Miranda Pine Campground

I drive up on Old Sierra Madre Road from hwy 166, and it took about an hour. The road gets increasingly rocky/washed out, with the top of the ridge the roughest going but I made it fine in a high clearance 2wd. Went on a Saturday night in the spring, and it was incredibly windy all day/night. Like... too windy to cook, hang out, relax. Probably picked the worst time of year for wind but the green hillsides were beautiful.

You don’t need a 4wd for the whole length of Sierra Madre rd. but would highly recommend it and would not recommend a passenger car. The dirt road to get to camp is about 10 miles. The road is bumpy but In good condition overall, we made it on a stock height 2wd truck. We arrived on Saturday 4th of July and all the sites were taken so we decided to drive another 15 miles up the road to a nice shaded location just right off the road. Didn’t see anybody the whole night. The next morning we drove up even more to McPherson peak where the views are amazing. We drove back down the road back to Miranda pines and everybody had left, we had the whole campground to ourselves. There was a full moon that night that lit up everything beautifully. It did get very windy that night. The campground consist of three sites and does have a pit toilet. All sites are great and offer great views. Cell phone service was on and off so don’t rely on it.

Set atop a mountain, Miranda Pine campground gives sweeping views all the way to the ocean. Beware the road is long and unpaved, not suitable for a compact car. I did it with a high clearance 4WD and made it to the top. Only a couple sites at the top, but they are free. Picnic tables at each site. Named for the larged Pine tree at the top of the mountain. Sunset and Sunrise views are incredible. Brought my dogs and they loved it. No real services up here so its especially important to pack out all your trash and follow Leave No Trace ethics.

So I did not stay at this site but I did stop on my way back into town it's well taken care of and has a 360° view literally at the top of a mountain so that's the good and that also makes it the bad too if winds pickup you will be sandblasted! No cover to break the wind coming from either side of the mountain but one of the better spots in the area for big groups !