Bear Valley Campground

What a find! After a long day of driving to circumvent the Gold and Hog fires, I was getting desperate to find a place to land. Camp grounds off Hwy 89S were either full or closed due to Covid19 restraints. Around 7:30pm, I see a sign pointing up a fairly well maintained dirt road towards Bear Valley Campground, 6 miles. It is literally 6 miles down a single lane (with occasionally wider areas as a sort of pull out) dirt/gravel road with many steep slopes going up or down and thick forested areas on either side of you. Beautiful views! I was in a 2 wheel drive, 19 ft. Ford Transit camper van which handled the road just fine - be mindful of large rocks to navigate around though so go slow. I'll admit, never having taken off down a totally unknown dirt road was unnerving and gutsy - especially without any cell service - but I was exhausted and in need for just a place to walk my dog and sleep for the night. To my surprise, at the end of the 6 miles (NO place to turn around the further in you got but there were mile markers every half mile), there was a lovely campground with a vault toilet (very clean) and water (although there was a warning to boil it before drinking). At the campground (first come, first served and FREE), there were more well graded roads and an area just for OHV riders and lots of signage. If you love off roading, jeeping, camping, hiking....this is a great area for that. Another camper told me that rangers (national forest lands) made daily visits. The sites were well spaced - each with a fire ring, bear box, and heavy picnic table. It was full the night I arrived (on a Saturday) but everyone vacated the next morning, leaving the campground very tidy. I would NOT recommend a Class A or clunky Class C on that road nor any really long trailers. 2 wheel drive cars with decent clearance for tent camping will do fine. No 4WD necessary but be mindful of deep and slippery mud if it rains a lot. Bring plenty of water - I wouldn't trust the source that is there.

So this is 6 miles off 89. The road in is packed dirt with one spot of gravel. Though there were a lot of pot holes, it was easy to navigate around. (There was a huge motorhome at the camp ground).

There are about 6 spots, 4 of which were flat. There is a restroom, but did not check it out. No water or trash. And NO cell service.

Everyone was respectful and quiet. So it was a wonderful stay. I was worried as it was a Friday and there was a group of off road motor bikes. But they were quiet right after dinner time.

Definitely would stay here again.