Reds Meadow Campground

This is a beautiful campground waaaay out on the back side of Mammoth mountain, and very near to the pack station with a little store for backpackers. There are famous hikes (Rainbow falls- beware it is downhill there but all uphill back and you must be moderately fit to hike this!!!, and Devil’s Postpile which we didn’t hike and so I cannot comment). The bathrooms were clean, and the Camphost kindly came out to meet us as we arrived after dark. This is a very popular campground, as are the others close by, do not arrive late and expect a spot in the summer. The 4 stars is mainly because of the road, not the campground. We towed a 23 ft trailer. This campground is 8 miles of twists and turns and an often bumpy and narrow road. They will be working on it, the snow did a real number last winter, but when I’m not sure. There is quite a ways of a steep grade to get down. The uphill traffic has the right of way, and there are places where coming down you might have to back up to allow traffic as it’s nearly one lane. In some ways I’m quite glad we arrived after dark because we couldn’t see the cliff the road is built on; the drive back up was pretty terrifying with no shoulder or rails and a sheer drop off. Incredibly, there are large shuttle buses going up and down all day from the ski area up top, and we very nearly were hit by one coming around a curve. I personally would never take a class A motor home down and up that road, until they widen and guardrail it! That said, we had a sweet few days in the campground. It was lush and green late August due to summer rains, and there were some mosquitos. The forestry service is doing a lot of great work clearing underbrush and thinning trees, but I wouldn’t want to be there if a fire started…Very beautiful spot though.

The road in is narrow but in pretty good condition. Unfortunately, the Forest Service has cut down a gazillion perfectly healthy huge old trees in preparation for widening the road. What's next? Cutting down even more big trees to make multiple parking lots?! They have a shuttle system currently so thousands of cars don't have to drive down and park.

The campground used to have an amazing bathhouse by the hot spring, but the Forest Service closed it. Why?! Such a shame to let such great things rot.

Cindy, the camp host, is fantastic - so helpful and friendly! Super clean vault toilets; among the best I've ever seen. No bad smells, plenty of TP. Unfortunately, her manager is less fantastic - made us move our van from its level spot for some bizarre reason, and then closed the half of the campground with the best spots so we had to move anyway (tho maybe that was not her decision and she was just following orders).

Despite my complaints, it's still a gem and worth the trip, particularly for the hikes.

THIS REVIEW IS FOR REDS MEADOW CAMPGROUND and not Reds Meadow Resort. We've been here in 2010 and camped at campsite #25 then this year at campsite #16. Both stays were a great experience. I remember the last time we were here the bathhouse was still working but that was 11 years ago with very hot showers so what we do back then was we get half a pail of cold water in the creek or water faucet and mix it with that hot water to have a warm water for bath. The bathhouse is closed now but very hot water is still coming out near the creek and they have a small pool of it. This time we dip our filled camping shower bag to the pool until it reaches the desired temperature we want for showers or we get hot water from it for our water container. We always get warm showers or bath at night! The hot water works well too to wash your pots and pans!

Well aside from having hot water available at the campground they also have the cleanest pit toilets. They keep the bear lockers clean as well. It said on the website that they have 4 flush toilet houses but all of them are new solar powered pit toilets now. I'm not sure if they're new but it's so clean and the camp hosts cleans and checks it 2x a day. They were so clean the 6 days we were there even on the days that there were a lot of campers! Thank the camp host for keeping it clean!

This campground have 2 trails to Sotcher Lake and to Reds Meadow Resort. Across the street are the trails to Devils Postpile and Rainbow Falls. It's easily accessible to trails. You can go on those trails at sunrise and before sunset and avoid the crowds. Shuttles come down every 30 minutes full of people plus campers so at least when you're staying at this campground you can just access the trails in your own time with less travelers.

This campground was our first camping experience back in 2010. We had a wonderful experience back then and we've been camping for 11 years now for at least 2x or 3x a year. We actually camped here last minute on July 1-6 because our Shasta Lake camping reservations got cancelled the night of June 30 due to fire! But since we were already packed and ready to go, this campground comes to mind to stay because we knew this would be a better one with no reservations and all and we've been wanting to camped here again and explore the area. We made the right decision in going here unplanned. The camp hosts were so nice and helpful with what else to do and experience in the area. We did go to Lower Falls past Rainbow Falls for the first time and had a chance to swim there. We also got to experience rafting, fishing and picnicking at Starkweather Lake where the water is so clean and we went when no ones there... They recommend places to go and experience and what to do and when to do it to avoid travelers and campers!

If we are going to have that chance again on camping at this campground, we will choose this one again last minute!

NO RESERVATIONS or not reservable, register or reserve at the campground. There are 52 campsites to choose from on a first come, first served basis and some are big or small, shaded or meadow areas of campsites.