Wishon
1Heads up1 fire 37 mi away
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 16:19 UTC
- A night
- $36–$71Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 33All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 4 notices
In the agency’s own words
Wishon Campground straddles two forks of the Tule River in the Sequoia National Forest, sitting at an elevation of 4,000 feet. A creek runs through the site into the Tule River, which originates in the Golden Trout Wilderness. Keep reading
Recreation
There are many hiking and fishing opportunities in the area, including the Rose Grave Trailhead. Visitors can wade in the river at Wishon Fork.
Facilities
This year-round campground is configured in 3 parts: the Front Entrance section (sites 2-9) the Main Loop (sites 11-33) and the Doubles Spur (sites 34-36.) Wishon Campground offers 33 reservable campsites - 29 single sites and 4 double sites Natural Features The Sequoia National Forest, located at the southern end of the Sierra Nevada in central California, takes its name from the giant sequoia, the world's largest tree, which grows in more than 30 groves on the Forest's lower slopes. The Forest comprises about 1.1 million acres, and elevations range from about 1,000 to 12,000 feet, creating precipitous canyons and mountain streams with spectacular waterfalls such as Salmon Creek Falls and Grizzly Falls. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (661) 455-6010.
Nearby Attractions
There are six small remnant giant sequoia groves in the area, including Wishon, Silver Creek, Burro, Maggie Mountain, Middle Tule and Upper Tule Groves.
What the agency tells you
This is bear country; please take precautions and do not leave unattended food, garbage or other attractants. Use bear resistant food storage lockers or bear resistant trash cans where available. Visit www.sierrawild.gov/bears/food-storage/ for more information about food storage in bear country.
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.
Click here to learn more about Sequoia National Forest
Everything else this campground posts · 1
There is an extra vehicle fee of $8.00/night on the 2nd vehicle in each single campsite and on the 3rd & 4th vehicle in any double campsite, provided these vehicles are not joined to the 1st vehicle by a hitch and towed onto the site. In the case of motorcycles, the 1st and 2nd are considered to be one vehicle and the 3rd and 4th are also considered to be one vehicle. So the fee would be a single $8.00/night of stay for the 3rd/4th motorcycle.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 33
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 30 ft
- Paved pads
- 23 of 33
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Waterfall, River, Creek
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Night sky · 794th darkest of 1,201 in CA
- Bortle 3
Full this Saturdayread 16:19 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
1 campground has sites open within 30 miles, read 16:27 UTC. See them
OpenBooked
Every one of the 11 sites on offer is taken this Friday and Saturday. 32 are free on Mon, Oct 19. read 16:19 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.
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 make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 14
What you actually pay
“There is an extra vehicle fee of $8.00/night on the 2nd vehicle in each single campsite and on the 3rd & 4th vehicle in any double campsite, provided these vehicles are not joined to the 1st vehicle by a hitch and tow…” · the U.S. Forest Service’s own agency notice
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $36–$71 a night, 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.
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
Open within 30 miles this weekend · 1
Sites the agency is offering this Friday and Saturday that nobody has taken, nearest first. read 16:27 UTC
- TuleSuccess Lake · 15 mi · 115 of 184 site-nights open
recreation.gov availability, read 16:19 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
35 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 33 mapped sitesAll 35 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. 33 of the 35 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 WISHON(SEQUOIA NATL FOREST) | 01 - HOST | host pad | 20 ft | 283 ft | ||
| AREA WISHON(SEQUOIA NATL FOREST) | 02 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 91 ft | 332 ft | $36–$71 |
| AREA WISHON(SEQUOIA NATL FOREST) | 03 - HOST | host pad | 20 ft | |||
| AREA WISHON(SEQUOIA NATL FOREST) | 04 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 81 ft | 323 ft | $36–$71 |
| AREA WISHON(SEQUOIA NATL FOREST) | 05 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 81 ft | 309 ft | $36–$71 |
| AREA WISHON(SEQUOIA NATL FOREST) | 06 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 52 ft | 222 ft | $36–$71 |
| AREA WISHON(SEQUOIA NATL FOREST) | 07 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 52 ft | 171 ft | $36–$71 |
| AREA WISHON(SEQUOIA NATL FOREST) | 08 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 52 ft | 135 ft | $36–$71 |
| AREA WISHON(SEQUOIA NATL FOREST) | 09 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 52 ft | 185 ft | $36–$71 |
| AREA WISHON(SEQUOIA NATL FOREST) | 11 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 55 ft | 473 ft | $36–$71 |
| AREA WISHON(SEQUOIA NATL FOREST) | 12 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 55 ft | 471 ft | $36–$71 |
| AREA WISHON(SEQUOIA NATL FOREST) | 13 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 46 ft | 393 ft | $36–$71 |
| AREA WISHON(SEQUOIA NATL FOREST) | 14 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 43 ft | 398 ft | $36–$71 |
| AREA WISHON(SEQUOIA NATL FOREST) | 15 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 43 ft | 358 ft | $36–$71 |
| AREA WISHON(SEQUOIA NATL FOREST) | 16 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 46 ft | 351 ft | $36–$71 |
| AREA WISHON(SEQUOIA NATL FOREST) | 17 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 105 ft | 248 ft | $36–$71 |
| AREA WISHON(SEQUOIA NATL FOREST) | 18 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 91 ft | 270 ft | $36–$71 |
| AREA WISHON(SEQUOIA NATL FOREST) | 19 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 112 ft | 224 ft | $36–$71 |
| AREA WISHON(SEQUOIA NATL FOREST) | 20 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 78 ft | 59 ft | $36–$71 |
| AREA WISHON(SEQUOIA NATL FOREST) | 21 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 44 ft | 53 ft | $36–$71 |
| AREA WISHON(SEQUOIA NATL FOREST) | 22 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 44 ft | 98 ft | $36–$71 |
| AREA WISHON(SEQUOIA NATL FOREST) | 23 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 70 ft | 64 ft | $36–$71 |
| AREA WISHON(SEQUOIA NATL FOREST) | 24 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 67 ft | 121 ft | $36–$71 |
| AREA WISHON(SEQUOIA NATL FOREST) | 25 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 55 ft | 99 ft | $36–$71 |
| AREA WISHON(SEQUOIA NATL FOREST) | 26 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 55 ft | 155 ft | $36–$71 |
| AREA WISHON(SEQUOIA NATL FOREST) | 27 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 77 ft | 161 ft | $36–$71 |
| AREA WISHON(SEQUOIA NATL FOREST) | 28 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 77 ft | 219 ft | $36–$71 |
| AREA WISHON(SEQUOIA NATL FOREST) | 29 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 52 ft | 333 ft | $36–$71 |
| AREA WISHON(SEQUOIA NATL FOREST) | 30 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 52 ft | 316 ft | $36–$71 |
| AREA WISHON(SEQUOIA NATL FOREST) | 31 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 63 ft | 384 ft | $36–$71 |
| AREA WISHON(SEQUOIA NATL FOREST) | 32 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 63 ft | 384 ft | $36–$71 |
| AREA WISHON(SEQUOIA NATL FOREST) | 33 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 90 ft | 346 ft | $36–$71 |
| AREA WISHON(SEQUOIA NATL FOREST) | 34 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 35 ft | 316 ft | $36–$71 |
| AREA WISHON(SEQUOIA NATL FOREST) | 35 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 35 ft | 332 ft | $36–$71 |
| AREA WISHON(SEQUOIA NATL FOREST) | 36 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 54 ft | 350 ft | $36–$71 |
The agency files 2 more records here that aren’t sites for the night. It names them host pads. 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 35 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Wishon CabinGiant Sequoia National Monument · 0.1 mi
BelknapGiant Sequoia National Monument · 4.9 mi
Coy FlatGiant Sequoia National Monument · 5.0 miBelknap CampgroundGiant Sequoia National Monument · 5.7 mi
Quaking AspenGiant Sequoia National Monument · 8.2 mi
Quaking Aspen CabinGiant Sequoia National Monument · 8.2 miFrom Highway 99, turn east on 190. Travel on 190 through Springville to Wishon Drive/M208. Turn left on Wishon Drive and travel about 4 miles. The entrance to Wishon Campground is on the right as the road curves to Doyle Springs.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Sequoia Crest, CA
Typical weather
Typical October night 38°F, day 73°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical December night 27°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
Wishon 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 →
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 moneyVince FongU.S. Representative · California’s 20th 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 Wishon, Giant Sequoia National Monument, California
Dear Vince Fong, I’m a constituent in California’s 20th district. I tried to camp at Wishon, Giant Sequoia National Monument, California, and couldn’t. All 33 sites at Wishon are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 11 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Wishon keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Wishon. 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 Wishon (Giant Sequoia National Monument, 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 Wishon, Giant Sequoia National Monument, California
Dear Adam B. Schiff, I’m a constituent in California. I tried to camp at Wishon, Giant Sequoia National Monument, California, and couldn’t. All 33 sites at Wishon are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 11 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Wishon keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Wishon. 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 Wishon (Giant Sequoia National Monument, 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 Wishon, Giant Sequoia National Monument, California
Dear Alex Padilla, I’m a constituent in California. I tried to camp at Wishon, Giant Sequoia National Monument, California, and couldn’t. All 33 sites at Wishon are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 11 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Wishon keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Wishon. 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 Wishon (Giant Sequoia National Monument, California) via campanac.com