Cold Springs Campground (CA)

Rangers Mary and Shannon at Mineral King are awesome!

Beautiful and secluded, glad I didn’t have problems with the marmots.

Beautiful

Love Cold Springs campground and so will you!

Great campground. I understand that putting a 'reserved' sign on every site is easier, as if to say don't stop if you didn't reserve a site, but no one checks reservations, and I suspect that people will get to know that all sites unoccupied are free, till just before the next ranger visit.

We visited on June 14, and enjoyed the remoteness of the campground and the launching point for backpacking trips. We even saw a marmot in the campground so made sure to tarp our car at night. However, I was shocked to learn that no potable water was available and campers were expected to have brought their own water or to purify their drinking water. The water spigots flowed water, but were all marked as NON-POTABLE. This campground is labelled as "Potable Water - Seasonal", which usually indicates the water is turned off in the winter. I would never expect to bring my own water when car-camping. I'm not sure if there was a short-term reason for this, but it was not communicated to us in advance. Thankfully we brought backcountry gear including a water purifier.

Also, for reference, if you need services, there is a small shop at the Silver City Resort 2.5 miles down the road.

If you are not obsessed with the main attractions in the Sequoia national park, it is a wonderful place to be! It is a bit secluded (~1.5 hr drive through mountains) from the park's main entrance, so we decided to explore near the campground without getting into the main park. It was beautiful and many great hiking trails around. We came when marmots are very active (we saw several throughout the camp including one near the campground). Thankfully, a ranger told us about a place where free tarps are collected from the previous visitors. There were several available when we got there, but it is first come first serve, so you may want to check it first. There was no sink or shower, but the restroom itself was very clean and well-maintained.

Definitely, wouldn’t recommend it. It’s about 1 and 1/2 hours away from Sequoia entrance, gas or any other convenience stores. No service, which is fine but the actual campground was okay.

Nice stream/river that goes through it but the distance to get through it. I feel bad for all my passengers, most of them got motion sickness the whole ride there and back and there and back.

You have to go 15 miles to the campground then back again if you want to go into Sequoia or back to town.

Personally, both worth it. Book a campground in Sequoia. I camp a lot and I wouldn’t recommend this campground unless you want to stay at the campground the whole trip and don’t mind the 1 and 1/2 drive from there (15 miles going on the side of the mountain) back and forth.

I’d suggest to choose a better campsite to enjoy Sequoia much better. Third time to Sequoia and I definitely wouldn’t be back at this campsite. 1/3 the way up to it is gravel, 1/3 is dirt with major holes, dips and etc. and the other 1/3 is nice pavement lol

No service. No convenience stores. No camp host. No Redwood trees. Those are more deep in Sequoia.

This is more of a INFORMATION review. Not a ranting review. If I would of know this, I wouldn’t have picked this campground. Too much time wasted basically driving to and from.

Efficient management, reasonably clean toilets, quiet, great access to hiking, not to big. Great walk in sites.

Beautiful little campground.