Top 15 Beginner Campgrounds

Arizona

Wahweap Campground Glen Park National Recreation Area, Lake Powell  What better payoff for taking the camping plunge than the finger canyons of Lake Powell? A waterfront campground comes with basic creature comforts (hot showers, shaded picnic tables). After breakfast, the main event: Rent a boat or kayak at the marina to explore what looks for all the world like Zion National Park filled halfway with water. 

California

Fallen Leaf Campground, Lake Tahoe Set between Lake Tahoe and smaller, mellower Fallen Leaf Lake, the campground makes it easy to enjoy swimming in and boating on both bodies of water. Beginners who feel iffy about sleeping on the ground can rent yurts with platforms and electric lights. You’ll find hot showers and a general store.    

Howard Creek Campground, Westport–Union Landing State Beach This blufftop campground on the Mendocino coast may be better suited for trailers than for tent camping: There’s a steady wind off the ocean and not much privacy. But the view of the King Range meeting the Pacific will wow any first-time camper: It’s as spectacular as any in California.

Thomas J. Story

Main Campground, Samuel P. Taylor State Park Sun-washed meadows, regal stands of coast redwoods shading quiet Lagunitas Creek—this West Marin park showcases Northern California camping at its loveliest. And it’s a great place for beginning campers. The mostly paved Cross Marin Trail makes for easy hiking and biking, and civilization is close enough that when you realize you’ve forgotten eggs, a store is only a 15-minute drive away. Two cautions: Sites can be hard to book on weekends, and the drought may limit water use—check to see if you need to bring water.

North Beach Campground, Pismo Beach State Park Set behind Pismo Beach’s white sand dunes, this grassy camp supplies wind protection plus hot showers. From most sites, a two-minute walk leads to the waves. The wide beach is ideal for beachcombers, while surfers, kayakers, and anglers ply their pursuits in the water. The restaurants of downtown Pismo Beach, 1 mile away, provide dinner options. In winter, thousands of monarch butterflies roost in the eucalyptus trees.

Live Oak Grove Campground, Caspers Wilderness Park, Orange County Camp out under the oaks and sycamores in the Santa Ana Mountains without forgoing life’s little necessities—like flush toilets. Get oriented to the great outdoors at the Saturday night campfire talk or on the Sunday morning ranger walk. The 2.5-mile East Ridge Trail makes a great beginner’s hike.  

New Brighton State Beach, Near Santa Cruz Set on a pine-shaded bluff above an endless white beach, New Brighton’s 100+ sites get snapped up by those itching for a beach weekend—without the triple-digit nightly tab. The beach is the real draw, and the hot showers don’t hurt, but another bonus is that if you forget your matches or just don’t feel like cooking, you can easily grab takeout in town, a five-minute drive away. After all, this is vacation, right? 

Colorado

Golden Gate Canyon State Park, Outside Denver Yes, this campground 20 miles from Boulder or Denver has extras like electricity, plumbing, and laundry. But wander beyond the campsites and you’ll find big mountain appeal in nearly 12,000 acres of forest, rocky peaks, aspen-laced meadows, and miles of trails for hiking and mountain biking. If tent camping is a little too … rocky for you, reserve one of the cozy cabins or yurts.

Oregon

Silver Falls Campground, Silver Falls State Park Some of the waterfalls at this Cascade Mountains park, including 177-foot South Falls, drop from overhangs so large that hiking trails actually pass behind the splashing water. That’s just one of the cool things about Oregon’s largest state park, 25 miles east of Salem. Whether you come for mountain biking, strolling by huge western hemlock and lush sword ferns, cooling off in a Silver Creek swimming hole, or warming up by the fireplace in the 1930s stone lodge, you always have a hot shower to come home to. And even Fido can run (a bit) free: There’s an off-leash area for dogs.

Hoodview Campground, Mt. Hood National Forest The name pretty much says it all: the shark’s tooth summit of Oregon’s signature peak rising from an alpine forest and mirrored in aquamarine. A prime position on the south shore of Timothy Lake makes Hoodview the most popular of the five campgrounds on this reservoir, where anglers, paddlers, swimmers, and water-skiers proliferate like mayflies. Newbies, wrap your hands around a steaming mug of cowboy coffee and just take in that surreal view.

Utah

Goblin Valley Campground, Goblin Valley State Park Roughing it is de rigueur in Utah’s rugged canyon lands (where even outhouses can seem like luxuries), but Goblin Valley, west of Moab, is the Ritz-Carlton of the desert. These 24 sites pamper campers with showers and with shade. Two yurts have wooden floors and bunk beds—even swamp coolers offering relief from summer heat. All sites enjoy views of eroded pinnacles and mushroom-shaped rocks; tenters should nab sites 10 through 12, which are tops for seclusion and scenery.

Washington

South End Campground, Moran State Park All five campgrounds in Moran State Park—on Orcas Island in the San Juans—are set among skyscraping evergreens and sit steps away from swimming, paddleboating, fishing, and 38 miles of hiking trails. But it’s the 17 sites of the park’s South End Campground that have all the creature comforts (showers, real toilets) without the crowds—and you can pitch your tent on the edge of a private beach along sapphire Cascade Lake.

Wyoming

Lizard Creek Campground, Grand Teton National Park Delightfully off the radar for most park visitors, this privately run lakeside campground gives campers the chance to enjoy stunning mountain views without the crowds that clog other parts of the park. Some of its 60 sites sit near the edge of Jackson Lake, with views of the jagged Tetons. Pines separate tents and trailers (the prettiest spots are designated a generator-free zone). And the nearby marina and restaurants increase your dining options.

Unless noted, these campgrounds have potable water and flush toilets.

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