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Los Prietos Campground is situated in the Los Padres National Forest and provides access to a variety of outdoor adventures, including water-related recreation and hiking. The family-friendly campground is green and lush and is a great place to camp in the mountains of western California. Recreation The Santa Ynez River is popular for a variety of water-related recreation. The river can be accessed at White Rock Day Use Area, less than a half-mile from the campground. Cachuma Lake Recreation Area is no-body-contact reservoir about 10 miles northwest of the campground. It offers boating, fishing and kayaking. Anglers will find an abundance of annually stocked trout. Carp and bass are also common catches. Visitors enjoy a variety of hiking, biking and horseback riding trails. The Aliso National Recreation Trail is a popular, 2.5-mile loop that begins near the campground. Also nearby is the 18-mile Santa Cruz Trail, which provides access to a variety of other trails in the area. The Camuesa OHV Route and its connecting trails are available within 10 miles of the campground. Facilities The campground offers dozens of single-family sites for tent or RV camping. No utility hookups are available at the campground. Each site is equipped with a table, campfire ring with grill and a pedestal grill. Flush toilets and drinking water are provided. Trash collection bins are available throughout the campground. Natural Features The campground is nestled on the side of the Santa Ynez Mountains. Beautiful, mature oak trees provide ample shade, and abundant vegetation blankets the ground. The sites are roomy and allow for some privacy and separation. Nearby Attractions The campground is located 19 miles from Santa Barbara and the Pacific Ocean. ADA Access: N
From Highway 101 in Santa Barbara, turn east onto Highway 154 and continue about 11 miles. Turn onto Paradise Road and travel about 3 miles to the campground.
This campground was really well taken care of and weekday it's still fairly empty. Camp hosts were very enthusiastic and helpful. Cannot wait to come camp here again!
Pros: Shady oaks (at most sites) and wild turkeys wander the campground. Near Cachuma Lake and Santa Ynez River. Some of the sites are nice and roomy.
CONS:
-Site #13 looks like a massive branch from the oak tree fell off and cracked the table in half. The table hasn't been repaired and the site is small and in full sun.
-Site #12 has no spigot (you have to access the spigot smack dab in the middle of Site #13 and it barely functions, the back of Site #11, or across the way...it's a little awkward walking through people's sites).
-The bathroom nearest Sites 11, 12 and 13 shares with a couple of other sites and one of the two toilets was out of order. This causes occasional lines. NO SINKS.
-The fire pit was halfway full of ash and hadn't been cleaned in between reservations.
-Poison oak is part of the natural habitat so keep a lookout. The back side of our site was full of it.
Really great spot. We had a group of 9 and stayed on a Monday and Tuesday at campsite 30. We showed up without a reservation and there was plenty of vacancy. We had a bit of a weird interaction with the site managers when we first got there - they were not very helpful and seemed a little annoyed - but it all worked out. Campsite 30 was a good spot for the size of our group with plenty of flat space for tents. It was conveniently located nearby the trash/recycling, water, and bathrooms. The bathrooms were VERY clean with flushing toilets. It was nice to be able to pick out our campsite because a lot of the sites were uneven and didn't have much flat space to pitch tents.
It was very hot while we were there, so during the day we went to Red Rock, which we heard had a bunch of water holes. It was about a 5 mile drive from the campsite and another half mile hike from the parking lot to get to the first big water hole. It was a spectacular place (check out the photos) with some rocks at various heights to jump off of into the water. We were the only ones there for about 2-3 hours.
Stayed on site 28. Good distance between other sites. Plenty of room and dog friendly. They provide bathrooms and running water. I suggest bringing a bucket to fill water to take back to your site. The site has a fire pit and grill. They sell wood too which came in handy. Deer came pretty close to our site and we constantly heard turkeys. There is a hiking trail about half a mile from the campground called Snyder trail. It's 3.6 miles long but the views of the hike are amazing and totally worth it. Definitely suggest the hike while you are there. The hiking trail is also the only place I got reception.
