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Lodgepole Campground
Category: Campgrounds [Edit]
Sequoia National Park47050 Generals Hwy
Three Rivers, CA 93271
(559) 713-4100
2 reviews for Lodgepole Campground
$20 a night, and you can reserve online. We booked a day before and got the last campground just off the main street that goes through the campground. I thought we were going to arrive to a lame site, but was pleasantly surprised.
The campgrounds are meant for car camping, which is nice. Drive up to the campsite, and the unload is easy. There is a picnic table, a fire pit, and 2 bear lockers. You can have up to 6 people occupying a single campsite. We only had 2, but if we had more, we would have still felt secluded enough from our neighbors to feel as if we were camping.
If you get deeper into the woods, up the river a bit, that's where you find the truly awesome campsites--these are the ones right on the river. We could hear the river rushing over rocks from our spot, but I imagine that these places right on the river are a completely different experience.
From Lodgepole, you can walk to the visitors center/store/showers. Or you can hike an easy 1.7 miles to the falls nearby. Or, if you want to take it easy, you can simply walk down to the river and do as many of the other campers were doing and play in the rapids/lie on the rocks.
Only cons is that sometimes the grounds could be a little rowdy, and the occupants a little savory. People here don't seem to respect the fact that leaving food out means bears will come (we did see a bear on the trail, and another was spotted bc some moron left an entire soft-sided cooler of food unattended). Bathrooms are acceptable, but dimly lit. But overall, as far as campgrounds go in a National Park, this one was pretty darned good. Next time I'll reserve earlier and try to get the prime spots next to the river and a little further away from the people.
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left urban life behind for the july 4th weekend and trekked up to sequoia national park to do some nitty gritty camping at the lodgepole campground. this was my first time going to sequoia national park since i was a wee lad and i was seriously looking forward to it.
the drive up was boring as usual, however, once we hit the park entrance, the drive became quite fun. not only did we ascend nearly 7,000 feet to the campground, the two lane road up was filled with hairpin turns and some serious scenery.
of note, the valley floor (entrance to campground) was around 93 degrees, however, the temps at the campground was 77 degrees. not bad at all! therefore, if you plan on camping at sequoia national park, make sure you get a reservation at a campground that is above 6,000 ft or you will roast.
our buddy made a ressie for 2 adjacent campsites that abutted the river. this was probably the best sites (i'm not gonng tell you which ones for fear of them being booked up when i wanna go. haha!) in the entire lodgepole campground due to it's location away from other campers an the fact that there was a lot of shade cover as well.
can you say serene! my original plan was to hike during the day and then feast and booze at night. however, the entire trip turned into a lazy one for me and the huns in that all we did was eat, drink and sleep. muahaha! since we were less than a 100 feet from the stream we ended up hanging out at the strream....sitting in the water with beers chilling.
the campground itself is very clean albeit extremely dusty. they offer large bear lockers to store your food and a largbe fire pit at each campground. in addition, they have a fully plumbed bathroom so you can pee or poop without having to dig a hole. lol.
we were regulated on the first night by a ranger. why do you ask? because we had more than two tents up per site. seriously wtf? the park allows 6 people per campsite, but only two tents? that is dumb because typically it's 2 people per tent. we bypassed this requirement by moving a few tents down to the river, under cover of some sequoia's and brush.....score one for us! weeeee!
the campers around us were really cool as well. we were loud as hell into the wee hours of the morning......and no one told us to STFU. good times.
another plus for the campsite is that it is approximately 1/3 to 1/2 mile from the lodgepole village where you can stock up on provision and take a shower. yes, showers cost $3.25 for 8 minutes of water, but when you have dirt going up your crack...you gotta pony up and wash that ish out! although everything is overpriced here.......a 20lb of ice ran us over $10......desperate times call for desperate measures though! gotta keep the beer and sake cold babee!!!
bring some thermals to sleep in. although the temps are in the mid to upper 70's during the day, since the lodgepole campground is at 7,000 feet, it is hella cold at night.
if you ever have the urge to be one with nature, i highly recommend camping at the lodgepole campground in sequoia. it is within walking distance to a plethora of hiking trails, not to mention the general sherman tree.
and!! we saw a ton of deers. i think we saw on average 3-4 deers a day......prancing through our campsites. how awesome is that!?!?
+4 stars for the good campsites
+1 star for not being eaten by a bear!
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