Coldwater Campground

This is a great campground if you want to park and hike on stellar hikes right from camp. Our site was located at the very end of the campground right next to the trail heads. Several hikes were at our finger tips. The only downfall is that the road is steep and narrow getting in. Most sites are hilly, however the upper ones are mostly flat. Good fishing and kayaking is a very short drive away. No cell or satellite service.

This was a stop over on the way up to Tahoe. Because of the wet winter the bugs were out in force. But that didn't keep us from enjoying ourselves. We hiked around Lake Mary a couple times. We also hiked up to Emerald Lake, Skelton Lake and Arrowhead Lake. Even having the site closest to the entrance/exit we found the site quiet. Bathrooms were kept clean too during our stay. We really found the area beautiful and will be back, hopefully when the mosquitoes are gone.

Located between 2 creeks and surrounded by multiple lakes. Close access to bike path. Most sites are short of coming with RV or trailer and may require extra work with leveling but so so worth of the experience. We had a bear passing by our site almost every night - we had all good stored away so it didn’t bother us. Huge shout out to camp hosts - Jenna and Matt - they are the most genuine and personable hosts I’ve ever experienced. They made us feel welcomed , informed and we did enjoy occasional chats with them. Bathrooms super clean. No close dump or water filling station ( closest in town of Mammoth) but it wasn’t a problem during 6 days stay.

Managed to find 2 nights on recreation.gov for this location. Picture of site 29 was not accurate. The parking spot was terribly sloped and impossible to level on. Neighbors in site 30 were leaving as they had bears right in their camp, while they were sitting at the picnic table during the day! At night they forgot to lock their RV doors snd the bear opened the door! Needless to say with kids they were freaked out. Yet, again, we observed they were leaving coolers snd boxes out all over the place.

They left so we took their site! It’s was lovely right by the creek. Lots of room and we could level the van easily. We went for a bike ride - excellent trails and lots of places yo hang around Lake Mary. We had left a few windows open on the van, when we returned later that afternoon we saw muddy bear paws up the side of the van to the small open window!! No scratches and the screen had nose snot on it, but clearly it was a very bold bear.

Host says there are 3 bears in the area, one with a cub!! Nothing scares them away. You have to leave if they come into your camp.

Lovely place, but if your not comfortable with bears roaming around don’t come here. We loved it and kept a very clean site. Hubby really wanted to see the bear in our camp, but none showed up…. Much better options on other camps full of boxes and coolers… just sitting out all day and night. People are just stupid and while they say you can gets ticket NO ONE is ticketing any of these people.

Crammed in sites, overpriced for the facilities (water and toilet), you're basically looking at everyone else's campsites around you, maybe 5metres to neighbours in all directions. Located close to the ducks pass trailhead which is nice but we highly recommend staying at Owens river dispersed camping just north of Mammoth lakes instead for free and more privacy :)

Quite crowded. If you want to hit up the local trailheads, this is well located. But other than that, you are basically dry camping (no dump station, no fresh water for your rig) and laying 30 bucks a night to listen to your neighbors chat, and watch them set up their tents, etc.

There is far more traffic than you might expect because there is day use parking for many trailheads at the back of the campground.

I suppose if you need a reservation in order to feel secure, it’s not a bad option. The bathrooms are well maintained. The hosts are pleasant. And it’s cool to see giant bears rummage through campsites as long as it’s not yours?

Too many trees for solar panels, or your satellite dish, but not enough trees for shade in the hot weather, so bring a generator for when you need to charge your batteries. The ATT signal is pretty decent in most of the campground.