Fremont Campground

This is a lovely little campground, perfect COVID getaway. It was uncrowded and quiet. There were quite a few yellow jackets, luckily we brought a trap and set it up on a tree close to our table. There didn't seem to be many mosquitos or other annoying bugs. The Santa Ynez river was dry but we found a spring pond just opposite the Paradise Campground, which was a nice afternoon excursion. We got firewood at El Rancho Market right off highway 246 on the way up to the campground.

Campground was not RV friendly. There were a lot of bugs biting constantly. There was no hiking or recreation activities within walking distance. campground was very small and close to the road. The weekend we went was over 110 deg, we spent most of our time inside our RV in the ac, and ended up leaving early and forfeiting the fee for the second day.

I chose this site specifically because it was rated as fully shaded. However, I was disappointed to find that our site #8 was completely in the sun. Sure there were trees but the site was fully exposed. luckily for us, we were able to hide behind a tree trunk which was creating a 2-3’ of shade. We had to place EVERYTHING at the base of this tree to help keep cool. We kept moving our tent based on this trees shade change throughout the day. The weather did not help at 105 degrees! To keep cool, we went to red rock pools and then just drove around with the AC on. It was so hot even the bugs waited until sundown to come out. Bugs were relentless at sundown and sunrise and we came home with a spider infestation in our car!
The pit toilets were full and smelled horrible due to the heat. We wore our masks whenever we had to use them. Which helped a bit.
Also, there were two large parties during our stay. I mean, PARTIES of many college kids. Full with music blasting and loud sing alongs until 4am. I know it’s been tough with Covid and people are looking for any way to socialize safely, but not sure why the quite hours didn’t apply. Very inconsiderate other campers.
Get your firewood and ice at the last store in SB. It’s closer then the Rancho market which is about 15 miles away. Firewood at camp is $10 but it’s $7 at the liquor store.
Overall, not a terrible experience, but I would definitely keep an eye on the weather and avoid the heat since it’s minimal shade and the grass shown in pictures is fully dry.

Staff was awesome. Site 10 was not level and the whole campground was dusty.

Nice small campground at the edge of the National forest. Quiet and because of the large mature trees, the sites were large but no brush to help separate from the other camp sites. There is a hiking trail at the back of the campground that parallels Paradise road and leads to another campground. Vault Toilets is a the only disappointment.

Campsite #2, November 26-28.

This campsite was adjacent to parking, other campsites are not and require a short walk. #2 had enough flat ground to pitch 1, maybe 2 tents. There was plenty of shade. The fire pit, grill, and picnic table were well located on the site. Though recreation.gov depicts the site being further from the road, it is in fact DIRECTLY adjacent to the main road. I didn't find this to be a problem as it placed us further away from other campers, the vehicle traffic was lite to non-existent at night, and had a nice view of the mountains. The campground in general had toilets (though it had porta pottys during my stay and the permanent restrooms were closed). There was potable water available throughout the campground. I didn't have many interactions with the hosts, but they seemed pleasant enough. Overall, I enjoyed my stay. It's a simple campground but a good option if you want to be close to Santa Barbra or Lake Cachuma.

Good, large campground. A little close to the road, but road noise was not a problem. Great hikes further in the forest such as Red Rocks trail.

The bathrooms were locked and we had to use the porta potty. That should be made VERY CLEAR on the website at the time of reservation.
No host was on location to greet us or to sell firewood. We had to find a campground nearby to find firewood.

Bugs and squirrels own this campground, not to mention the mouse that hitched a ride in my trailer and continues to elude capture. Not a trailer friendly campground. If you want to have water in your trailer you need to truck it up that mountain yourself and hope your truck can pull all of that water, or bring a 5 gallon water jug and make many trips. While not the campgrounds fault, the excessive heat has killed everything. Hopes of a campfire faded upon arrival as it was evident that one small ember could have been catastrophic. Spent most of the afternoon and evening inside the trailer with the air conditioner running due to the unbearable heat. Left early and found cooler options on the Ventura coast. Campground was gorgeous in March when we checked it out, but according to the staff- they aren’t open for camping in March. Lake Cachuma is close by, and we did enjoy some time kayaking there. Cachuma offers various camping options with hookups and activities on the lake. Will not be going back to Fremont Campground- ever.

The camp host our wonderful. There are two campsites there and the first one I was booked in, The plumbing and electrical were down. So the camp host said that I could take one of the free campsites in the second lot which had toilets and some water. The water wasn’t potable which next time I would want that. Very good deal considering you’re close to everything in Santa Barbara. Pretty trees and mountains. However it’s not an ocean camping site you do have to drive towards the ocean. There is a lake nearby however or maybe it’s a swimming hole?