Miguel Island with Island Packers, Channel Islands Aviation, or Truth Aquatics, they will provide the forms to you upon your reservation. Private boaters can obtain the forms at a self-registration station at the Nidever Canyon trail head entry on San Miguel Island.
Everything else this campground posts · 14
One party or group may reserve a maximum of 2 individual sites per visit. There are 9 individual campsites. Max 4 people per site.
Upon arrival, meet ranger at beach, landing dock or campground. However, park staff is not always available on the island. Please have confirmation letter, receipt, or campsite number with you.
1 mile steep, uphill hike to the campground if arriving by boat. Hike In Distance to Site: 1/4 mile to 1 mile. Visitors must carry all their own gear.
Primitive camping. Tent camping only, no electricity/water/sewer site hook-ups at this campground. Bring low profile tents and extra food for weather delays. No shelter or shade. Five-foot windbreak provided along with picnic table, food storage box, and vault toilet. Must bring your own water. No stores or services. Quiet time is enforced at 10:00 pm. Check-in and check-out times are at 11:00 a.m.
Proper food and trash storage is required. Food/Trash storage lockers are provided at each site. Recommend hard-sided container (i.e. action packer) to further protect food/garbage from animals.
Visitors are required to pack out what they pack in, including garbage.
No campfires or charcoal fires. Only enclosed gas camp stoves are allowed.
Smoking is only allowed on the beach area at Cuyler Harbor.
Avoid contact with deer mice. Hantavirus has been found in island deer mice. For more information visit: https://www.nps.gov/chis/planyourvisit/hantavirus.htm.
To help prevent the introduction of nonnative species the following items may not be brought to the park: pets; live or potted plants; soil; cut flowers; firewood or any untreated, unfinished wood (including hiking sticks); corrugated boxes; tools or equipment with attached soil; motorized vehicles; bicycles; and single-use plastic grocery bags. Prior to departure, visitors are required to use pest-proof packing materials, inspect and clean their gear and shoes of all soil, seeds, and insects. Learn more about biosecurity and watch the required video at Protect Your Park Through Biosecurity.
No fishing in marine reserves. California fishing license and ocean enhancement sticker required to fish outside marine reserves.
Watersports: Due to the strong, persistent wind, swimming, snorkeling, diving, and kayaking are limited and recommended for the experienced visitor only Ocean conditions can rapidly change, requiring expert abilities. Ocean kayaking is an inherently dangerous activity. Always check weather and do not kayak beyond your experience level.
Landing and beach access is only allowed at Cuyler Harbor.
No off-trail hiking is allowed. The island was a former bombing range and there are possible unexploded ordnance. Visitors may explore the two-mile long Cuyler Harbor beach and one-mile-long trail to the ranger station on their own. To see other parts of the island, such as Point Bennett or the caliche forest, you must go with a ranger or volunteer. Park staff are usually available to offer guided hikes. However, there is no guarantee that hikes will be offered to all locations. Visitors must coordinate with island staff upon arrival. All hikers must stay on the trails to protect fragile vegetation and for visitor safety.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 19 · 18 tent-only
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Not allowed
- Campfires
- Not allowed
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets - year round
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- Store
- Nearby
Around the campground
- On the water
- Beach
- Beachcombing
- Birding
- Boating
- Fishing
- Guided Interpretive Walks
- Hiking
- Historic site
- Information Site
- Ranger programs
- Picnicking
- Ranger Station
- Sailing
- Sea Kayaking
- Swimming
Nothing to book until it reopensread 15:57 UTC
San Miguel Island Closure 2026-01-01 to 2026-12-31
OpenBooked
Tell me when it reopens
Watch for it to come back
One email when the agency reopens it, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check the agency’s own record once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time it stops saying closed.
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.
Every line of the receipt · 10
What you actually pay
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 · 4
What the agency said · 1
San Miguel Island Closure 2026-01-01 to 2026-12-31
National Park Service · the source publishes no posting date
Open within 60 miles · 4
The agency’s own word that these are open, not our reading of a season.
- Water Canyon CampgroundChannel Islands National Park · 18 mi · 15 sites
- Santa Cruz Island Del Norte BackcountryChannel Islands National Park · 40 mi · 9 sites
- Scorpion Canyon CampgroundChannel Islands National Park · 45 mi · 31 sites
- Fremont CampgroundLos Padres National Forest · 46 mi · 15 sites
recreation.gov availability, read 15:57 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
19 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 9 mapped sitesAll 19 sites
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 9 of the 19 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. 18 of the 19 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| SAN MIGUEL ISLAND | TENT NONELECT | type not stated | ||||
| SAN MIGUEL ISLAND AREA | 001 | tent only nonelectric | 60 ft | 21.9 mi | 263 ft | $15 |
| SAN MIGUEL ISLAND AREA | 001 old | tent only nonelectric | $15 | |||
| SAN MIGUEL ISLAND AREA | 002 | tent only nonelectric | 54 ft | 21.9 mi | 206 ft | $15 |
| SAN MIGUEL ISLAND AREA | 002 old | tent only nonelectric | $15 | |||
| SAN MIGUEL ISLAND AREA | 003 | tent only nonelectric | 54 ft | 21.9 mi | 153 ft | $15 |
| SAN MIGUEL ISLAND AREA | 003 old | tent only nonelectric | $15 | |||
| SAN MIGUEL ISLAND AREA | 004 | tent only nonelectric | 45 ft | 21.9 mi | 77 ft | $15 |
| SAN MIGUEL ISLAND AREA | 004 old | tent only nonelectric | $15 | |||
| SAN MIGUEL ISLAND AREA | 005 | tent only nonelectric | 64 ft | 21.9 mi | 74 ft | $15 |
| SAN MIGUEL ISLAND AREA | 005 old | tent only nonelectric | $15 | |||
| SAN MIGUEL ISLAND AREA | 006 | tent only nonelectric | 60 ft | 21.9 mi | 268 ft | $15 |
| SAN MIGUEL ISLAND AREA | 006 old | tent only nonelectric | $15 | |||
| SAN MIGUEL ISLAND AREA | 007 | tent only nonelectric | 58 ft | 21.9 mi | 193 ft | $15 |
| SAN MIGUEL ISLAND AREA | 007 old | tent only nonelectric | $15 | |||
| SAN MIGUEL ISLAND AREA | 008 | tent only nonelectric | 58 ft | 21.9 mi | 142 ft | $15 |
| SAN MIGUEL ISLAND AREA | 008 old | tent only nonelectric | $15 | |||
| SAN MIGUEL ISLAND AREA | 009 | tent only nonelectric | 45 ft | 21.9 mi | 62 ft | $15 |
| SAN MIGUEL ISLAND AREA | 009 old | tent only nonelectric | $15 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Santa Rosa Island Backcountry Beach CampingChannel Islands National Park · 16 mi
Santa Rosa IslandChannel Islands National Park · 18 mi
Water Canyon CampgroundChannel Islands National Park · 18 mi
Santa Cruz Island Prisoners HarborChannel Islands National Park · 38 miPrisoners Harbor CampgroundChannel Islands National Park · 38 mi
Santa Cruz Island Del Norte BackcountryChannel Islands National Park · 40 miBoat transportation can be arranged with Island Packers from Ventura Harbor.
Air transportation can be arranged with Channel Islands Aviation from Camarillo airport.
To park headquarters in Ventura, California: Highway 101, exit Victoria or Seaward to Ventura Harbor.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Goleta, CA
Typical weather
Typical October night 51°F, day 73°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical December night 40°F. Bring the bag rated for it.
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
who answers for it · a letter you can send
Who answers for this land
San Miguel Island is in California’s 24th congressional district. Its representative, Salud Carbajal (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 · 4
We read the agency’s notice and couldn’t get a reason out of it, so it’s filed as no reason we could read. That reading is ours. The draft to the agency asks what closed San Miguel Island, what reopening it would cost and what date they’re working towards. The draft to Congress asks them to put the same question in writing and to fund the answer.
- The office that runs itChannel Islands National ParkNational Park Service unit
- The member who votes the moneySalud O. CarbajalU.S. Representative · California’s 24th 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 found out at the gate, or a week before the trip. 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 what remains to be done at San Miguel Island, what it costs, and what date they’re working towards.
Subject San Miguel Island: what it would take to reopen
To the National Park Service: I was planning to camp at San Miguel Island in California and found it closed. The notice says: "San Miguel Island Closure 2026-01-01 to 2026-12-31" (https://www.recreation.gov/camping/san-miguel-island/r/campgroundDetails.do?contractCode=NRSO&parkId=70983, read Oct 17, 2026) Could you tell me what closed San Miguel Island, what has to happen before it reopens, and what date you’re working towards? If the answer is funding or staffing you don’t have, please say so plainly. Sent about San Miguel Island (California) via campanac.com
Asks them to find out what reopening San Miguel Island would cost, and to treat the deferred-maintenance line as the thing that decides it.
Subject San Miguel Island is closed (California)
Dear Salud O. Carbajal, I’m a constituent in California’s 24th district. I went to camp at San Miguel Island, California and found it closed. The notice says: "San Miguel Island Closure 2026-01-01 to 2026-12-31" (https://www.recreation.gov/camping/san-miguel-island/r/campgroundDetails.do?contractCode=NRSO&parkId=70983, read Oct 17, 2026) The notice doesn’t say what closed it, which is worth asking about on its own. A campground on public land going dark with no stated reason and no reopening date isn’t something the public should have to guess at. Please ask the National Park Service, in writing, what reopening San Miguel Island would cost and where that work sits on their own list. And when their budget comes to a vote, treat the recreation and deferred-maintenance lines as the thing that decides whether these 19 campsites are open next season. 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 San Miguel Island (California) via campanac.com
Asks them to find out what reopening San Miguel Island would cost, and to treat the deferred-maintenance line as the thing that decides it.
Subject San Miguel Island is closed (California)
Dear Adam B. Schiff, I’m a constituent in California. I went to camp at San Miguel Island, California and found it closed. The notice says: "San Miguel Island Closure 2026-01-01 to 2026-12-31" (https://www.recreation.gov/camping/san-miguel-island/r/campgroundDetails.do?contractCode=NRSO&parkId=70983, read Oct 17, 2026) The notice doesn’t say what closed it, which is worth asking about on its own. A campground on public land going dark with no stated reason and no reopening date isn’t something the public should have to guess at. Please ask the National Park Service, in writing, what reopening San Miguel Island would cost and where that work sits on their own list. And when their budget comes to a vote, treat the recreation and deferred-maintenance lines as the thing that decides whether these 19 campsites are open next season. 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 San Miguel Island (California) via campanac.com
Asks them to find out what reopening San Miguel Island would cost, and to treat the deferred-maintenance line as the thing that decides it.
Subject San Miguel Island is closed (California)
Dear Alex Padilla, I’m a constituent in California. I went to camp at San Miguel Island, California and found it closed. The notice says: "San Miguel Island Closure 2026-01-01 to 2026-12-31" (https://www.recreation.gov/camping/san-miguel-island/r/campgroundDetails.do?contractCode=NRSO&parkId=70983, read Oct 17, 2026) The notice doesn’t say what closed it, which is worth asking about on its own. A campground on public land going dark with no stated reason and no reopening date isn’t something the public should have to guess at. Please ask the National Park Service, in writing, what reopening San Miguel Island would cost and where that work sits on their own list. And when their budget comes to a vote, treat the recreation and deferred-maintenance lines as the thing that decides whether these 19 campsites are open next season. 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 San Miguel Island (California) via campanac.com