Fremont Campground

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

The online map of the campsites is not accurate at all when making reservations. Lots of bugs until you smoke them out with a fire. The water faucet by the toilets was the only one that worked. Gross pit toilets, but overall a nice place to camp.

The camp host sold my reserved site to someone else. I was given excuses and no apology. Instead of helping me, the host sent me to find her supervisor a couple of campgrounds down the road. The supervisor gave options of open sites for the evening at the original campground, but I would have to move my equipment the next day.

Nice and shaded. But the best part was the swimming holes with their clean and refreshing water.

The campground is very nice. The only drawbacks: Very close to a main road and an insane amount of small nagging flies, but that’s nature!