Address: Observatory Campground Co Hwy S6, State Park Rd #21485, Palomar Mountain, CA 92060, USA
Phone: +17607880250
Deepankar Moitra (Dee)
Beware of Snakes. We found one basking in the sun when we had just parked in this Campground. Lots of snake pits in the ground, careful with kids. and hell lot of mosquitoes so insect repellant is a must. The night sky is kinda "bortle class 4" so milky way and Andromeda will be visible. Binos will help you to gaze some other objects as well. Keep water and washrooms are not too sanitized. Expected from a place in the wild so won't complain about it. All in all a good place if you want to camp withing 1hr of San Diego.
Anna Flannery
Affordable campground with water spouts, fire pits, and long parking spots next to a couple of good trails (observatory and fry creek). We stayed for a week around memorial day. The VT's needed emptied, and had a serious fly problem [the whole area has a serious fly problem] and the showers were all out of commission. Maybe a third of the campsites are nestled amongst trees (9-12, 33, 34 to name a few) but the rest are very open. Book in advance, the good spots fill up quickly online. But there are also a number of walk-in sites that are first come first served. Some of the best views are from the drive up (it's a twisty turny road!).
Lydia LaManna
this campground of about 33 sites was nice, tucked in a valley, the sites on the outside of the driveway loop were better than the sites in the center of the loop, because they were larger and had tree coverage. I liked sites 31-32 (booked under one reservation) and next door looked great too, site 32a and 33. Gorgeous trees, birds, and be prepared for mosquitos! Would definitely stay here instead of Palomar state park because it was less crowded over Fri-Sun memorial weekend. You may still hear some cars passing since the main road is above the campground loop. The firewood sold nearby at the convenience store was about $9 bundle and closes around 5pm. Half the bathrooms were closed for maintenance.
Joe Condon
All of the showers were closed. Trash cans were overflowing. No toilet paper in bathrooms, there was also no marking that the trail to the Observatory was closed. Otherwise the campgrounds were fun and enjoyable.
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I know this is like a year ago, but... All the areas are a mix of reserve and walk in. You can reserve a campsite at observatory and your name will be placed at the designated # and people will know not to stay there.
There are spots you can get a rv into. There are no hookups. Water is available, there are showers onsite.
Each campsite seemed to have both a fire pit with a grill top to flip over as well as a taller grill to utilize for cooking. We used the fire pit to burn wood for a fire and the taller grill with charcoal. Hope that helps!
There is a creek right there.
Yes there are sites for small RV's. To check each individual site and to make reservations, go to Recreation.gov. There are no hookups, but yes there are fire pits.
I don't think there was anything posted, and I did see some sites with 2-3 dogs, if that helps
Better odds east of the mountains we're the light pollution gets blocked a little.
I did. I used a forest adventure pass.
Yes, there are a handful of spots in the campground itself, mainly by the trailhead.
I visited the week of 11/9/2020. There was snow on the ground still in the shaded areas from the previous weekend's storm. Frye campground, about .5 mile up the road, had a lot of snow/icy roads within the campground since it's in a canyon. (It's ~6k feet+. The weather could change every 5 mins)
Whats ur question.? Ur better off checking them out ur self.. u less u life far. Yeah there open I rode in and they have 1st come spots and it cost 15 per night.. looks nice there
Yes, they have it. $5.00 per car for daily use of the campground.
Tough but worth it if you love hiking or have someone drop you off at the observatory and hike back down to the camp
Yeah, I brought my dog. Just keep them leashed and you'll be fine!
We walked in a few weeks ago for Saturday night stay and were able to find a spot in the afternoon. YMMV
The following website has the information you need https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/cleveland/recreation/hiking/recarea/?recid=47560&actid=50
If you just show up without a reservation, and are lucky enough to find an empty campsite, make sure you have $15 cash on hand for every night you want to stay there. There is a self check-in system which requires you to write your information on a provided envelope, put the cash inside, and drop it into a slot. If you don't, a park ranger might talk to you the next day and possibly give you a fine.
I don't believe you can stay more than one consecutive week. Waiting lists are kind of random, its more of a reserving thing and usually at least one site is open. For RV's, theyre allowed so long as they do not block the road way.
I believe so. From my recollection most sites have a car port that is 2 cars wide. Even if your smaller site only has room to pull one car in, there is usually enough space to park another car behind it. For example when we went we fit 4 cars in our port. If you plan on hiking to the observatory try to leave earlier as it closes to the public around 4 pm. Have fun!
Yes, its $15/night I believe .
I made my reservation for Feb 10 and was able to get in
You can make reservations online or you can get one while you're there.
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