Camping near Onion Valley, California?

[Kirk_Ferentz]

I don't know the area at all, but my buddy is trying to plan a trip up there. Anyone have any recs for a good tent camping site? We like to be secluded and out in the wild, but not extreme, on the side of a mountain.

 

[lambertiana]

There are established campsites at the end of the road at Onion Valley. Those campgrounds are operated by Inyo National Forest, see them here (Grays Meadow is lower and drier):

http://www.fs.usda.gov/wps/portal/f...rea&pname=Inyo National Forest - Onion Valley

If you want any seclusion, you will need to get a permit and head up the Kearsarge Pass trail, where you have to go a couple miles before camping. The effort is worth it, there are a number of beautiful lakes a short distance from Onion Valley; here is one of them.

And if you have a couple days, go over Kearsarge Pass, all of these pictures are within a day's hike of Kearsarge (and the first and last pictures of this group are at Kearsarge Lakes, which is commonly done as a long dayhike from the Onion Valley trailhead):

 

[Kirk_Ferentz]

Yeah, I gave up on this thread, but we ended up camping at Onion Valley. It was great. Made it almost all the way up to the pass but it was time for people I was with to turn around and head back down.