Hartley Springs Campground

This campground is beautiful and peaceful on the week days. Plenty of large spaces for any size rig with picnic tables, fire pit and bear box. Nice trails to go for walks and close enough to Yosemite. The road in was bumpy but still very accessible for our 30 foot class A.

And then the weekend happened… every spot was PACKED with multiple trailers and large families with ATVs and OHVs playing loud music and driving in circles around us ALL Day with their loud machines. (And when I say all day, that’s not an exaggeration and I really mean all day. These kids drove in the same circle which happened to be directly around our spot, #13.)

Really disappointing when you come into nature for some peace and quiet and all you can hear is other people’s noise. Not for us but if you have an OHV and like ruining other people’s peace, then you’ll fit in just fine.

Had a couple bars of Verizon and T-mobile.

Had a great stay here Oct 17. Access was manageable in Suv, plenty of space and the campsites were well spread out. We appreciated the bear box (but someone before us left their trash in it!) fire pits but restrictions are in place right now. It is only a half hour from the Saddlebag Lake hiking are where we spent the next day before heading into Yosemite

Great spot in the woods. The elevation is high - just over 8,000 ft. There are several ATV's, but everyone was quiet and respectful. There are 25 very large spots. I saw several people sharing one spot together. Not many people here at the end of September 2019. Super close to Yosemite National Park and the Inyo National Forest. Drive carefully - it's on a dirt road.
See the campsite here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1MMSlsd9rg&feature=youtu.be

This campground is huge for it being so far out there!

Nice spaces for rigs/groups of all sizes. The Access road is a little rough coming in, some washboards and slightly steep hills, but doable just take it slowly.

Beautiful big trees, not a lot of privacy but spacious sites so didn’t feel as crowded as it actually was. There are at least a hundred sites here—very popular with toy haulers and families so keep that in kind if you’re looking for more of a rustic car camping experience.

Perfect stopover place if you have a bike or car or atv to go explore some of the nearby springs or hiking trails. Pit toilets, no other facilities so be sure you have water etc.

Easy access up wide and well maintained dirt roads with a directional sign at the one major intersection. There was one corner, just before arriving at the campground itself, that had lots of loose sand and could bog down someone not prepared for it. I brought a little 19' trailer but there were plenty of big 5th wheels that made it in there too.

All the campsites were full when I arrived on Sunday afternoon (and you are required to stay in a numbered campsite, no creating your own) but I got lucky and snagged a spot from somebody who was about to leave. I'm not sure if it's this crowded all the time but I was there the Sunday and Monday before 4th of July (which fell on a Wednesday).

There were a lot of ATVs, UTV, and dirt bikes ripping around, a guy with a potato cannon, and somebody launching model rockets. There is no campground host to keep things under control so it's pretty much a free-for-all. If you're looking for peace and quiet you might want to head somewhere more remote, or at least don't come the week of 4th of July.

All in all, this is a great spot to establish a basecamp if you want to explore the Mono Lake area or head into the eastern part of Yosemite NP but can't get a reservation in there.