The hiking and natural beauty of the surrounding area are amazing. Unfortunately, they recently cut down 60 percent of the campground trees, leaving all the sites exposed with no privacy and large piles of dead trees. I almost wanted to cry when I showed up to the site. #42 However, the camp hosts were very nice and the bathrooms were super clean. I don't know how the campsite will ever recover. So sad. read more

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Beautiful place. Lotta bears. But hey it's the sierras ! Being a pole you're gonna catch lots of fish here. Kinda far from either Bay Area or so cal. But worth the drive. read more

Great campground near the shoreline of Lake Mary. Trail out the back of the campground leads to good fishing for Brook Trout in pond type settings. read more

As a long-time local resident of Mammoth Lakes, I've been coming to Coldwater Campground for years and have always loved the peaceful environment and the friendly interactions with staff. During my most recent visit, the camp hosts Tracey and Scott were incredibly helpful and welcoming. They went out of their way to let us know about a last-minute no-show so we could secure a spot. Unfortunately, our experience took a turn when another host-an older woman with short gray hair--approached us in an unprofessional and rude manner. Without any provocation, she became hostile and even made an obscene gesture toward us (middle finger). We were shocked and reminded her that this kind of behavior is not how we treat people in this community--especially visitors. I hope that in the future, the campground can continue to staff kind and respectful hosts like Tracey and Scott. Coldwater is a special place, and it deserves hosts who reflect the spirit of the Eastern Sierra. read more

This place was gorgeous. We went for hubby's birthday to getaway. It was packed, but we got lucky and found an empty spot. They have many first-come, first, serve sites. The place was super clean and very well ran. St 'Mary's lake is just a five-minute walk away. The west part of it is mainly for fishing and the east part you are able to park by the lake and go down and swim. You are also able to rent a boat and kayaks, and so forth. The city is only a 10-15 minute drive down, worked great for us. We would drive down and get what we needed. The campground also has firewood for you to buy. But, we recommend you get it from rite-aid it is way cheaper. You can also take some beautiful hikes. We went up to the heart lake. Took us about 2 hrs to get up there, but we are amateur hikers. If you are an avid hiker, then it should be a good hike for you. read more

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Such an awesome location for a campground! Conveniently located just outside of downtown mammoth, this campground not only provides the essential amenities of a bathroom, bear boxes, picnic tables and fire pits, but also has trailheads to four different hikes from within the campground. Each site was just big enough, but because the site itself was not abundant there were over 70 sites. We got the last campsite at around 5pm on a Monday night in late September so I would definitely recommend reserving your campsite in advance. read more

First time in an actual campground as we normally do disperse camping, but we loved this campground. The grounds and bathrooms were really nice and clean. Each spot came with a bear box and a bunch of water spigots around the campsites. The hosts were great and very accommodating. Recommendation: Definitely reserve a spot ahead of time if you want to get the sites closest to the creeks. Otherwise it's a great place to stay. We had site #77 and loved it. Would definitely consider coming back! read more

Coldwater Creek Campground - Site #77 - Campgrounds Near Me - Mammoth Lakes, California

The stars at night are amazing and deserves its own 5 stars just for that. It's magical and mesmerizing to be by the lakes and we love it. The only reason why it lost 2 stars is because they didn't honor their first come first serve protocol via their own website. We were awaken by the ranger early am stating that we had to leave and that the people occupying the sites were l staged somewhere remote off the hill. I call BS. The site at recreation.gov explicitly recognizes first come first serve at site #29 in which we were at, and at that time when we arrived with our 30' Tiffin, we immediately took the site with no other visible occupants in site. For what ever the reason the ranger decided to kick us out, they should be reprimanded. Since we are on vacation with the little ones, I didn't want to argue a bit at all. So what did we do!? Easy peasy, we went to June Lake, an even better lake I might add, paddle boarded a bit and then cleared up to camp at Mammoth Scenic Loop, which is a federal dispersed camp area with even less restrictions than a BLM, just no fires allowed and FREE! Yay! Anyways, I would definitely come back here to camp but with reservations only. Don't trust the FF sites! read more

Coldwater Creek Campground - These are the only 4 (FF sites) first come first serve campsites that can handle our 30' - Campgrounds Near Me - Mammoth Lakes, California

Amazing campground! Flush toilets, water access, easy lake access by walking or driving, and nice camp hosts who often drove around the campground to ensure everything was proper. They even clean the toilets regularly which is SO important especially during times of Covid. I was extremely lucky to have gotten a site right before July 4th weekend and I'm so happy I did. Mammoth is so pretty with all the lakes. This is bear country so beware, even if your food is safely stowed away in the bear lockers they can still be around. Swore I heard something shuffling around one night and I couldn't sleep. The hosts go around and you have the option of buying firewood for $7 a bundle. Our site was right by the bathroom and entrance, but it was quiet for the most part. I really enjoyed my stay here and would come back in a heartbeat! Beware of the mosquitos though, you are by the water almost so tiny flying bugs do lurk. read more

Really enjoyed staying at this campground for the first time! Brought our two dogs and they loved it! Nice camp hosts, beautiful creeks running throughout, good amount of space for each unit, bathrooms are kept very clean! There is no electricity/hookups/showers.. just something to keep in mind before booking! We stayed in spot 11, just a tip, I would look at pictures of sites before booking, some are better than others as far as space and the ground level.. I wouldn't want to be on a hill since we were tent camping! Town is only about a ten minute drive which made things convenient! And convict lake is walking distance! Will def be coming back!!!! Beautiful spot read more

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Woohoo, Coldwater Creek Campground has it all, from secluded sites, friendly camp hosts, trail and lake access, to flush toilets. Make a reservation here for your next trip to Mammoth Lakes in the warm months. I came out without reservations during the week after labor day and found this campground would do for the night. After a couple loops I selected a site on the hillside next to the main creek that had a flat spot for tents. I unloaded and filled out my payment envelope when the very friendly campground host moseyed on over to say hi. She took my payment so I didn't have to go back to the entrance area. Vehicle access wasn't an issue, but road was pretty bad in spots. Some very exposed sites here, but then many others are next to the two creeks that are amazing. Several toilets and bathroom facilities make it easy to use the facilities without a hike in the dark. Fire rings with BBQ grills and a picnic table at each site provide all your standard campsite amenities. Lots of trees and history in the area, and a short hike up the hill leads to amazing views of Mammoth Mountain. The gurgling creek nearby is great to fall to sleep and wake to. Great base-camp for a longer stay in the area, with the beautiful lakes, mountain activities and devil's postpile nearby. Really couldn't be much better or ask for more. If you like camping, but not backpacking, or have an RV, go out to the Coldwater Creek area of mammoth lakes, you won't be disappointed (unless you take one of the crappy exposed sites). read more

Stayed here for two nights in August '19. Coming into the campground you pass lake Mary then take a left for coldwater. Upon entering the campground I was kind of nervous because all of the sites seem to have tons of rocks and many were on slants. As we kept driving to our spot towards the back I felt more at ease. The site we had was #75. It was perfect, no rocks at all and barley slanted. The spaces in between our site were far enough away from the others I didn't feel like we were on top of eachother at all. Our site backed up to the creek which was great because it gave us constant white noise and falling asleep to rushing water was amazing, though because of the water there were many many mosquitoes. I've camped in mammoth before, at pine city, twin lakes, and Lake George and have never encounter so many bugs. I'm not sure if it's because of all the rain they got this year and because of the heat but our site was just swarmed with them. During the evening it was the worse, we had to resort to our tent by 8 because by then they were just flying into our faces every 5 seconds ha. The campground itself was very maintained, probably the best public camp restrooms I've ever used! They were cleaned a couple times a day it seemed The campground isn't far from the lake Mary marina and there's a trail head at the back of the camp to the old mammoth consolidated mine as well as duck pass. We did the mine trail which was really cool to see and not strenuous at all Overall I really enjoyed this campground but would only stay toward the back since all the sites at the front seemed undesirable with the amount of rocks. And bring loads of bug spray and candles if you're by the creek! read more

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We made visits to almost all mammoth campgrounds and nevertheless cold water campground was the best out of all or even out of our 10 days camping roadtrip (Yosemite, Grand Canyon , Zion). Campsite #42 I was very impressed by 1) how clean the restrooms were, 2) lots of privacy but wasn't too isolated, 3) water faucets every 5-10 campsites made it very easy to carry water for use, 4) huge food storage cabinets (fit big cooler). Very quiet at nights, the creek behind our campsite was very peaceful. Highly recommend this campground if you're visiting mammoth. Sites are close to Lake Mary. read more

Coldwater Creek Campground - Campgrounds Near Me - Mammoth Lakes, California

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Love staying at this campground while in Mammoth. It is right on Lake Mary. There are showers down at the marina and flush toilets and water nearby all campsites. We usually reserve a nice spot not close to other campsites but once we came just crossing our fingers there was an available spot and there was but it was right in the middle of everything. Unfortunately our neighbors were loud and the campground hosts didn't do anything about it. So I'd suggest reserving a site far in advance to be able to get a nice quiet spot. There are some awesome hikes right off the campground. There is also a little mining town just a ten minute walk from your campsite! Really cool to check out. Also fishing and boat rentals right down the road at the marina. Everyone that works there is very friendly. Love this place and will most likely always return when I'm in the area! read more

Coldwater Creek Campground - Making s'mores by the campfire - Campgrounds Near Me - Mammoth Lakes, California

Stayed at Coldwater Creek Campground back on June 8-10th. This was my first time at this campground and it was a pleasant surprise. Before coming we checked the recreation.gov site for all the details, went on youtube to watch some videos posted, and even checked here on Yelp. After all the research we feel we made a great choice............ First, the location is great. It's within a short walk to Lake Mary and, at the rear of the campground were trailheads for the Duck Pass trail and the Emerald Lake trail. Perfect! We really never needed to leave the campground for the weekend we were there. The camp hosts were really friendly and extremely helpful. They sold us firewood for $7, which was convenient. We never had to go into town for wood, not to mention they allowed us to gather fallen wood near the grounds. The sites that we occupied were #s 54, 55, and 56. All were good sites. Pretty level, not too rocky and close enough to the restroom to not have to go on a long walk to get there. Also, the restrooms here were EXTREMELY clean! For those that have camped on a regular basis, you know this can sometimes be hit or miss. There were no showers but, they did have running water (albeit cold) and flush toilets. Overall, I'm was really pleased with this campground and would DEFINITELY stay here again. Also, the area that the campground was located was really beautiful..........another bonus! Stay at Coldwater Creek Campground..............................you won't be disappointed read more

Cannot speak highly enough of this place!! We stayed the last open weekend before the winter season (9/24-9/26) and it was definitely super chilly at night, we were tent camping!! But worth every second. We stayed in spot 57 and it was everything and more!! The creek ran right through our campsite. Campsite hosts were super sweet and it was the easiest check-in process ever! Would love to come back here when it reopens!! read more

After 4 years I still think of this place. Nice forest to walk in and explore. I really loved the river that wasn't too far from the campsite I was at. I've been camping in Arizona, Zion, Mojave desert and this place is still one of my favorite of all time. The campsite in Arizona and Zion had restrooms but I don't think my camp spot had restrooms? Despite not having restrooms I still love this place. Will be visiting and camping here soon. Oh mosquitos here are a bitch sometimes not all the time, soooo yeah there's that. read more

Amazing place ! Super nice here but be careful keep your food in the bearbox! This place is amazing definitely a must camp spot in socal read more

Coldwater Creek Campground - Campgrounds Near Me - Mammoth Lakes, California

Camp-host Eric and Tina are the best! They are kind and very pleasant. The campsites that they cover are clean and especially the restrooms! I have never seen campground restrooms that clean before. We stayed at site 55 which is near the hiking area parking lot. read more

Nice and clean campground. Had a great campsite close to the creek. Saw some deers run through the camp. Close to many trails and lakes. The bathrooms are clean and well maintained. Would definitely return. read more

I really liked this campground. My family does a lot of camping in AZ, and it is hard to find a campground that reaches this quality. All of the restrooms had flush toilets and were well maintained. The bear lockers were new to us. Usually in AZ, when a bear makes a presence at a campground, the site is shut down. You don't see a lot of places with bear lockers. So, we were interested to experience a place that handled it so casually. The host made it clear that bears came through camp every night. He wanted to make sure that everything that could serve as an attractant was secured. This included food, lotions, etc. There was plenty of room in the bear lockers for everything that needed to be stored. As is usually the case, the hosts were very nice. They offered advice, and remembered us as we came back through camp a few days later. My wife took advantage of the running path, to get in a few miles to Twin Lakes. It was nice to have showers and other facilities down there. And the waterfall at the lake was a pleasant surprise. But be prepared: it can get cold. We were tent camping during the height of the summer, and were very happy to have some extra blankets. read more

This campground is great! There are bathrooms, showers, bear lockers, and taps spread throughout. And the absolute best part? Multiple trailheads around. I took one trail to the top towards Lake Mary and it was of easy to moderate difficulty. I have tendinitis and with a trekking pole and a couple breaks, I was fine. Back to the campground. No trash in site, courteous hikers and campers around, and no crowds while I was there. The maps were clear so that you could easily figure out where everything was. Great place! and I wouldn't mind camping here too instead of just a hike next time. read more

Everywhere you look it's a BOB ROSS painting!!!! I just absolutely loved this campground! There doesn't seem to be a bad site in the whole area. All camp sites are between two running streams so you are a short walk to either one. Ours was less than 100 yards. In the night it created a wonderful ambient sound to fall asleep to. In the day there are plenty of things to do. Camping, boating, fishing, biking, hiking, horseback riding... So many things. If you bring your bike you can bike down the hill to Mammoth, and they provide a trolley that takes you and your bike back up. We took a trail and followed the stream on the right-hand side all the way up to Emerald Lake. It's a good Steep walk however well worth the end view and you hardly notice that you're walking up about 2000 feet of elevation. On the left side of camping grounds there is an old mining area that you can hike to... We went with friends who have gone for almost 20 years every year, they never get bored and knew all the ins and outs of the campground. We had a fabulous time both in the city of Mammoth and on this campsite I highly recommend it at least one time in your life. On a sidenote, we did not need to use the showers and could not even tell you where they are located. We had our own showers and I was told that the showers are not the greatest as far as cleanliness. I didn't have a problem using the restroom, one-day the camp host had to hose off one of the four restrooms we were by because someone made a mess in there, but hey, there's always somebody when you're camping who does something weird... Be prepared, there are bears here and other wildlife so you have to plan to put your food in your car or the bear box. Tip. The campsites at the top are more densely populated but closer to the trails. Tip. Buy your firewood from the camp host. It's a bit cheaper than in town and you don't have to go far. read more

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Clean and well located but very tight roads that are not well maintained. Longer rigs should seek a different location.

Loved this campground, the site my buddies and I got was definitely a good one. The restroom are well maintained. There is a creek on both sides from the campsite. The sound of it will rock you to sleep at night. We didn't get to see any bears (I'm glad, not too much of a bear fanatic) read more

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This is a great campground! I love camping in the Mammoth area. My first choice would be camping at Twin Lakes, but that is only because the showers are right there. However, if you take the shower location out of the equation, this probably would be my first choice of campground if you're coming to this area. First, there a an old mining company complex at the end of the of the campground that is really interesting for old and young alike to explore and learn a little history. Second, there are several hiking trails that start at this campground, making a good home base for your Mammoth camping experience. Third, you are close to the Lakes Basin. Lake Mary Marina is close by if you want to rent a small fishing boat, a pontoon boat for a group of people, or kayaks. I think they also rent stand up paddle boards. Showers: usually, when I have stayed at this campground, i have showered at Lake Mary Marina. However, showers were not available at the marina during my stay (the week of 9/8/17). I'm not sure if the showers are permanently closed or not. I did shower at the store at Twin Lakes Campground, which is only a few minutes further. The campground is clean and well-maintained. The campground hosts are friendly and do a great job keeping everything in order. As with most of my camping experiences, the further you get away from the city (I live in LA), the nicer the campground, the nicer the people. The scenery is beautiful--tons of trees, two creeks, some deer in the campground. One thing to note, and that is water spigots. I only saw one water spigot located in an area wide enough to fill your water tank (if you have an RV), and still allow vehicles to get by you. However, that spigot is not threaded. To use that spigot, you need to use a water bandit adapter, and even then, it is angled, so you still have keep readjusting it or hold it in place by hand. as I drove around the campground, some spigots are threaded, some are not. But if you stop to use a threaded spigot, you will block any cars from getting by. In my opinion, that is bad planning by the Forest Service. My personal suggestions to the forest service to make this campground (and others) even better: 1) make an area where RV's can prep for their stay by filling up with water and getting everything ready without blocking vehicles before backing into your campsite. 2) have an area at bathrooms where you can wash pots and pans. I've seen this in some other campgrounds, and it really cuts down on people washing pots and pans at the water spigots (even though there are signs that state not to wash dishes at the spigots). 3) put in a dump station. 4) adding full hookups would be awesome, but adding electrical hookups would be fantastic. It would cut down on generator noise (and I say that as a generator user). I know I would be more than willing to pay a premium for the convenience of hooking up to electricity, and an even larger premium for the ability to have full hookups. 5) add pay showers as I have seen in some other Forest Service campgrounds. I can pay the marina, I can pay the store at Twin Lakes, or I can pay the Forest Service--i don't care who I pay for the shower, so the Forest Service can make a little money. But that is my wish list. For me, those things would make this place even more perfect. read more

We are experienced campers and this campground far exceeded our expectations. The site entry way was paved as opposed to gravel and loading our tent gear was much easier. The restrooms are immaculate and unlike some campgrounds, they have a small shelf to place toiletry items below the mirror. Trail heads begin in the campground which, is bordered by two rivers. The camp hosts could not have been anymore accommodating. One other nice feature is that Mammoth is only about 5 miles away, where most grocery and sundry items can be purchased.The campground is very well maintained and for all of the above reasons,I give Coldwater a 5 star rating. read more

Spent 2 days hiking to duck lakes and emerald lake and this campground was perfectly located with walk up access to the trailheads. The restrooms were also impressively clean. The campsites are spaced closer together than other places I have visited, but our main issue was that our site wasn't level at all (site 78) and it was really hard to pitch even our 2 person backpacking tent. Most of the other sites I saw were better off, so need to do some research beforehand. read more

This is our 2nd year in a row at Coldwater. GREAT campground. ALWAYS clean, clean bathrooms. Big bear boxes to store everything. The sites do have lots of larger rocks, so make sure you check the sites. We will be back! read more

This place was OK to camp depending on which site you picked. Last year we picked site 50 & it was perfect because we had a lot of space to set everything. It had some shade. This year I picked site 23 and it was horrible. Too rocky! Before you go camping here, research more about it! Overall I wouldn't mind camping here again. read more

We were in site 51, close to the creek. The mosquitoes were super annoying...just warning you. The bathrooms were very nice. We took showers at the nearby Twin Lakes Campground for $7. GREAT hikes out of this campground. Take Heart Lake Trail but be sure to continue on just past the lake to a plateau with amazing views of Mammoth Mountain, Lake Mary, and the Minarets. We also hiked to Emerald Lake and then walked back along the creek. We also spent some time checking out the Consolidated Goldmine. We loved the camp hosts. Super friendly and informative. Site 51 specifically had a lot of trees and really only room for one tent. It felt like the site next to us (49) was right on top of us because of their tent position to our trailer. Our friends were in site 50 and we hung out there a lot. That's a great spot to spread out if you have a couple of tents. Also the mosquitoes weren't as bad there because they weren't right on the creek. read more

First trip to mammoth and we stayed here with our RV. The camp hosts Tim and Nancy were very welcoming. They did remind us this was a camp ground not an RV park. No hookups, but the location and scenery were excellent. Many people tent camp so I was very courteous and ran my generator only when it was necessary. We had access to hiking trails, biking trails and fishing. The trolley service is great too! read more

We just spent 5 nights here in a FCFS site (76). Very clean campsite. Our stay was quiet. Very nice and attentive hosts (even helped us get in/out of our weird spot with the RV). The trails close by were nice and good for our kids (not too hard, not too easy) although there is no shuttle stop here, you can walk just around the bend to lake Mary marina to catch it which will take you all around town for free. Only thing I had issue with is no place to wash dishes. Bathrooms were super clean. It was relatively warm and the campsite did have quite a few mosquitos. But that was everywhere in the area not specific to this campsite since there is water around. Some of the sites right on the creek were very nice and shaded. With sounds of running water read more

This was one of the best campgrounds ive been too . I had never been to Mammoth and I couldn't have asked for a better place to experience it at. There is a creek that runs all around the campground, some campsites are a bit closer than the others, but all are remotely close and they offer that white noise to help you sleep. I had campsite number four and it was perfect. It wasn't as shady as I like my campsites to be but I wasn't there during the majority of the day since I was out in the town. Each campsite has a firepit, a table and some sort of driveway. Oh and the bear lockers! I never saw a bear on the campgrounds but I did see one driving down one of the main roads. The bathrooms were always clean with toilet paper. There are no showers here but you can shower at the Twin Lakes Store for 5 bucks, and it was literally 3 min away. Overall I loved my experience here and I would most definitely come back! read more

Beautiful campground. It is a small drive from town which makes it nice and secluded. The hosts were very friendly and informative. The whole loop is easy to maneuver and has easy access to activities around the area: horseback riding, marina, trails, and the town for shopping. I have been to Mammoth before but it was years back in a different area. But I loved this campground. There are no showers at this one, but there are other campsites nearby with showers. I would recommend Twin Lakes. Awesome showers and an awesome little shop. My campsite was 16 - nice space. It wasn't right on top of another site. The bathrooms (very clean!) are centered nicely for a short walking distance, same with water spigots, dumpsters., and recycling. Coldwater Creek runs right through the camp as well so you hear that all day, very soothing. Would definitely go back. read more