Boulder Gulch Campground

If you enjoy camping, this is not the site for you. This is "camping" for people who hate camping. Extra emphasis on the other reviews about people partying all night and the camp host doing nothing about it. This campsite is for trashy people to come together. Oh also even if you reserve and pay the fee, apparently it's first come first first per the host. That doesn't even make sense.

Just came back from our first ever camping trip as a family of 4. We checked in on Monday checked out on Wednesday. We got pretty lucky because we were the only campers in the area we were at. We stayed at camp #40. It had a really nice shade, bathroom were real close to us and also a place where we can wash our things. The campsite it's very easy to find with stores very close by. We did visit the 100 giant trail and it was only about 1 hour away. The bathrooms were ok but like the sign says they are as clean as how the person before you left them. The park ranger was super nice and friendly. I would definitely come here again.

I have to agree with the reviewer that talked about Yahoos partying all night! Between the partying, loud music, bright spotlight, campfires(which are illegal right now), and loud generator, sleep was not good to say the least. The bathrooms were gross. Dirty and no toilet paper. The camp host didn't ever regulate anything the miscreants were doing. The campsites were dirty with litter. No one wore a face mask especially in the restrooms. No social distancing within large groups of campers.

We stayed at Boulder Gulch Campground during the week before Easter. This means it was not yet overrun with people escaping the heat so it was relatively quiet. It was also clean maybe because the year had not kicked into high gear (judging by another review who said it was dirty). I heard from the camp host across the street at Hungry Gulch that this place (Boulder Gulch) is known to be for the party people and Hungry Gulch for the mellow, just want to enjoy nature people. We stayed at both and believe that could be the case.In April it was a beautiful place with big boulders all around our camp site. We came in late (per our normal not getting our act together early and then driving) and left early (about 8-9am). We got to stay for free because the people did not come around to collect the fees (that is how they do it, I guess). We even tried to pay at the ranger station but they refused it....saying the people commissioned to collect did not get out there early enough (we left at 8 or 9am).We stayed at Hungry Gulch the next time (on our way back through) and enjoyed it more (we had more time). It is pretty amazing how different it is just across the street (more open, few of the boulders like at Boulder Gulch).The town of Lake Isabella, CA itself is "colorful". Between the Baptist Revival Tent deep in town, the Easter jellybeans sold with scripture words on them (black has sin on it, ect), the tweakers in the laundromat, shopping carts in people's front yards and a confederate flag hanging inside a garage? It did not leave much room for much else.Don't get me wrong.....I enjoy seeing a completely different town as it makes me appreciate home more (in the woods).. I would stay away from this place next time due to what the camp host said. I posted photos.

We booked a campsite here for one night on Memorial Day weekend. This was the Inaugural Trip of the Camping Year, and sort of a "test camp" weekend, to see if our three year old could handle sleeping outside. We picked Boulder Gulch because:1) it sounded less ominous than "Hungry Gulch" across the street2) it was right on Lake Isabella3) it had an available site on Memorial Day weekendFor the criteria we picked it on, it was actually pretty good. We arrived around 2:30pm on a Sunday (of a 3 day weekend) and were able to take our pick of sites. We chose one that included a couple of giant (surprise!) boulders that our son could climb on. These are apparently Traditional Climbing Boulders, too, because there were Native American handprints on them that dated back to before any European settlement in California. We were also camped about thirty feet from the California equivalent of Meerkat Manor: a ground squirrel burrow. Our son, much like the dog in "Up", yelled, "SQURL!" and took off to chase them. Then he climbed the boulders. Then he chased a squirrel. It was a great place for a small boy.For camping, the grounds can be a bit uneven and rocky, so getting there in time to pick a good site is key. Fire pits are provided, along with lots of running, potable water. The host drives around multiple times a day to keep an eye on things and answer questions. The bathrooms were no dirtier/stinkier than any other state park, and toilets were always in working order. There is even a playground here, but it was for big kids. (it's the old school wooden kind, not the new plastic kind. It's also made by Big Toys, who made the playground I grew up on, so I was immediately nostalgic). And it may have been because the campground was half-empty (thanks, weather!), but the sites seemed reasonably far apart. We camped last year at Gaviota State Park, and the sites were on top of each other.This isn't one of the state beaches. Scenery is limited to boulders and lake. But if you want a basic campground, that's easy to get to, and you just want a place to go car camping, this is as good as any.

Boulder Gulch is perhaps the most popular campsite at Lake Isabella and for good reason. It's very easy to spot and find, it has lakeside access, potable water, a good variety of shaded and non-shaded sites, lots of space for larger RV's, good parking and it's close enough to Wofford Heights and Lake Isabella to run into town if you need anything. I personally prefer the more shaded sites at this campground, which are closer to the highway. Those are best for tent campers like me. There's a little bit of highway noise, but it's livable.With the recent drought, the lake level has been so low that I actually saw an RV driving around on what was once the bottom of this lake. This means the shore is even farther away from this campground than it has been in the past. For those of us who want to camp closer to the water's edge, it's not-so-good. Also, the coin-operated showers have all been shut down to save water. That's true for ALL of the public campgrounds in the area. Bummer...The downside to Boulder Gulch is that its popularity almost insures that you will have to endure a bunch of yahoos who believe the purpose of camping is to party all night, play loud music, run the TV, stereo and generator 24/7, break bottles, litter the park and destroy the place by running around using the landscaping for firewood. Boulder Gulch would be great IF they had a diligent camp host who lived on-site to kick the meatheads out and maintain the peace and quiet here. Without that, it gets a solid 3 stars and not one more.

Not bad- spacious campsite with shade, table, rocks, and space for two cars and three tents!No showers. Dirty bathroom. Sinks are shallow- hard to do dishes in them. Apparently you need a propane permit here? Camp check will come around. I could hear a late Party at other campsites but the campground is spread out enough to where it wasn't bothersome. Big bugs- beware!Go to the local hot springs and trail of a thousand giants while here- my two favorite activities during our stay here!

Came up this way last weekend with the hubs and the pup thinking we'd get some reprieve from the LA heatwave by sleeping outdoors. Not the case. It dropped to maybe the high 70's at night, and we slept in our underwear on top of our bedding in our tents, sweating the night away. But that is not the reason for my 2-star rating. We were actually quite fortunate to find a place to plant ourselves with our late arrival and sans reservation. All the campgrounds north of Kernville right along the Kern River were filled up (tent on tent style, which is more conducive to a party atmosphere and is not my idea of a good time camping these days). Adjacent to what remains of Lake Isabella, Boulder Gulch was practically empty (as was Hungry Gulch across the highway) . We chose the privacy of site #3 to set up camp, nestled among some boulders and shaded by trees (hurray for a place to hang my hammock!). We were enjoying the relative quiet of dusk when I spotted a rattlesnake had emerged from its home near our tent. We should have known better than to place our tent so near the boulders where rattlesnakes tend to nest. The camp host came by at that time to collect our dues and we informed him that we'd be selecting a new site away from the rocks due to our guest. He excitedly told us to hang on as he got back in his truck, saying he'd return in a moment to evict the little guy. Well, by "evict" he meant kill which seemed extreme to us. Even more extreme was the barbaric way in which he did it (repeatedly throwing a large rock onto it). Not cool. That pretty much ruined our evening. We did move over to site #6 which was more open to the elements (read: minimal shade). Though we were situated close to the highway the road noise was tolerable. Bathrooms were only slightly creepy but functional and with running water which surprised me. Showers were out of service presumably due to the drought. You're also very close to town in case you're missing any essentials. So we appreciated the privacy this campground afforded with well spaced out sites, but being adjacent to the highway wasn't ideal, nor was the way in which the host handled the native wildlife. We won't be making this a destination in the future.

This sounded more promising online than it turned out to be. I guess hunting for a campsite is something that should not be done via the Internet. Lesson learned.The place is OK for fishermen or those who go camping simply because they don't have enough space at home to throw raucous parties. We were there as a family, hoping for some peace, quiet and nature. We had hoped to swim in the lake to refresh, but there is NO shade, and the people who frequent this lake seem fond of littering. The whole place was probably the dirtiest campground I've seen.The host was nice, bit didn't do her job in shutting down the crazy fiesta that spanned the three campsites next to ours into the wee hours. Thus, we were subjected to hearing immature drunk men scream at their children and watch the wives clean up after them. I'm sure they would have beat them if they weren't in public. Not to mention their horrid accordion music that was blasting all night long.Basically, if you're a grown-up who likes to chill with a few beers and enjoy the scenery with your family, DON'T go here. If you love to make an ass of yourself, call your 2-year old a "bad girl" and cuss out your first grader, all while ordering your wife around and carrying a Bud and about forty extra pounds, this could be heaven for you.