Price of camping in Angeles National Forest may jump as much as 300%

It will cost 300% more at some campsites in Angeles National Forest if the fee hikes are approved.

Although inflation fell below 3% in June, with the price of appliances, eggs, furniture and used cars also dropping, tell that to the folks at the U.S. Forest Service.

The managers of the vast, 700,000-acre Angeles National Forest — including the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument — are proposing to raise the cost of camping at 11 popular sites by as much as 300%. The fee hikes, if approved by a resource advisory committee and the regional forester, would take effect sometime in 2025.

The Forest Service is proposing increased fees at 11 developed campgrounds: Oak Flat, Sycamore Flat, South Fork, Monte Cristo, Manker Flat, Lightning Point Group Campgrounds, Horse Flats, Crystal Lake, Coldbrook, Chilao and Buckhorn.

The proposal has received mixed reactions since announced on July 1.

“We are never in favor of raising fees. We feel it is an equity issue,” said Juana Torres, president of the Sierra Club Angeles Chapter’s Forest Committee. The Sierra Club and its forest committee are formulating written responses. Comments on the fee hikes are accepted until Sept. 1.

Torres was particularly concerned about raising rates from $5 to $20 a day per campsite, or 300%, at Oak Flat, Sycamore Flat and South Fork — primitive campgrounds on the desert side of the forest, close to the Lancaster/Palmdale area.

Since Lancaster and Palmdale have significant populations of people of color, the campgrounds attract many Black and Latino families. Most who camp in the Angeles National Forest cannot afford a trip to Yosemite National Park, for example, where reservations are required as much as a year in advance, sites cost about $36 a day and are very difficult to secure.

“For some of these folks it is their only vacation — a camping trip. To raise fees when so much else is going up seems unfair,” Torres said on Monday, July 15. “And from $5 to $20 is not a reasonable increase. To raise the fees dramatically in this area doesn’t seem fair.”

The proposed fee hikes are far less dramatic on the other side of the San Gabriel Mountains, jumping from $12 to $20. That side is where many campgrounds are in lush back country off of Highway 2 or Highway 39, and where some say you feel you are in the High Sierra with its tall pines, clean air and running streams.

At the following seven campsites, fees would increase from $12 to $20: Monte Cristo, Manker Flat, Horse Flats, Crystal Lake, Coldbrook, Chilao and Buckhorn. The Lightning Point Group Campground would go from no fee to $100 for the larger, 45-person group site and $80 for the 36-person area that contains four sites.

“From $12 to $20, that is a more reasonable increase,” Torres said. “The Sierra Club could get behind fees where it supports high-concentration areas, but we would want to see an explanation as to how they (USFS) would divide up the money.”

About 80% of campsite fees and other recreation fees are used to help maintain and improve facilities, according to a statement from the U.S. Forest Service/Angeles National Forest, whose headquarters are in Arcadia.

“Revenue collected through recreation fees would help the forest improve infrastructure at campsites and hire additional recreation staff during the season of operation,” according to a statement released by the USFS.

To some, the idea of adding resources such as personnel, or adding more trash bins to handle the onslaught of visitors to a forest that attracts 4.6 million recreational users per year, is worth higher camping rates.

“It can benefit the forest by helping generate revenues the forest so desperately needs,” said Nathan Nunez, founder of The Canyon City Environmental Project, a local nonprofit. His group leads cleanup efforts along the East Fork of the San Gabriel River in the Angeles National Forest north of Azusa.

He’d like to see the rates approved and the money used for restrooms and garbage bins in areas of high demand. “I would really love to see the funds go straight to areas that need it the most — the (San Gabriel River) East Fork and West Fork,” Nunez said.

One of the most heavily used campgrounds during weekends and holidays is the Crystal Lake Recreation Area, about 26 miles north of Azusa off Highway 39, with about 100 camp sites. The sites, first-come, first-serve, fill up fast, said Adam Samrah, owner and operator of Crystal Lake Cafe, the store/restaurant at the campground.

“Every weekend it is full,” Samrah said on Monday, July 15. He would like to see more campground sites that have been closed re-opened, to take some of the burden off Crystal Lake.

He noticed illegal campers on the side of the road at the West Fork river area. Those who don’t arrive at Crystal Lake early enough get turned away — and then look for nearby places to land, he said.

“I don’t think charging $20 is too much,” he said, saying it will not deter campers from driving the curvy Highway 39 from Azusa to the lake-area campground, with an elevation of about 5,800 feet.

He’d like to see more trash bins and more patrols. And the road to the campground needs repairs and better lighting, he said.

Not all recreation sites charge fees and some camping sites are available without user fees, the USFS reported.

How to comment

Due date: Sept. 1, 2024

By mail: Angeles National Forest, Attention: Jeremey Sugden, 701 N. Santa Anita Ave., Arcadia, CA 91006.

By email: Send to: jeremey.sugden@usda.gov. Comments can also be submitted to an online map at https://arcg.is/iXXmz.

For more information on the proposed camping rate fees, visit the website: https://www.fs.usda.gov/angeles