Chuchupate Campground

I came into this campground at dusk and the road is single lane the majority of the way. The road is also in need or repair and definitely has some large potholes on the way in. Since I came in at dusk I didn’t get a chance to literally see the campground since I left early the next day but the spots are small and my truck was the only room for site 1. Beyond that the campground has several pit toilets and I enjoyed myself. There is a lot of bushes and trees and the sites seem to have some privacy from another. Would definitely camp here again.

Off the typical path of SoCal camping, Chuchupate was really great!

While everyone is packed like sardines into the Angeles National Forest, camping in the Los Padres National Forest is open and available. Out of the 30 or so camping spots there were only 4 (including us) that were taken. That meant that we couldn't see any neighbor campers or hear them. It felt like we had the place to ourselves.

The road into the campground is a bit rough (which is why I only gave 4 stars for access) and the sites are limited to a maximum of 24' RV's or trailers due to a couple of tight turns on the road into the campground. We didn't have any problem towing our 23' Wildwood (4400lb) travel trailer (just go slow when the road is rough). Four wheel drive is not needed and passenger cars can easily make it into the campground, just slow down when its rough.

The sites were clean and well maintained. Some sites have more tree shade than others (we had a mostly shaded site which was fantastic). The campground and surrounding area felt very safe. There isn't any camp host onsite but he came by in a truck a couple of times a day.

We did get one bar cell 4g coverage on T-Mobile which allowed us to surf the net (a bit slower than normal but usable). We had no Verizon coverage.

Overall, we loved it here because it was nice, clean, peaceful and quiet.

Not for me. No cell service! This is a primitive campground with vault toilets, picnic tables and fire rings. There is no camp host, no water and no cell service! As a solo female traveler I won’t stay anywhere without enough cell service to make a text or phone call in emergencies. Another negative was that the 2 mile road up to this campground was extremely rough! Very deep potholes and bumps! There was no camp host but a Ranger must come by because I did see certain sites had been reserved.

This was our second time here - we like the lower loop (North loop - I say lower as it you come to them first and they are a bit lower in elevation) and now that sites can be reserved it's a bit of peace of mind driving up the hill, knowing that we had a site reserved. The sites 23, 25 & 27 are suitable for RVs and smaller trailers. It is a narrow single track road going up the hill, so be prepared for that. Totally dry camping - no water or trash services, so please pack out. There are vault toilets and a ranger drives through. Great sunsets, nice trees and stars at night!