Arroyo Seco

I stayed on the primitive camping side and I enjoyed it. The non primitive side was definitely more crowded and the people were louder than I would’ve liked. There were vaulted toilets (2) and potable water nearby. The site had a fire pit, a charcoal grill, a picnic table, and some logs you could sit on if you didn’t have a chair. The office offers firewood and ice(a bit pricey but nice because there aren’t stores anywhere). The camp host isn’t the friendliest, but nothing significant occurred. I would come back to this location in the future. I came to the area to go to Pinnacles National Park and this was just about 40 minutes away from the West Entrance. I’d recommend the location if you want to camp.

Beautiful! Great campground. Excellent hiking.

The campground was comfortable and had lovely sites. The river was fantastic - so beautiful! I loved the trails as well.

My biggest disappointment had to do with the reservation system. We planned on staying through the weekend and weren’t able to reserve weekend days as the system showed them as first come first serve. Once we were there, we found out this was a glitch - those days actually need to be reserved - and we had to leave early. Hope this gets sorted out!

This is the best Forest Service campground I’ve ever stayed. It is well designed and carefully maintained. I’ll want to return again and again.

Very nice campground in a very picturesque setting. The bathrooms were good, the showers were okay. Only one out of the two in each building had hot water.

I really enjoyed this campsite overall. It’s is broken into two sections: the “modern” and the “primitive”. Where the modern has plumbing (regular bathrooms and showers) and the primate has the port-a-potty type toilets (but does have Spigots for water). I stayed in the primitive site and was glad I did. It was quieter and less crowded, and still a short drive from the showers which wasn’t a big deal.

It is a beautiful location, but There is only one hike. So if you’re coming for a long hiking trip it is probably not for you. I came mid-April and the weather was beautiful. I imagine it can get pretty hot, but the sites themselves are generally very shady under a lot of trees.

Arroyo Seco Campground was clean and well run. Because I took 2 days to bicycle there, and hiked for 3 days I was grateful for the showers. The day use swimming area is also a great way to keep cool. There is a lot of poison oak along the back country trials but it's relatively easy to avoid along the 4 -5 mile Cawatre trail and Santa Lucia trail loop out of the campground. During my first night in the main campground things quieted down by about 10:00 pm but my second night in the primitive campground was very noisy until about 3:00 am. Most people know better than to party 'till 3 at a public campground. I'm sure my experience was a rare exception.

Beautiful camp site. Clean facilities. Very safe - lots of kids cycling about everywhere.

Some great hikes/bike rides right from the camp site.

No cell or Wifi (this is a plus for me).

Firewood available on site - $10 for about 2 hours of burning (we like big fires).

Plenty of water spigots around site, and washing up facilities (with hot water) for plates at the loos.

Definitely returning.

Just a lovely quiet scene with clean bathrooms. couldn't ask for more.

The space was quiet and well maintained and organized, and the bathrooms we're impressive: clean, fully stocked, always available. We had a great time and will definitely camp there again!