Campgrounds on the way to the Grand Canyon

I hope you're headed for the North Rim, you didn't say.

The Eastern Sierra is a fabulous place to camp just about anywhere between Bridgeport and Bishop/Lone Pine.

The town of Mammoth Lakes is a couple of miles off 395. It has several National Forest campgrounds in the Lakes area that are really nice. There is also the private Mammoth Mountain RV Park that has hook-ups if you need them. And if you want to boondock it, there are some BLM campgrounds.

Between Mammoth and Bishop is the Sherwin Grade. For us Southern Californians, it is the divide between the pines of Mammoth area and the high desert region that you will travel pretty much until you reach Williams, Az. (I only note this because I like the mountain temperatures better than the desert temps in June.)

The campgrounds inside GCNP are nice and close to the village. If you have to stay in Williams or Flagstaff, there are private campgrounds. If you have kids, you can always take the Grand Canyon train to get to the park.

skipnchar wrote:

OP wrote:
Are there any campgounds along the way?

You're joking right :)

No. I wasn't joking. We only camp in the woods, we have tent camped in a couple of campgrounds on the CA coast a couple of years ago. We are originally from Northern CA area so hot weather (average 115*) is familiar to us. We are traveling with several other family members in their own RVs but none of us have camped this route before this trip. Thank you all for the comments and suggestions. I will pass this information on to those who are driving. Sounds like we have a great time ahead of us.

I would mossy on down 395 and after the Lone Pine stay, I would plan on a full day of driving and get as close as possible to your destination.

OP wrote:
Are there any campgounds along the way?

You're joking right :)

What we did one year was camp out in the SEDONA AZ area for a couple of weeks and then went to all the great places to visit and got to take our time. There are numerous places you will want to visit including the Grand Canyon.

I was blew away with the first time we went to the SEDONA area many years back with all the RED ROCK CANYONS and MTNS... Even stopping along the old Route 66 for a few photos standing next to the ROUTE 66 road signs. The FLAGSTAFF AREA has many attractions you must visit... Even drinking a beer in a local pub pub at JEROME and PRESCOTT was alot of fun. Gave my camera to a lady there to take our pictures and like to never got my camera back hehe...

Roy Ken

I hope you have more to see than just the GC. It's truly grand but unless you want to do some hiking or horseback riding to the bottom it won't be worth the trip.
The South Rim is worth a few hours (average time for tourists is 3 hours) and a couple of days at the North Rim to catch the Ranger talks. Now if you are hikers the above is not pertinent.
I think you can spend more useful time at Glacier and Grand Tetons...

Where you planning on turning east at Lone Pine and heading into the heat of Death Valley? There is a reason it is called that, 130 was a record heat in the summer, I would avoid it. Yes it is longer to drive all the way south on highway 395 to highway 58, then east to I40 and take that directly to Williams AZ, just south of Grand Canyon.

At Grand Canyon, the only nearby full hookup sites will be the trailer village just outside the canyon. At around 6,500' elevation, it should not be "really" hot, but expect the 70's at night. Check weather.com within 10 days for exact temps to expect. In May, you can check "Monthly Weather" and then click "Next month" to get the averages of June. I would rather stay without hookups inside the park, or dry camp in the forest south of the National Park (no dry camping within the park is allowed, but feel free in the Forest. Problems is the boundary is not well marked.

Within the park, there are several good campgrounds, with great views within a few hundred yards of the RV parking area. Take a bike, as walking around at the higher elevations might be difficult for most that live near sea level, you probably are used to the higher elevations and it can take your breath away!

Have a great trip.

One of my favorite stops while taking interstate 40 is to spend the last night at Laughlin NV. Taking the route south of town to I40 is not much longer than staying on I 40. The road from Kingman to Laughlin is STEEP so select a lower gear when going down the 7% grade, I think it is about 5 miles long. It was only about a 6 hour drive from my home in Orange County CA. Riverside had great buffett for a reasonable cost, and would send out a van to pick up the passengers if you requested one. The full hookup campground has 30 and 50 amp plugs at each site, has great showers, and you will need the A/C that time of year. Elevation is around 950'.

Fred.

Hi,

How large is your RV? Lone Pine's Whitney Portal is way to small for my 30' motorhome, and I am great at parking it into a 25' only site, but that campground is trying while driving my Honda CRV through it. The other campground closer to 395 is much longer sites, and easy to park my 30' motorhome. Many sites to pick from but no hookups. In June you might need the A/C in that area at night. Just a few dozen miles further north, near Mammoth Mountain, at a much higher elevation, the nights will be cool, and might need the furnace? June Lake, and the "Loop" of lakes near there have several camping areas. I think there might be a free boondocking area near Mono Lake, or perhaps Manzanita internment camp (from 1942 to 1944 where they kept Japanese (well Americans who had the bad luck of looking like they came from Japan) during the early days of WW2. There are also a couple of campgrounds near highway 395, along highway 120. 120 is really steep, so don't take it to far towards Yosemite (it is closed in winter due to the 9,500' elevation and typical 120" of snow that they get each winter). I googled Mono Lake CA Camping and got several results. All should be fairly full that time of year, it is quiet popular. Normally you can also check google maps for "Terrain" and find the elevation of whatever area you are looking in the Map mode.

Whatever you decide on, make SURE that you get fuel in Nevada, before going into CA. Prices south of Carson City get higher after crossing over into CA, and Bishop was about $1.20 higher than Carson City when I drove down there in 2006. After Bishop, it gets lower price in Lone Pine, and even better towards interstate 15 and highway 58. So do not top off the tanks in that area.

I also found that Reno was about 80 cents a gallon less than Susanville CA. I think that Susanville was the first place I ever saw $4.50 a gallon gas.

Have a great trip!

Fred.

The route you are travelling basically has a few distantly spaced cities with a lot of emptiness in between. Fortunately there are some great state parks filling those empty gaps. The answer to your question is yes there are campgrounds along your route but not knowing how far you are travelling per day makes it hard to suggest places. Try Campgroundviews.com to help you find places to stay.