Pine Creek Road Dispersed Camping
Cleveland National Forest
Write a Review Pine Creek Road Mount Laguna, CA 91948 619-445-6235 858-673-6180 Official WebsiteGPS: 32.9051, -116.4745
Overview of Pine Creek Road Dispersed Camping
Accessibility is not guaranteed, always scout ahead before driving down dirt roads. Learn more: Boondocking 101*
Last Price Paid: $0
Reported by Scott on 4/17/2024
Longest RV Reported: 28 feet (Travel Trailer)
Reported by Beerboy on 11/21/2021
Pad Type dirt
Elevation 5,347 ft / 1,629 m
Max Stay 14
Tent Camping Yes
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Q&A - Ask the Community about Pine Creek Road Dispersed Camping
To ask questions of the owner or manager please contact the campground directly. 619-445-6235
Reviews of Pine Creek Road Dispersed Camping 8 people have reviewed this location.
Cell Phone Coverage
Confirmed by 5 Users
Last reported 4/17/2024
Confirmed by 2 Users
Last reported 11/21/2021
Confirmed by 2 Users
Last reported 11/13/2022
“Pretty bad”
Reviewed 4/17/2024
| Nightly rate: | FREE! |
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| Days stayed: | 2 |
Overall Rating
The road in is partially paved, but barely wide enough for my RoadTrek Van to pass between and under trees. The road is full of potholes. DEEP potholes. The spot that the pin leads to is uninhabitable in a van. It is small, steep and uneven. I took a chance and went farther up the road. I found a somewhat level turnout where I stayed, ... more
The road in is partially paved, but barely wide enough for my RoadTrek Van to pass between and under trees. The road is full of potholes. DEEP potholes. The spot that the pin leads to is uninhabitable in a van. It is small, steep and uneven. I took a chance and went farther up the road. I found a somewhat level turnout where I stayed, only because I was too stressed out from driving that horrible 4 mile road to turn around and navigate it back into town. Had I come across a vehicle driving in the opposite direction, it would have been bad. There is no place to pull off, few places to turn around, and definitely would not be easy for anyone to back up to let someone else pass.
Scenery is beautiful. OK cell signal (Verizon). Good spot for a bike ride. If you are camping, find a better spot!
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Verizon 4G
This review is the opinion of a Campendium member and not of Campendium.com
“Pretty and interesting area”
Reviewed 11/13/2022
| Nightly rate: | FREE! |
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Overall Rating
Rough paved road on both sides, road in from sunrise highway is the smoothest. The site at the pin was ok nothing spectacular but if you keep driving there are plenty of pullouts with better views and decent cell reception farther down the road. Farther down the road I would almost describe it as a desert forest, desert vegetation with... more
Rough paved road on both sides, road in from sunrise highway is the smoothest. The site at the pin was ok nothing spectacular but if you keep driving there are plenty of pullouts with better views and decent cell reception farther down the road. Farther down the road I would almost describe it as a desert forest, desert vegetation with your typical big forest trees.
I’ll be back it’s on the list!
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T-Mobile 4G
wild_goose would stay here again
This review is the opinion of a Campendium member and not of Campendium.com
“Great Trail Access”
Reviewed 11/21/2021
| Nightly rate: | FREE! |
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| Days stayed: | 5 |
| RV Length: | 28' (Travel Trailer) |
Overall Rating
Pine Creek Road is paved, but that doesn't mean any rig can make it in here. It's a winding one lane with potholes, some substantial grade, and has some overhanging trees. We made it back to the first campsite with a 28-foot trailer but would not have wanted to go further. Not an issue with a van or pickup camper, but it gets a bit ... more
Pine Creek Road is paved, but that doesn't mean any rig can make it in here. It's a winding one lane with potholes, some substantial grade, and has some overhanging trees. We made it back to the first campsite with a 28-foot trailer but would not have wanted to go further. Not an issue with a van or pickup camper, but it gets a bit tighter after the first 1.5 miles. I also would be careful taking anything over about 11 feet tall here because of the low hanging branches.
That said, we really enjoyed our time back here. The area is traversed by mountain bike/hiking trails that connect into all sorts of loops. It's quiet and the elevation keeps it cool. It can get windy because you are near the top of the ridge. The trails did get a lot of mountain bikers on the weekend, but they mostly parked along the highway, so we just saw them on the trails.
If you find you need drinking water, the nearby Penny Pines trailhead on the highway has a faucet.
I would note that mobile coverage seems to improve as you get farther down the road towards Pine Valley and I-8. At the first campsite you'll probably want a booster to get decent throughput. It helped us. Of course it appears the Verizon tower is one direction and the AT&T tower is another.
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AT&T 4G
Verizon 4G
Beerboy would stay here again
This review is the opinion of a Campendium member and not of Campendium.com
“Great spot...not reception”
Reviewed 6/10/2021
| Nightly rate: | FREE! |
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| Days stayed: | 0 |
Overall Rating
I was so interested in getting to this place, reviews were good!...but unfortunately VZ reception is one little bar, good enough for call but no way to work from here, I’d have loved to stay but need to work
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Verizon 4G
This review is the opinion of a Campendium member and not of Campendium.com
“AT&T 10mb - AMAZING CAMPING”
Reviewed 3/7/2021
| Nightly rate: | FREE! |
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| Days stayed: | 3 |
| Site Number: | 0 |
Overall Rating
We stayed here for 3 nights with our 32 foot Class A and just took the windy and steep rode slow. We are fulltime boondocks and this was a great weekend getaway for us after Borrego Springs. We stayed around 2.5 miles back from the main road and had a HUGE spot all to ourselves. We could have easily fit another camper or two. The in... more
We stayed here for 3 nights with our 32 foot Class A and just took the windy and steep rode slow. We are fulltime boondocks and this was a great weekend getaway for us after Borrego Springs.
We stayed around 2.5 miles back from the main road and had a HUGE spot all to ourselves. We could have easily fit another camper or two. The internet was around 10mb for both Verizon and AT&T with our booster.
We wanted to stay here for an entire week but the upload speed was almost 0 so we were not able to work here. If you dont require fast internet you can for sure work from here.
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AT&T 4G
Verizon 4G
T-Mobile 4G
WanderusLiving.com would stay here again
This review is the opinion of a Campendium member and not of Campendium.com
“Closed Due to Pandemic”
Reviewed 12/7/2020
| Nightly rate: | FREE! |
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| Days stayed: | 0 |
| Site Number: | NA |
Overall Rating
The National Forest (NF) in Cleveland NF has closed campgrounds and dispersed camping due to the pandemic. I drove 1 mile down this road and the first 25-50’ of this paved road is good but then there’s several sections of large broken/missing sections of asphalt. The road becomes VERY narrow and a small portion has large boulders p... more
The National Forest (NF) in Cleveland NF has closed campgrounds and dispersed camping due to the pandemic.
I drove 1 mile down this road and the first 25-50’ of this paved road is good but then there’s several sections of large broken/missing sections of asphalt. The road becomes VERY narrow and a small portion has large boulders placed on both sides of the road making a turn around impossible except for small vehicles.
I own a campervan. I wouldn’t recommend mid to large RVs or tow-behinds to come down this road at least past where it narrows.
Also, I didn’t see many places to camp on this road which becomes up/down a lot on the narrow portion.
I found an opening near the 1 mile mark to turn around so I did and went back out.
I had ATT cell reception on and off.
There are multiple mountain bike trails that cross this road so look out for bikers.
I would suggest this dispersed camping is for tent campers.
This review is the opinion of a Campendium member and not of Campendium.com
“Nice get away for some free camping”
Reviewed 8/23/2017
| Nightly rate: | FREE! |
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| Days stayed: | 3 |
Overall Rating
I was itching to get away for the weekend and knew this road existed and you could camp but I was quick to find out that you needed a permit to camp. Do not let this set you back from coming here! The permit process is incredibly easy the number is (619) 445-6235 for the ranger station and as long as you have the info they are looking ... more
I was itching to get away for the weekend and knew this road existed and you could camp but I was quick to find out that you needed a permit to camp. Do not let this set you back from coming here! The permit process is incredibly easy the number is (619) 445-6235 for the ranger station and as long as you have the info they are looking for they will email you the permit! Some sites are littered with trash, please don't add to it. No potable water or hookups but a nice quiet get away!
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Verizon 4G
This review is the opinion of a Campendium member and not of Campendium.com
“Nice, San Diego Mountain Boondocking”
Reviewed 2/25/2016
| Nightly rate: | FREE! |
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| Days stayed: | 3 |
Overall Rating
Coming from Mount Laguna Recreation Area, Pine Creek Road actually starts out within the Recreation Area, where there is no boondocking allowed. There is a pretty clear sign where that ends, just before the GPS coordinates supplied, and then boondocking is allowed, with some pretty clearly setup and used spots available all along the r... more
Coming from Mount Laguna Recreation Area, Pine Creek Road actually starts out within the Recreation Area, where there is no boondocking allowed. There is a pretty clear sign where that ends, just before the GPS coordinates supplied, and then boondocking is allowed, with some pretty clearly setup and used spots available all along the road. USFS website does note the requirement of a permit, so you'll want to make sure you have what is needed there for this spot.
The road is paved all of the way through, but it is skinny and not particularly well maintained at all. I did see someone with a small trailer, though, so it's possible to some degree or another. Running into someone else on the road can be a challenge in some stretches due to the skinny-ness of the road, primarily.
The GPS coordinates point to the first site. There are 2 others near by, just shortly down the road, and many more if you keep going all of the way down. This review is just about these 3, which I tried out all of, only driving by any others as I explored the full length of the road.
The first two are easy to get to, but nothing particularly special about them. They're just dirt driveways, basically. The third is more of a dirt road that might require 4WD and decent clearance, but is in a lovely patch of pine trees. The first two work great for solar, though, and the third really doesn't work well for solar at all, due to the amount of shade.
All of the road that I scoped out was very clean, and it is a really beautiful area. Most of it lies in Cleveland National Forest, but you will be driving right next to an indian reservation, clearly marked with no trespassing signs and such--you can't miss where those boundaries are.
The sites varied from wonderful quality to remarkably poor, while I was here. I imagine that there's probably some pretty good variation based on weather and traffic coming through, and how much maintenance the USFS decides to put into it. There's not a ton of noise at any, but there was a good amount of traffic going down the road that made it a ways from the quietest of spots as well.
There are 2 very notable trails running all through the area of the GPS coordinates: The Noble Canyon Trail and the Big Laguna Trail. I wasn't able to spend the time I wanted to on either, but what I did see, they are lovely, well maintained, and very beautiful hiking/biking trails. They are clearly marked, and the road even has signs when a trail crossing is just ahead. Both trails connect to each other and the nearby Pacific Crest Trail as well. Basically, there's a ton of awesome hiking and other recreation to do all around the area!
It does snow in the winter up there. It doesn't tend to stick around for the whole winter, but on a good year, it will snow multiple times and hang around for a week or two. It certainly gets cold! And this is the snowy, cold playground for all of San Diego county. This last year, the police had to turn numbers of people away from the area, because it was so crowded with San Diego locals trying to get up to the snow. Of course, there's often chain requirements and such, and this road may be closed under those conditions (I would probably count on it!).
As for cell signal: I have Verizon and TMobile. TMobile had absolutely nothing, even with a booster. Verizon was trouble-prone. Sometimes, I could get LTE. Sometimes, I could get voice. Sometimes, I could even get both. Other times, I could get LTE but no voice. Yet more times, I couldn't get anything at all. This is actually the reason I had to leave, because I needed something more reliable for work. That said, it is (maybe) there, if you want to struggle with it.
I would definitely camp here again, with all of the above said. It's a beautiful area, with tons of great things to do and see. I'll probably be more likely to head further down the road next time, myself. Anyone with a larger rig might want to try and scope it out before heading down, though I imagine there's at least a couple of spots you should be able to get into (depending on just how big, maybe).
SubaruVagabond would stay here again
This review is the opinion of a Campendium member and not of Campendium.com
13 reviews
“Road closed March 2022”
noted 3/3/2022
Road was closed. Probably due to snow still being on the ground in the whole area. I noticed most small roads were closed. Lots and lots of established campgrounds in the area. I ended up staying at a large turnout in the road about 10miles up the road. Gorgeous spot and no one bothered me.
I was forced to give a star rating. Since I couldn’t get to the spot- I picked a middle of the road 3 star rating.
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Amenities
Hookups
- dry camping
- Dispersed Camping
Recreation
- recreation trail
Pets
- pets
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