Cold Springs Campground — Hotel in Exeter

When the ranger tells you it will take you an hour just to drive to the Cold Springs Campground, he's not kidding. The road isn't that long and it's paved, but it's winding and climbs from the park's low point to the campground's 7,500 foot elevation.||||Situated along a slope, there are essentially two levels of road leading to sites, with the lower one closer to the satisfyingly noisy stream. But, even the higher-up areas are in earshot of the water. Sites are well-situated with trees forested around nearly every one. They're all very basic with fire rings, picnic tables, and bear boxes. There is water from spigots dispersed throughout the area… when the water flows. It gets shut off as winter nears and the campground itself closes in late fall for the season.||||Being that it's not an RV-friendly road getting there nor particularly RV-friendly sites, this is pretty much a tents-only place. It's not even accessed via the park's main entrance but rather via Mineral King Road that starts a klick or so before you get to the Ash Mountain Entrance. So, it's likely less crowded and more quiet that the more obvious campgrounds in the main areas of the park.||||There are a lot of walk-in sites at the end of the upper campground road in Cold Springs, and some of them are a good walk from the tight parking area -- especially if you're carrying your tent and gear. Even so, as they are somewhat fewer trees here than the rest of the camp areas and the walk-ins are in eyesight of each other, they don't necessarily get you much more privacy than the drive-up ones, but you won't need to worry about vehicles driving by while you sleep.||||Be prepared for a chilly night. This campground is the highest one in Sequoia National Park. And once here, you're not going to want to go anywhere and come back, because out and back in is two-hours of driving. But, there are some great trails just down the road from it.||||This campground is a great place to sleep to get an early morning start for a hike to Eagle Lake. Otherwise, you'll lose the hour driving to it that you saved by spending the night in Cold Springs Campground and enjoying the...

We were at this Campground in early August it is a beautiful campground with some basic amenities that are useful I will write about them in this review. Before arriving: About the route to the campground: The most important thing to know is its condition from the intersection of Sierra Drive and Mineral King Road. Indeed it is the start of Mineral King Road and is almost 23 miles away from Cold Spring Campground. It is a narrow mountainous road with plenty of bends, down and uphills. So be careful and don't speed up. I would say 10 miles per hour is a safe speed for this road. Help oncoming cars to pass you safely (at some point you need to stop to let other cars pass). It will take about 1.5 hours for 23miles then be patient. My recommendation is to avoid this road at night if you don't have enough time to drive in the sunlight you can wait until morning. There is a beautiful bridge on the way and you will see a few giant trees on this road. After arriving: There is a map of the campground on the board at the entrance take a picture of that or download the map from the website because it is a little tricky and you may lose time finding your spot. Cellphones have no reception then you need offline maps. I would say avoid reserving a walk-in spot if you have a lot of stuff with you. It is very difficult to carry your stuff from walk-in parking to your spot and needs a lot of energy and time. You will be really tired if you do that. Backpacking is OK for these spots I think. Generally, each spot has only one designated parking spot but there are plenty of overflow spaces where you can park your extra cars over there. Then do not worry about the extra parking. There is plenty of wood in the area in that session. We used them to cook our meals. But I am not sure about other seasons, you should ask about that from the visitor assistant of the national park via email or call. In general, it is a nice place the only reason that I gave four is the lack of giant trees you will see only 4-5 giant trees all the way. But you have a chance to see beautiful deers instead!...

As most reviews here and elsewhere agree, this is a nice, remote, quiet campground. Rather than repeat what others have described, I thought I'd share a few things I learned during my visit that might be useful to others: According to the Mineral King ranger, marmots aren't a problem in the campground, so there's no reason to wrap up your car with a tarp. The NPS website does warn about marmots chewing wires in your car, but the ranger said that's a problem at the nearby trailheads, not the campground. With that in mind, I left my car at the campground and walked 15 minutes to the Sawtooth Trailhead for a day hike. There is a pay phone at the campground entrance, so if you'll need to call someone, bring quarters. I believe the cost is $1 for 2 minutes (or you can call collect, which is much more expensive). It seems the most popular sites are those on the north side along the river (1-11, 22-32). When I arrived on a Thursday afternoon in July, the only sites available were 16-20 (plus the walk-in sites). At my campsite (#18), there was sticky sap covering the entire picnic table, and anything I put on the table got sticky. I imagine that other sites are similarly sticky, and if this may bother you, consider bringing a tablecloth. The ~23 mile drive on Mineral King Rd took me around...