Wheeler Gorge Campground

A good campsite very close to Ojai. Absolutely no cellphone service unless you have Verizon and are right next to the ranger station. You walk 20ft away and it goes away again. They have a star link booster right there, which is the reason for the limited service. It's a pretty large campground but the parking is very limited at each particular spot, so it's difficult for group camping. Better for smaller groups, or individuals. You will see other campers from your campsite. Decent pit toilets, and the camp host kept everything pretty clean. There is a creek flowing through the campground so there are two distinct sides, the side closest to the road has better parking but slight road noise. I had site 19 and 20, which was divided by the road unfortunately. But site 19 had excellent access down to the creek, which my friend's kids enjoyed. We were there for Veterans Day in November so it was too cold to swim. Would def go back in summer.

Nice Campground 15 minutes from Downtown Ojai , really green & if you get a campsite by creek all night long you got the creek's sound as lullaby No cellular service that it makes it better in my opinion ! I read some reviews complaining about lots of bugs around , we didn't see any most probably because Oct is a cold month . There is available wood fire for sale @ entrance boot & restrooms were acceptable for a campground Be advised: There is no running water or electricity in whole campground

Camping here was OK, The spaces were a bit small, but we did like how there were bathroom accessible in many areas. Since the spots are so close together, you are pretty much hear everything the neighbors are doing. Not the best, especially if you have a family continuously fighting on the other side. It was really awkward at times. There is also not too many hikes at this location either, you'll have to drive to few of them. One thing I was really looking forward to was the campfire, but during the time we went, fires were not allowed so the night were really cold.We made the best of it though. My sister and I brought our gas stove and made smores on it with hot chocolate. The view at night was amazing. The stars are extremely bright and so many clustered together. I haven't seem so many stars like that in a while. It was breath taking. With great company, any where is magical.

I spent a couple of nights camping at Wheeler Gorge, north of Ojai. Great campground, in the middle of nowhere. A stream ran right by the campsite.This is the first campground I've found in California so far that has large spaces with plenty of shrubbery for privacy. The sites are rocky though, and you have to make sure your tent will fit before choosing one. The website (www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/232138) does a pretty good job of giving maximum dimensions for each site.Some sites are along Maricopa Highway, while others are tucked further back, between the stream and the mountains. I found a site (site 40) that was further back and had buffers (hills, stream, shrubs, trees) to cut out on the noise and allowed more privacy for me and my hammock. There were plenty of trees, but none that I could use for the hammock. I have a Tensa4 Hammock Stand, so that wasn't a problem. The hammock and the stand pretty much filled the available space, so a 12 to 15 foot tent would be pushing the limits I think.Each camp site has a picnic table (very short, and about 25 years old according to the gravity), a fire ring, and a grill. Vault toilets are well spaced throughout. There is quite a bit of poison oak in the area, and be sure to bring bug spray along with your calamine lotion. I saw the camp hosts several times each day and they were friendly.Ojai is only about 10 miles away for shopping and food trips. Highway 33 runs through the mountains and ends up in the desert about an hour north. It is one of the best motorcycle roads I've been on.

Visited Wheeler Gorge campground on July 26th (2 nights) and had a great time. Stayed at space #46 (close to hwy 33, not to noisy) and it's was big and lots of shade. Creek was very close and water was clean and cool. There is no running water, showers or cell service. Restrooms are kept very cleaned and stocked with toilet paper. Camp host Emily was very nice, sweet and friendly. She is from Tennessee and has a cute southern accent. Had second thoughts coming to the campground due to bad reviews on camp host but had NO problem with Emily!!! Drove down to buy firewood but Emily offered to take it to my site in her golf cart . Her helper (didn't get her name) was out and about in her golf cart cleaning up sites as soon as campers left getting it ready for the next guest. Overall had a GREAT TIME. Will definitely be back

Nice campground in the San Padres Forrest. My campsite was large, had a BBQ and and firepit that included a grill on top. The host's were nice but check-in is a bit strange. Definitely recommend buying the firewood at the Vons in town. Only con about this place is no running water, so pack extra! Be alert of bears, one went through my campsite at 5am.

Just stopped in Ojai for one day and was able to pick from plenty of campsites around 6 on a Wednesday. Note, many of the campsites have reserved signs but are dated out for a couple days on most. The frogs and sound of the creek at night was amazing. There are plenty of restrooms around campsite. We stayed at 46 and could walk down and explore the creek from our campsite. I left with some bug bites but nothing too crazy. Host was helpful at check in.

This campground does the trick! Easy access to Ojai but far enough away to make it feel like real camping. Becky and Bob are fantastic hosts! I don't think in the 50 years of camping I've done that I've met more friendly, helpful, available, spunky and forthright hosts before. Rare in my experience. The site we had, #67 was not ideal since we had an trailer but the tent site associated with it is fantastic. The sites in this area are definitely too close together but we met and enjoyed our nice neighbors despite their loud 6 year old boys shouting and waking us up at 6:30 am every am. Whatev. Definitely recommend the Sespe Trail about 1/2 hour away for fall colors! And the butternut squash ravioli at the Osteria Monte Grappa in town was incredible! Overall, a great place to visit if you get one of the campsites.

June 26 2019We had a real camping experience at Wheeler gorge campground, we got a site that was mostly away from all the other sites and with the large stream running behind to drawn all the noise from others and with the toilets near by, luckily no smell, when we left all the campsites were taken for the next 2 nights, lots of people came for the weekend.Some things to remember * No potable water bring all the water you will need for everybody * the water in the shallow stream was warm/ I wouldn't get in that water, in the other stream the water was cold and better looking. The running water is soo refreshing, kids and pets love it.*At the time we were there, there was lots of gnats or some kinds of black annoying flies, bring a net for your food area.* Pit toilets, toilet paper * Picnic table and fire pit

Was looking for a little getaway not too long of a drive out of the city, and this spot was pretty good. Hosts were awesome at helping us find an open spot, and they kept the vault toilets really clean.Lot's of shade with many trees, so most of the spots don't need pop ups to get out of the sun. If you need sun to charge your RV batteries, you'll need a panel you can move around during the day. Many spots were long enough for our 20 ft trailer on a couple different loops. We spent 3 weeknights in mid October, and the days were quite warm, night only down into the mid 50's. During the week, there were only 4 other campers, but on Friday it filled up.Pluses: Lots of shade, lots of RV sized spots, and really nice hosts--to the point of jump starting another camper's dead car, and stopping by to see how our visit was going. Seriously, these guys were awesome. No cell service, so your camping buddies won't be staring at social media the whole time.Minuses: No water, and quite a bit of poison oak, so study up on what it looks like so you and your pets can avoid it. It got very buggy with little gnat size flies during the day, but they vanished in the evening once the temp dropped a little. Guessing that's due to the half muddy creek. It's also close to the highway, so you'll get some road noise. Look for the spots further away from the road.The nature trail nearby is a disaster. It starts with a low crawl under the highway through a graffiti covered low spot that sketchy characters were hanging out in. Then a scramble back up an embankment to a trail covered in poison oak and fallen trees. Hard pass on that one.