Eshom Campground

The drive in to this campground takes nerves of steel if you are towing. Coming from Highway 245, to Hogback Road to Whitaker; Hogback and Whitaker are barely two car widths thick. Barely. And very few places to pull over. Hogback, in particular has a lot of narrow, blind curves and, on my way in, a semi-truck full of trees met me at an apex of one such curve. It was stressful and, I think, the campground is not worth the stress.

The creek is barely running, the bugs abound in the evening. The host was MIA and my site was double-booked. The bathrooms are vault toilets and the one near site #22 was disgusting and missing toilet paper. Very little Verizon service. Mostly shaded sites.

The one nice thing is the easy access to multiple Forest Service roads which are rarely traveled and make for nice hikes if you don't want to get back in your car.

Please be informed that Eshom Campground is really just above 5000 feet in elevation. There is no Poison Ivy or Poison Oak either. There are bushes with leaves that look like it, but believe me there these Ivy's are not found within all of the campground proper! Drinkable water is provided on all loops at various locations. And most important....If you want the best directions, look for "Hartland" (not heartland) and follow the Eshom Campground signs. I have a strict curfue of 10 pm. No loud parties after 10 period. Things to bring...Telescopes, Bicycles, no loud radios please! Camphost Steve

Yeah it's a little difficult to get to, but that's part of the adventure and you do get to see a part of the forest that very few do. The campground is set in a forest of large pine tree's with a small creek running down one side. There is a crescent shaped meadow which is great for star gazing at night but watch out for the cow patties left by the free range cattle that roam the meadow and roads near the campground. Sites are somewhat close to each other but far enough apart for privacy. Other than the camp host there was only one other family on our loop. They were great neighbors so we had a very quite stay. The gem of our stay was the camp host Steve. He met us and filled us in on all the important things you need to know and some local stories and names of the wildlife that visit from time to time i.e. Fred the bear, but gave us our privacy to enjoy the campground. And yes his bathrooms are the cleanest you can imagine. Without a doubt one of the best campgrounds i have ever had the pleasure of visiting. Will use again if anywhere close to the area. Visited 7/18/17 Site 3

Eshom Campground is a secluded little gem. It takes a little bit of work to get to - narrow one lane road with a lot of switchbacks - but the reward is worth it.

We stayed at site 6 on the "single" side vs. the "group" side and would pick the same site again. It was pretty private, spacious and close to the restroom. The camp host, Steve, greeted us on our second day (we arrived around 9pm the first day) and made sure we knew all the rules about noise, fire, and food storage (this is bear country!). He also gave us some great tips about nearby hikes, which he notated with a ribbons system. There is a creek that runs through the campground and there are two waterfalls right now. The restrooms are very clean as he mops them 2-3 times a day. Steve takes a lot of pride in his campground and it shows. Also, there is drinkable water! The only thing you really need to be wary of is poison ivy, which mostly just lines the roads.

This campground is in the Sequoia National Forest, not the National Park. The forest allows dogs on trails which is why we chose that over the park. We went over Memorial Day weekend and would honestly not even know it was a holiday weekend because of how quiet it was. On our last day, Steve said he had 7 no shows the night before. Everyone is very respectful and we only saw a handful of people walking to the trails nearby us during our 2 night stay.

We had Verizon 3G service and GPS worked all the way up the mountain. As I mentioned before, there are about 30 miles of switchbacks on a one lane road so RVs or tows may have a difficult time. I believe the Eshom Campground reservation site mentions nothing longer than 25 feet. We camped in our Vanagon and made it up the mountain okay, albeit very slowly :)

We are looking forward to returning!