Barton Flats Campground

A mid-week, mid-May visit and only a few sites were occupied, but the campground was fully reserved for the weekend. The campground info says “No first come first served sites”. Sites which are not reserved are available on a day by day basis for walk ins. Your next night in the site depends on whether someone else reserves it. We paid half price with our America the Beautiful pass.

As others have noted the campground is located in a beautiful pine/cedar forest, spacious sites, some road noise but it quiets down at night. Our driveway was perfectly level which was great. Well maintained. No complaints. The San Gorgonio campground is a short hike away and looked equally nice.

Fun things to do: hike to Jenks Lake (4 mi round trip from campground), Big Bear is half an hour away by car, the Santa Ana River (more like a stream up here) is a short drive.

We hiked a small section of the Santa Ana River Trail which goes along the rim of the valley overlooking the Santa Ana River. You can access the trail via a short spur which takes off from site 11 in the campground. Once you’re on the trail, head east (right). Within a mile you’ll see a trail leading back up the hill to San Gorgonio Campground. From San G., it’s a quick hike back to Barton Flats. About 2 miles total.

This campground was very clean peaceful during the mid-week. The campsites are large nicely spaced apart. There are water spigots and flush toilets. The showers are not open until June. A cool breeze comes up from below about mid-day. Some campsites are shady and others are sunny. Overall, this is one of the nicest campgrounds that we have stayed in.

One of the best experience I’ve had in my 50 years as a campers. We had four different sites to accommodate our children, grandchildren and friends. Everyone had a great time but what made this campground one of the best places I’ve stayed at was the camp hosts Elsie and Layne. They were there welcoming us with smiles and there to help us with whatever we needed. Left there feeling like we had 2 new friends.

This is a great campground. We camped at the end of October and weather was clear, sunny and in the high 60s during the day and down into the 40s at night.

The sites are big and fairly level with huge trees all around.

There are bear boxes at each site so make sure you’re storing your food correctly so you don’t have any unexpected nighttime visitors.

Cell service is awesome with Verizon and never had any access problems.

We had a great time here at Barton Flats. The campground was full while we were there, but didn't seem crowded. Campsites are nicely spaced on the outside of the loops offering good privacy and distance. RV friendly, but bigger rigs will have to select their site carefully. Road noise from Hwy 38 was not intrusive, but could be heard during the day if you're near the front of the campground like we were. Being city folk, it didn't bother us and certainly wasn't a problem at night. This is a great location roughly 35 minutes south of Big Bear Lake and >10 minutes from Jenks Lake. If you're filling up your RV, be sure to stop in at the dump station for clean water before heading into the campground loops. Water spigots are throughout, but they are pumps so it's easier to fill at the designated station. Didn't check out the bathrooms as we wanted to remain self contained during COVID. AT&T cell service was decent. We will visit again!