Tuttle Creek Campground

This is a gorgeous campground with incredible scenery. We camped here in February, so nights got quite cold and we hit a cold snap with high wind warning for 3 days straight. It’s 5$ A night in winter as there is no water or dump station available.
It has great Verizon cell reception, we worked remotely here all week, no problems.
The grounds include pit toilets, fire pit, and garbage. There are no other dump stations near Lone Pine other than this campground. And the only place to fill propane in town is the Chevron up the way.
We would definitely stay here again, but probably during the warmer season March-June or possibly fall. The hiking is amazing near the Alabama Hills. We had fun watching Tremors on our I-pad one night as it was filmed very close to this campground.
Overall we had a great stay and highly recommend! Oh yeah! Visit the Alabama Hills Cafe and Bakery in town for some glorious breakfast and homemade baked goods : )

We stayed here a few years back in March, so it was chilly! The views of the mountains and valley below were awesome - had a nice pull through site with no one close. Dry camping in our site, but nice table & lantern hook. The stars were amazing and it was a blast to watch the fish in the creek. Found a good spot away from the fish & fishermen to let the dog get in. Really enjoyed our stay here.

We arrived before dark from our home in Mammoth Lakes and finding a site was no problem on a Thursday. The full moon has been super bright and temps have been nice with 75-42 degrees. The creek is still following this late in the season and we can see fall colors in the drainages below Mount Whitney. The site has a nice concrete pick nick table and a post to hang lights and a metal fire pit. This area is still in fire restrictions and no open fires are allowed. Please don’t be like the five campsites I say that we’re having fires. I am retired fire fighter and these restrictions are necessary to reduce the chance of more wild land fires in California. Cell service with Verizon was three bars and with our cell signal booster we had full capabilities on the internet.
Great spot and we talked about coming here in the winter if we need to get out of the snow in Mammoth.

What a great campground. Best in spring and fall imho due to its location and lack of shade but there is a refreshing creek that runs through the campground (I enjoyed good access behind sites 14-16) and the campsites are huge and well spaced. $8/nt ($4/nt for us old folks) is a real bargain! Great find! 🤠

One small kvetch: two dogs were left in their motorhome. the dogs barked incessantly for HOURS in their absence. This really disturbed the otherwise peaceful location. (No fault of the campground, rather, of inconsiderate humans. But there was no camp host to handle the problem.) 😕

This was our first BLM stayed and it was great. The road in is hard crushed gravel and dirt and has a few small boulders, which we were able to avoid. The site backed up to Tuttle Creek and you could hear the water throughout the course of the stay. The Northern California wildfires made the view a little hazy, but we were still able to see lots of stars and a red – tinged moon. We hope to come back and spend more time in the area and at Tuttle Creek.

Some things to know and consider:

1. There’s water at the dump station when you come into the campground. A sign says it’s not for drinking, but we’re assuming that it should be fine for showers, dishes, etc.

2. The sandy gravel road is a bit rough but easily passable for just about any rig.

3. There are campsites on both sides of the creek, but those on the south side (campsites numbers in the 30s and low 40s) are next to the creek. And there are sites (in the 50s) with expansive southern views where you can see for miles.

4. The expansive view sites require you to back your rig up a steep incline, requiring us to use four-wheel drive in the very loose gravel. (We were in space 55 before we moved to #40).

5. On a hot day (in the 90s during our stay) the very cold mountain stream was really refreshing and quite a treat.

6. Campsites are well-spaced making this a really nice camping spot in the Alabama Hills.

7. The campground does have a host and Forest Service personnel visit the campground daily.

8. There was an earthquake today - June 24th - near Lone Pine, and so the road continuing west where you turn south to Tuttle Creek was closed. The campground is, obviously, open with no damage that we could see.

While rustic, it’s pretty well maintained and a great boondocking campground.

Easy to get to from Whitney Portal Road, all roads are paved until you reach the campground and it is a gravelly dirt--not too fine, think course sand. The pitches are well placed with lots of space despite it being a large campground. As of June 4, 2020, there is no water (spigots are locked) and the dump station does not appear to be accessible (nor have water.) Vault toilets are open and ok. Quiet, peaceful. The creek is very small but lovely to hear.

There were a lot of comments about leveling, but I had not problem. Just needed a couple of levelers (don't we all carry them?) :-)

One negative: Host has a generator, so don't park near site #1.