Sentinel Campground
5Heads up3 park alerts · 2 fires, nearest 19 mi
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $16From, per site
- Sites
- 8278 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 3 notices
In the agency’s own words
Sentinel Campground in Cedar Grove is nestled in the stunning Kings Canyon, one of the deepest canyons in the United States. With views of a lovely meadow central to the campground, the sound of the Kings River, and glowing mountainsides just beyond the trees, Sentinel Campground is a wonderful place for families to spend time in the great outdoors. Keep reading
Recreation
Cedar Grove provides a plethora of hiking trails, from the hiking newcomer to the avid backpacker, and everyone in between. Day hikers can hike to Mist Falls, Cedar Grove Overlook, around the peaceful Kanawyer Loop along the Kings River, through Zumwalt Meadow, and more. Visitors can also fish for trout in the Kings River, or take a scenic horseback ride through the canyon with the Cedar Grove Pack Station.
Facilities
Each site in Sentinel Campground provides a fire ring, picnic table and large bear-proof food storage box. The roads through Sentinel Campground are paved, making it easier for both RVs and smaller cars to access the entire campground. There are five comfort stations throughout the campground, all with flush toilets, sinks for dish-washing, and drinking water. The Cedar Grove Visitor Center is located just outside Sentinel Campground, and Cedar Grove Village is across the street and offers a convenience store, gift shop, snack bar, hotel, showers and laundry.
Natural Features
Tall granite mountainsides cradle the south fork of the Kings River, as streams and creeks feed the river with snowmelt from higher elevations. Abundant wildlife roam through the tall ponderosa pine and incense cedar trees, meadows and along riversides. Hikes into the backcountry out of Cedar Grove will give visitors an ever deeper understanding of the beauty and uniqueness of Kings Canyon National Park. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (559) 565-3792.
Nearby Attractions
Hume Lake, Grizzly Falls, Mist Falls, Zumwalt Meadow, Roaring River Falls, Sequoia Groves and numerous hiking trails attract visitors to this area. Campfire stories, nature and wildlife presentations, and ranger-led hikes are also available during most of the season.
Charges & Cancellations
Payment in full will be charged to your credit card upon completion of the reservation. A $10.00 service fee will apply if you change or cancel your reservation. Additional fees will apply for late cancellations All cancellations made between midnight on the day before arrival and check out time on the day after arrival are considered late cancellations and will incur a $10.00 cancellation fee and will also forfeit the first night’s use fee. Cancellations for a single night’s reservation will forfeit the entire use fee but no cancellation fee will apply. If your campsite remains vacant for 24 hours after your arrival date it will be cancelled and made available on rec.gov. You will be charged for the first night's campsite fee and a $10 cancellation fee, all other fees after that will be refunded. Recreation.gov policies apply to all reservations, cancellations, refunds and date changes. Call (559) 565-3792 if you will be arriving 24 hours after your arrival date so your site won't be cancelled.
What the agency tells you
If your campsite remains vacant for 24 hours after your arrival date it will be cancelled and made available on rec.gov. You will be charged for the first night's campsite fee and a $10 cancellation fee, all other fees after that will be refunded. Recreation.gov policies apply to all reservations, cancellations, refunds and date changes. Call (559) 565-3792 if you will be arriving 24 hours after your arrival date so your site won't be cancelled. Upon making a campground reservation: Site occupants agree to follow ALL campground rules. Failure to comply may result in a fine. You are responsible for your guests.
Campground Rules and Regulations: • Food Storage- You are in an ACTIVE BEAR AREA. Black Bears are active day and night. When not in arms reach, you must properly store all food, drinks, scented items, coolers, and equipment used to prepare food, inside provided food storage lockers. These items must be stored day and night. Food storage locker dimensions are 28" high x 33" deep x 47" wide. • 6 Person Limit- There is a maximum of 6 people per campsite. If you exceed this number, purchase 2 sites and spread your group and equipment out evenly between campsites. This is to preserve the natural resources and minimize noise levels. Reservations can be made in advance to accommodate a larger group size at a group campground. • Check-In AND Check-Out is at 12 NOON- Please be prepared to show a screen shot (limited cell service) or printout of your reservation confirmation email upon arrival to the campground. Campsites need to be vacated (vehicles and occupants) by 12:00 NOON. • Parking Pad- Vehicles must be parked with all four wheels on pavement. Vehicles that do not fit on the provided parking pad must be parked in overflow parking areas. • Quiet Hours 10pm to 6am- Music, talking, and generators should not be audible beyond your immediate campsite. Unreasonable noise is prohibited any time of day. • Generator Hours- 9AM to 9PM • Fire Restrictions- Check current fire restrictions at nps.gov/seki. Fires must be attended. DO NOT build additional fire rings. Glass, aluminum, and food are prohibited in fire rings. Firewood is sold locally. Dead and down wood may be gathered for your campfire. Logs must fit within the fire ring. Chainsaws are not allowed. Fires must be extinguished completely with water and be cool to the touch before leaving your campsite or going to bed. • Tents- Pitch tents only on tent pads or within campsite boundaries. • Dogs/Pets- must always be kept crated, caged, or on a leash no longer than six feet. Pets are allowed in campgrounds and picnic areas. Pets may not be left unattended. Pets are not allowed beyond 100 feet of public roads or parking areas. Pets are not allowed on any Park trails. • Preserve Natural Resources- Injuring plants or trees by cutting, breaking, or attaching nails or other hardware is prohibited. Driving off pavement is prohibited. • Bicycles- Helmets required if under 18 years of age. Bicycles are not allowed on any park trails. • Trash Disposal- Please keep your campsite clean. Place all litter/trash in bear proof campground trash dumpsters. To prevent bears from getting trash please DO NOT forget to lock or relatch the dumpster. Do not leave cigarette butts, bottle caps, confetti or litter on the ground. • Water Disposal- Do not dump grey-water on the ground or at the water spigots. Bring a tub to wash dishes or to collect shower water. All grey-water must be disposed of at the restrooms, dish sinks, or at a RV dump-station. Used water must not be allowed to run onto the ground. • Propane Tank Disposal- DO NOT leave in the park. We are unable to recycle your used propane tanks. Please take them home with you and dispose of them properly.
Tire Chains may be required at any time. Be prepared at any time of year for a wide range of temperatures and weather conditions. Check Road Conditions at nps.gov/seki. Vehicles longer than 22 feet (including trailers) are not advised between Potwisha Campground and the Giant Forest Museum. Dangerous Rivers! Many drowning victims were playing near rivers. Rivers present a far greater danger than lakes or pools. Surfaces may look calm, but strong currents often run below. Be cautious walking near rivers as rocks can be slippery. Getting out of a cold, swift river is often impossible. Falling Objects - Don't linger under dead, cracked, or broken branches. Run if you hear cracks or snapping from tree roots, trunks, or branches (know that sometimes there is no sound, and very little time to react). Report falling branches or trees to a ranger. A California state fishing license is required to fish in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, and Sequoia National Forest lakes and streams. Fishing licenses may be available at National Park and National Forest markets.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 82
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 40 ft
- Paved pads
- All
- Accessible sites
- 5
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- 75 of 77 sites
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets - seasonal
- Drinking water
- Yes
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River, Creek, Meadow
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Horseback riding
- Ranger programs
- Visitor center
- Night sky · 404th darkest of 1,201 in CA
- Bortle 3
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
recreation.gov lists 78 of the 82 campsites the agency files here. The rest aren’t on its booking system, so a reservation won’t get you one.
No availability snapshot inside the last 36 hours, so this page draws nothing rather than ageing a reading into fiction.
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.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 18
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the lowest per-night amount the agency’s fee record states ($16), 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.
“A $10.00 service fee will apply if you change or cancel your reservation. Additional fees will apply for late cancellations - All cancellations made between midnight on the day before arrival and check out time on the day after arrival are considered late cancellations and will incur a $10.00 cancellation fee and wi…” · this campground’s own terms
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 · 6
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · record Aug 23, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
82 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 77 mapped sitesAll 82 sites
Measured shade is NLCD Tree Canopy Cover 2024 (USDA Forest Service / MRLC) read at the site’s own coordinate, 27% canopy or more, and only for the sites the agency gave no Shade value. It never changes the agency’s own shaded count beside it.
| Center Loop | 22 | standard nonelectric | 23 ft | 66 ft | 389 ft | |
| Center Loop | 23 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 116 ft | 481 ft | |
| Center Loop | 24 | standard nonelectric | 23 ft | 35 ft | 707 ft | |
| Center Loop | 25 | type not stated | 28 ft | |||
| Center Loop | 26 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 67 ft | 787 ft | |
| Center Loop | 27 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 58 ft | 844 ft | |
| Center Loop | 28 | standard nonelectric | 21 ft | 58 ft | 875 ft | |
| Center Loop | 29 | standard nonelectric | 21 ft | 58 ft | 856 ft | |
| Center Loop | 30 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 59 ft | 802 ft | |
| Center Loop | 31 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 56 ft | 804 ft | |
| Center Loop | 32 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 56 ft | 758 ft | |
| Center Loop | 33 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 66 ft | 765 ft | |
| Center Loop | 34 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 42 ft | 715 ft | |
| Center Loop | 35 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 42 ft | 693 ft | |
| Center Loop | 36 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 78 ft | 634 ft | |
| Center Loop | 37 | standard nonelectric | 27 ft | 68 ft | 630 ft | |
| Center Loop | 48 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 35 ft | 679 ft | |
| Left Outer Loop | 60 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 91 ft | 579 ft | |
| Left Outer Loop | 61 | type not stated | 28 ft | |||
| Left Outer Loop | 62 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 89 ft | 733 ft | |
| Left Outer Loop | 63 | standard nonelectric | 17 ft | 87 ft | 822 ft | |
| Left Outer Loop | 64 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 68 ft | 905 ft | |
| Left Outer Loop | 65 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 33 ft | 982 ft | |
| Left Outer Loop | 66 | standard nonelectric | 19 ft | 33 ft | 953 ft | |
| Left Outer Loop | 67 | standard nonelectric | 21 ft | 43 ft | 1,005 ft | |
| Left Outer Loop | 68 | standard nonelectric | 19 ft | 51 ft | 976 ft | |
| Left Outer Loop | 69 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 45 ft | 955 ftSheep Creek | |
| Left Outer Loop | 70 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 45 ft | 941 ft | |
| Left Outer Loop | 71 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 55 ft | 909 ftSheep Creek | |
| Left Outer Loop | 72 | standard nonelectric | 21 ft | 71 ft | 836 ftSheep Creek | |
| Left Outer Loop | 73 | rv nonelectric | 40 ft | |||
| Left Outer Loop | 74 | standard nonelectric | 17 ft | 71 ft | 791 ftSheep Creek | |
| Left Outer Loop | 75 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 62 ft | 684 ft | |
| Left Outer Loop | 76 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 47 ft | 670 ft | |
| Left Outer Loop | 77 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 47 ft | 626 ft | |
| Left Outer Loop | 78 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 68 ft | 909 ft | |
| Left Outer Loop | 79 | type not stated | 30 ft | |||
| Left Outer Loop | 80 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 62 ft | 1,016 ftSheep Creek | |
| Left Outer Loop | 81 | standard nonelectric | 26 ft | 62 ft | 1,021 ftSheep Creek | |
| Left Outer Loop | 82 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | 67 ft | 956 ftSheep Creek | |
| Left Outer Loop | 83 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 79 ft | 871 ftSheep Creek | |
| Right Inner Loop | 38 | standard nonelectric | 21 ft | 47 ft | 533 ft | |
| Right Inner Loop | 39 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 47 ft | 580 ft | |
| Right Inner Loop | 40 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 44 ft | 567 ft | |
| Right Inner Loop | 41 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 44 ft | 609 ft | |
| Right Inner Loop | 42 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 58 ft | 600 ft | |
| Right Inner Loop | 43 | standard nonelectric | 27 ft | 45 ft | 671 ft | |
| Right Inner Loop | 44 | standard nonelectric | 23 ft | 45 ft | 630 ft | |
| Right Inner Loop | 45 | type not stated | 28 ft | |||
| Right Inner Loop | 46 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 84 ft | 600 ft | |
| Right Inner Loop | 47 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 84 ft | 575 ft | |
| Right Middle Loop | 49 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 57 ft | 450 ft | |
| Right Middle Loop | 50 | standard nonelectric | 19 ft | 60 ft | 394 ft | |
| Right Middle Loop | 51 | standard nonelectric | 27 ft | 31 ft | 452 ft | |
| Right Middle Loop | 52 | standard nonelectric | 26 ft | 31 ft | 466 ft | |
| Right Middle Loop | 53 | standard nonelectric | 17 ft | 50 ft | 448 ft | |
| Right Middle Loop | 54 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 62 ft | 517 ft | |
| Right Middle Loop | 55 | standard nonelectric | 15 ft | 62 ft | 455 ft | |
| Right Middle Loop | 56 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 65 ft | 434 ft | |
| Right Middle Loop | 57 | standard nonelectric | 23 ft | 66 ft | 403 ft | |
| Right Middle Loop | 58 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 65 ft | 391 ft | |
| Right Middle Loop | 59 | standard nonelectric | 23 ft | 65 ft | 434 ft | |
| Right Outer Loop | 01 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | 68 ft | 568 ft | |
| Right Outer Loop | 02 | standard nonelectric | 18 ft | 70 ft | 567 ft | |
| Right Outer Loop | 03 | standard nonelectric | 21 ft | 70 ft | 506 ft | |
| Right Outer Loop | 04 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | 68 ft | 527 ft | |
| Right Outer Loop | 05 | standard nonelectric | 23 ft | 68 ft | 464 ft | |
| Right Outer Loop | 06 | standard nonelectric | 27 ft | 48 ft | 393 ft | |
| Right Outer Loop | 07 | standard nonelectric | 21 ft | 48 ft | 347 ft | |
| Right Outer Loop | 08 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 88 ft | 287 ft | |
| Right Outer Loop | 09 | standard nonelectric | 18 ft | yes | 54 ft | 235 ft |
| Right Outer Loop | 10 | standard nonelectric | 19 ft | yes | 54 ft | 181 ft |
| Right Outer Loop | 11 | standard nonelectric | 17 ft | yes | 86 ft | 145 ft |
| Right Outer Loop | 12 | standard nonelectric | 21 ft | yes | 83 ft | 150 ft |
| Right Outer Loop | 13 | standard nonelectric | 15 ft | 73 ft | 100 ft | |
| Right Outer Loop | 14 | standard nonelectric | 15 ft | yes | 73 ft | 123 ft |
| Right Outer Loop | 15 | standard nonelectric | 15 ft | 61 ft | 139 ft | |
| Right Outer Loop | 16 | standard nonelectric | 15 ft | 61 ft | 140 ft | |
| Right Outer Loop | 18 | standard nonelectric | 15 ft | 76 ft | 301 ft | |
| Right Outer Loop | 19 | standard nonelectric | 15 ft | 76 ft | 243 ft | |
| Right Outer Loop | 20 | standard nonelectric | 15 ft | 36 ft | 318 ft | |
| Right Outer Loop | 21 | standard nonelectric | 15 ft | 36 ft | 341 ft |
25 of 82 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Canyon View Group SitesKings Canyon National Park · 0.4 mi
Cedar Grove Stock CampsiteKings Canyon National Park · 0.5 mi
Sheep Creek CampgroundKings Canyon National Park · 0.7 mi
Moraine Campground (CA)Kings Canyon National Park · 0.7 miConvict Flat CampgroundSequoia National Forest · 9.1 mi
Big Meadow Campground - US Forest Service Sequoia National Forest (CA)Giant Sequoia National Monument · 10 miFrom Fresno, CA, follow California State Highway 180 East to Cedar Grove. Sentinel Campground is located on the left (north) side of the road in the village.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Wilsonia, CA
Typical weather
Typical October night 48°F, day 81°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical December night 29°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
Sentinel Campground is in California’s 5th congressional district. Its representative, Tom McClintock (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →