Wheeler Gorge
4Heads up4 fires, nearest 17 mi
We don’t think it should be. Every campground should hold some sites for whoever drives up.Tell your representative →
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 30 of the next 30 nights read 15:52 UTC
- A night
- $35–$70Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 6766 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 10 notices
In the agency’s own words
Wheeler Gorge Campground is a great place for families to explore the Los Padres National Forest all year long. Informative tours of the area are led by forest rangers at the nearby visitor center. The campground provides scenic views of a nearby stream, as well as vast mountain vistas. Keep reading
Recreation
The Wheeler Gorge Nature Trail begins at the upper end of the campground. It is a relatively short loop that leads through thick vegetation along the creek banks and to a hillside view of the area. Wildflowers often bloom along the path. The creek flows near some of the campsites and a small swimming hole is frequented near the side of the highway. Fishing is rough in the area and may produce a catch of trout, but the stream is not stocked. Kayaking or canoeing in the creek is not recommended. Educational programs, including ranger-led hikes, are offered year-round.
Facilities
The campground is open year-round and offers dozens of single-family sites for tent or RV camping. Some sites are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Parking spurs are paved and vary in length, accommodating RVs up to 35 feet. Each site is equipped with a table and campfire ring with grill. Accessible vault toilets are provided, but drinking water is not available. Visitors must bring their own water, and remove their trash from the campground.
Natural Features
The campground is adjacent to Matilija Creek, and is bordered by a mixed forest of oak and sycamore trees and evergreen shrubbery. Most sites are shaded and summer temperatures reach up to 95 degrees. The campground was originally built by Boy Scouts nearly a century ago, as well as a historical stone home that is also on-site.
Nearby Attractions
Ventura and the Pacific Ocean are about 20 miles south of the campground.
What the agency tells you
In order to contact our offices, please use the email: customerservice@pmcparks.com or view our website: CampOne.Com for answers to frequently asked questions.
No water is not available at the campground. Please bring all the drinking and washing water you will need for the length of your stay. There is also no wifi or cell service.
Poison oak may be present in the area
Everything else this campground posts · 7
Use of bug spray is encouraged on warm summer days
Gate is locked at 10 p.m.; campsite check-in must be completed prior to closure
All single campsite reservations are good for 6 people and 1 vehicle.
Maximum number of people per single site is 8 ($10.00 additional charge per person per night after 6 people). Maximum number of vehicles per single site is 2 ($10.00 additional charge for 2nd vehicle per night).
All Double campsite reservations are good for 12 people and 2 vehicles. Maximum number of people per double site is 16 ($10.00 additional charge person per night after 12 people). Maximum Number of vehicles per double site is 4 ($10.00 additional charge per vehicle per night after 2 vehicles). Extra Vehicle and person fees will be charged at the facility.
Click here for more information on the Los Padres 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
- 67
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 45 ft
- Paved pads
- 59 of 67
- Accessible sites
- 4
- Pets
- Allowed
- Shade
- 51 of 52 sites
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…and campfire ring with grill. Accessible vault toilets are provided, but drinking water is not available.…”
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- “…vault toilets are provided, but drinking water is not available. Visitors must bring their own water, and remove…”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Creek, Coast
- Biking
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Swimming
- Night sky · 1036th darkest of 1,201 in CA
- Bortle 4
Full this Saturdayread 15:52 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
OpenBooked
Every one of the 55 sites on offer is taken this Saturday. 57 are free on Tue, Oct 20. read 15:52 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.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 20
What you actually pay
“Maximum number of vehicles per single site is 2 ($10.00 additional charge for 2nd vehicle per night).” · the U.S. Forest Service’s own fee record
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $35–$70 a night, plus one $8 recreation.gov reservation fee for the booking, plus the agency’s published $2 weekend rate on Friday and Saturday. 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 · 6
recreation.gov availability, read 15:52 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
89 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 66 mapped sitesAll 89 records
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 67 of the 89 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
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.
| AREA WHEELER GORGE | XXX | unnamed record | 45 ft | $33.97 | |||
| AREA WHEELER GORGE | XXX1 | unnamed record | $33.97 | ||||
| AREA WHEELER GORGE | XXX10 | unnamed record | $33.97 | ||||
| AREA WHEELER GORGE | XXX11 | unnamed record | $33.97 | ||||
| AREA WHEELER GORGE | XXX12 | unnamed record | $33.97 | ||||
| AREA WHEELER GORGE | XXX13 | unnamed record | $33.97 | ||||
| AREA WHEELER GORGE | XXX14 | unnamed record | $33.97 | ||||
| AREA WHEELER GORGE | XXX15 | unnamed record | $33.97 | ||||
| AREA WHEELER GORGE | XXX16 | unnamed record | $33.97 | ||||
| AREA WHEELER GORGE | XXX17 | unnamed record | $33.97 | ||||
| AREA WHEELER GORGE | XXX18 | unnamed record | $33.97 | ||||
| AREA WHEELER GORGE | XXX19 | unnamed record | $33.97 | ||||
| AREA WHEELER GORGE | XXX2 | unnamed record | $33.97 | ||||
| AREA WHEELER GORGE | XXX20 | unnamed record | $33.97 | ||||
| AREA WHEELER GORGE | XXX21 | unnamed record | $33.97 | ||||
| AREA WHEELER GORGE | XXX3 | unnamed record | $33.97 | ||||
| AREA WHEELER GORGE | XXX4 | unnamed record | $33.97 | ||||
| AREA WHEELER GORGE | XXX5 | unnamed record | $33.97 | ||||
| AREA WHEELER GORGE | XXX6 | unnamed record | $33.97 | ||||
| AREA WHEELER GORGE | XXX7 | unnamed record | $33.97 | ||||
| AREA WHEELER GORGE | XXX8 | unnamed record | $33.97 | ||||
| AREA WHEELER GORGE | XXX9 | unnamed record | $33.97 | ||||
| WHEE | 001 | type not stated | 28 ft | 147 ft | $33.97 | ||
| WHEE | 002 | standard nonelectric | 26 ft | yes | 103 ft | 126 ft | $35–$70 |
| WHEE | 003 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 35 ft | 196 ft | $35–$70 | |
| WHEE | 004/005 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 35 ft | 162 ft | $35–$70 | |
| WHEE | 006 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 56 ft | 231 ft | $35–$70 | |
| WHEE | 007 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 56 ft | 195 ft | $35–$70 | |
| WHEE | 008 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 82 ft | 211 ft | $35–$70 | |
| WHEE | 009/010 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 82 ft | 221 ft | $35–$70 | |
| WHEE | 011 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 31 ft | 136 ft | $35–$70 | |
| WHEE | 012 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 29 ft | 138 ft | $35–$70 | |
| WHEE | 013 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 45 ft | 95 ft | $35–$70 | |
| WHEE | 014 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 29 ft | 139 ft | $35–$70 | |
| WHEE | 015 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | yes | 40 ft | 125 ft | $35–$70 |
| WHEE | 016 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | yes | 33 ft | 114 ft | $35–$70 |
| WHEE | 017 | standard nonelectric | 15 ft | 33 ft | 105 ft | $35–$70 | |
| WHEE | 018 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 62 ft | 51 ft | $35–$70 | |
| WHEE | 019 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 37 ft | 64 ft | $35–$70 | |
| WHEE | 020 | standard nonelectric | 15 ft | 37 ft | 99 ft | $35–$70 | |
| WHEE | 021 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 37 ft | 102 ft | $35–$70 | |
| WHEE | 022 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 38 ft | 117 ft | $35–$70 | |
| WHEE | 023 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 41 ft | 130 ft | $35–$70 | |
| WHEE | 024 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 31 ft | 101 ft | $35–$70 | |
| WHEE | 025 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 49 ft | 92 ft | $35–$70 | |
| WHEE | 026 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 29 ft | 74 ft | $35–$70 | |
| WHEE | 027 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 29 ft | 49 ft | $35–$70 | |
| WHEE | 028 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 38 ft | 95 ft | $35–$70 | |
| WHEE | 029 | standard nonelectric | 15 ft | 46 ft | 133 ft | $35–$70 | |
| WHEE | 031 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 46 ft | 125 ft | $35–$70 | |
| WHEE | 032 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 39 ft | 77 ft | $35–$70 | |
| WHEE | 033 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 39 ft | 102 ft | $35–$70 | |
| WHEE | 034 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 143 ft | 61 ft | $35–$70 | |
| WHEE | 035 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 143 ft | 68 ft | $35–$70 | |
| WHEE | 036 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 113 ft | 94 ft | $35–$70 | |
| WHEE | 038 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 94 ft | 208 ft | $35–$70 | |
| WHEE | 039 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 94 ft | 253 ft | $35–$70 | |
| WHEE | 040 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 51 ft | 257 ft | $35–$70 | |
| WHEE | 041 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 51 ft | 300 ft | $35–$70 | |
| WHEE | 042 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 48 ft | 241 ft | $35–$70 | |
| WHEE | 043 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 77 ft | 274 ft | $35–$70 | |
| WHEE | 044 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 48 ft | 208 ft | $35–$70 | |
| WHEE | 045 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 70 ft | 198 ft | $35–$70 | |
| WHEE | 046 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 70 ft | 210 ft | $35–$70 | |
| WHEE | 047 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 58 ft | 56 ft | $35–$70 | |
| WHEE | 048 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 38 ft | 16 ft | $35–$70 | |
| WHEE | 049 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 56 ft | 46 ft | $35–$70 | |
| WHEE | 050 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 38 ft | 17 ft | $35–$70 | |
| WHEE | 051 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 55 ft | under 10 ft | $35–$70 | |
| WHEE | 052 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 56 ft | 23 ft | $35–$70 | |
| WHEE | 053 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 72 ft | 142 ft | $35–$70 | |
| WHEE | 054 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 65 ft | 133 ft | $35–$70 | |
| WHEE | 055 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | yes | 65 ft | 94 ft | $35–$70 |
| WHEE | 056 | standard nonelectric | 15 ft | 63 ft | 173 ft | $35–$70 | |
| WHEE | 057 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 31 ft | 122 ft | $35–$70 | |
| WHEE | 058 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 57 ft | 82 ft | $35–$70 | |
| WHEE | 059 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 31 ft | 96 ft | $35–$70 | |
| WHEE | 060 | standard nonelectric | 15 ft | 33 ft | 137 ft | $35–$70 | |
| WHEE | 061 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 29 ft | 109 ft | $35–$70 | |
| WHEE | 062 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 19 ft | 89 ft | $35–$70 | |
| WHEE | 063 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 19 ft | 71 ft | $35–$70 | |
| WHEE | 064 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 44 ft | 52 ft | $35–$70 | |
| WHEE | 065 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 65 ft | 127 ft | $35–$70 | |
| WHEE | 066 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 56 ft | 112 ft | $35–$70 | |
| WHEE | 067 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 28 ft | 75 ft | $35–$70 | |
| WHEE | 068 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 28 ft | 48 ft | $35–$70 | |
| WHEE | 069 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 71 ft | 30 ft | $35–$70 | |
| WHEE | 070 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 92 ft | 74 ft | $35–$70 | |
| WHEE | 071 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 92 ft | 82 ft | $35–$70 |
The agency files 22 more records here that aren’t sites for the night. It types every one of them MANAGEMENT rather than a campsite. They’re in the table above, marked for what they are, and none of them is counted as a site.
OpenStreetMap has no toilet mapped within 1 km of this campground, so no site here carries a toilet distance. That’s a gap in the map, not a finding about the campground.
25 of 89 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Holiday Group CampgroundLos Padres National Forest · 0.4 mi
Rose Valley CampgroundLos Padres National Forest · 5.4 mi
Middle Lion CampgroundLos Padres National Forest · 6.6 mi
Reyes Peak CampgroundLos Padres National Forest · 9.0 mi
Pine Mountain CampgroundLos Padres National Forest · 9.3 mi
Reyes Creek Campground12 miFrom Ventura, take Highway 33 north about 14 miles. Turn left, continuing on Highway 33 for another 8 miles to the campground.
From Los Angeles, take I-5 north, then turn west onto Highway 126 for about 28 miles, to Santa Paula. Continue north on Highway 150 for 16 miles. Turn left onto Highway 33 and continue north approximately 8 miles to the campground.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Meiners Oaks, CA
Typical weather
Typical October night 43°F, day 78°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical December night 32°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 · a letter you can send
What threatens this place
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Wheeler Gorge is in California’s 26th congressional district. Its representative, Julia Brownley (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 · 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 moneyJulia BrownleyU.S. Representative · California’s 26th 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 Wheeler Gorge, Los Padres National Forest, California
Dear Julia Brownley, I’m a constituent in California’s 26th district. I tried to camp at Wheeler Gorge, Los Padres National Forest, California, and couldn’t. recreation.gov lists 66 of the 67 campsites the agency files at Wheeler Gorge, and every one of them is booked ahead, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 55 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Wheeler Gorge keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Wheeler Gorge. 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 Wheeler Gorge (Los Padres 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 Wheeler Gorge, Los Padres National Forest, California
Dear Adam B. Schiff, I’m a constituent in California. I tried to camp at Wheeler Gorge, Los Padres National Forest, California, and couldn’t. recreation.gov lists 66 of the 67 campsites the agency files at Wheeler Gorge, and every one of them is booked ahead, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 55 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Wheeler Gorge keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Wheeler Gorge. 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 Wheeler Gorge (Los Padres 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 Wheeler Gorge, Los Padres National Forest, California
Dear Alex Padilla, I’m a constituent in California. I tried to camp at Wheeler Gorge, Los Padres National Forest, California, and couldn’t. recreation.gov lists 66 of the 67 campsites the agency files at Wheeler Gorge, and every one of them is booked ahead, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 55 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Wheeler Gorge keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Wheeler Gorge. 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 Wheeler Gorge (Los Padres National Forest, California) via campanac.com