Potwisha Campground — Hotel in Exeter

Went during July 4th weekend and my god was it HOT. It was 115°F all **ing weekend because this campsite was at the base of the mountain. Legitimately felt like I as going to overheat to death. Definitely not a place during the summer. It was just absolutely sweltering, and can't really do anything during the day time unless you drive yourself up to Lodgepole area (45 minutes away) where it's cooler. Or hangout by the river nearby (go past site 14 onto the trail to Marble Falls trail), buuut downside is that during hot weather, everyone and I mean EVERYONE hangs out by the river. Every time I tried to go and cool down, easily 40+ people already there.

It's nice that the site is close to town so if you're missing anything, you can just drive down and grab stuff. It's also not too far from popular main trails, easy access between town and places like Lodgepole too. There's bear boxes for your food, but absolutely baked every thing that wasn't in a really good cooler because the bear boxes just sits in the sun and it's like a 300°F oven during hot days. There's restrooms, no showers though. Restrooms were... Rough. 😂 Not sure if it's because women like to wash their hair in there or what but it was always clogged with hair and fake lashes all over the floor. There's A LOT of insects and bugs in there. But appreciated that there was a main large sink for dishes and some campsites had their own water spigets.

Rangers came to check in once a day (midday, sometimes in the morning) or so when we were camping there, but no hosts so no enforcement of quiet hours at night.

Would I book this site again? Probably not. I'd aim for higher...

We stayed here for 4 nights towards the end of our 12 day stay in Sequoia/Kings Canyon. Absolutely horrible location and even worse camp host. We made every effort to stay away from the camp site for as long as possible and only come back when we were ready to sleep. The camp host doesn’t make sure the bathrooms are clean and maintained and definitely doesn’t take care of loud and obnoxious people during quiet hours; she also loves to drive her loud Diesel truck out of the grounds at 2am, successfully waking up everyone in the camp whose finally gone to sleep. This camp location is where locals come to party for the weekend and will not let you sleep or enjoy your surroundings. You also can’t lock your bear box so leaving any valuables behind such as an expensive cooler is out of the question and while we’re on the bear box topic, expect all of your ice to be melted since the entire campground turns into an industrial size oven and cooks everything in its path. The fire rings are a joke and more of a hazard...IF you can find enough fire wood to start a fire in the first place. Also, expect to become pissed off with the amount of flies, mosquitoes and yellow jackets and keep a keen eye out for your food because the local squirrels will make every effort to steal it.||The only good thing about this camp is the river across the street where you can go wash off if you can endure the freezing water and the camp hosts super sweet dog named Luke. ||Simply put, we were expecting to be camping amongst the sequoia trees and greenery but instead ended up in what felt...

Potwisha! Highly recommended for campervans** Ammenities: No showers, but otherwise clean, spacious smaller campground. Nice bathrooms with updated toilet stalls, handwashing sinks, and outdoor deep dishwash sinks. Each campsite has a lunch bench and a bear box. We stayed in campsite #6 which was perfect for stargazing, it's in a clearing of trees :) there is ample shade in the afternoon in this valley, at least during mid-October. On this trip we saw large RV's, suv and camper vans, and individuals also reserved campsites at Potwisha. Ample space!

Points of Interest: Everything is along one road, easy navigating from Potwisha. At Potwisha campground, there are beginner and advanced hiking trailheads to nearby river and Marble Falls, decent shade. From Potwisha campground, it takes an hour to drive to General Sherman, maybe 45 min drive to the giant tree museum and giant tree groves/cool meadows. 15 min. drive to Hospital Rock, some nice shady river hiking there. In the opposite direction on your way out of the park: 20 min drive to get into town for coffee/deli/groceries/pharmacy. Easy for campervans, roads throughout this national park are well paved, ample guardrails, turnouts and width to the lanes. I suppose the $30 entrance pass for 6 days is put to good use. I'm usually skittish about mountain driving, but these roads feel safe and serene, impossible...