Ponderosa Campground

Nice quiet campground spread out so you're not on top of every other camper. No showers but toilets are clean.

This campground is really only for tent campers. We tried hauling our 30-ft trailer up here to no avail. Poor decision.

The road in is narrow and windy. Doable, but a little scary. The campground itself is too tight for campers over 20 ft long. We got stuck going around the main campground loop and it took us nearly 45 minutes to maneuver our way out.

I would only go here with a tent.

It was 102° with an overwhelming number of flies and wasps. No cell service. Site was pre-assigned and did not work well with my rooftop tent setup. Outhouse only. Only available water was at camp entrance. Other campers were building large fires in spite of the prohibition against fires due to the exceptionally dry landscape and heat. We left early because the egress is slow and challenging. I would return in the Spring if I could get a better site for my setup, if the handles were put back on the faucets nearer to the individual sites, if there really is a camp host and if there was routine trash pickup. The nighttime stars were amazing. Incredibly quiet during the week. Properly run, this could be a great campground.

This is a very nice NF campground in a remote forest. Sites are nicely separated with a picnic table and fire ring. Not all have a decent tent pad. There are 3 pit toilets with a water spigot next to each. I assume it's potable water as there are no signs indicting otherwise. Best for tent camping but a small RV or campervan would fit in most sites. I didn't overnight here as there is free creekside camping along the road not far away. There are a lot of little flies even in the fall when I was here but they didn't bother me unless I stayed in one spot too long and they didn't bite.
To get cell service you will have to drive about 7 miles East or West to the end of Cone Peak Rd.

Ponderosa Campground is run by the United States Forest Service in the Los Padres National Forest. One of the campground feature's is the Nacimiento River that runs through the backcountry camp. This is just 13 miles off PCH-1.