Goldledge Campground

The accessibility to deep water was amazing! So many good opportunities for private shaded areas along the riverbank down the hill side to our spot, loved it! (#24) I tied off a tree and enjoyed the rapids on a river tube. It was the best! Definitely coming back! The toilet stank was real but the restrooms are clean otherwise.

There is a strong, unpleasant odor coming from the restrooms; the smell makes it impossible to relax or even eat at the campsite. Site 12 is way too close to the restroom, and the odor is very strong.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ We had a great stay at Goldledge Campground. The campground was clean, quiet, and the river is just a short walk from the campsites, which made it a beautiful and relaxing place to spend the weekend. It was especially nice to cool off by the river since it was very hot during our visit. The restrooms were clean and well maintained, and the campground was peaceful overall. The only thing I’d recommend is bringing one or two canopies if you’re visiting in the summer, as some campsites don’t have much natural shade. Overall, we had an excellent experience and would definitely come back.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ We had a great stay at Goldledge Campground. The campground was clean, quiet, and the river is just a short walk from the campsites, which made it a beautiful and relaxing place to spend the weekend. It was especially nice to cool off by the river since it was very hot during our visit. The restrooms were clean and well maintained, and the campground was peaceful overall. The only thing I’d recommend is bringing one or two canopies if you’re visiting in the summer, as some campsites don’t have much natural shade. Overall, we had an excellent experience and would definitely come back.

As someone from Ohio, I found the Isabella Lake area to be a well-kept secret. It's a beautiful, scenic area, with lots of outdoor activities and campgrounds. It's semi-remote so not over developed and is away from the summer crowds. The Goldledge campground is located along the Kern River. The sites have a scenic view of the river and the sound of the flowing water over the rocks. The sites are laid out among the large rocks and boulders, but there are flat spots for tents. There are numerous water taps. I highly recommend if you enjoy tent camping in semi-remote areas.

Loved the experience here Easy to reserve Easy to find Restrooms close to camping and very clean. Recommended carry your Water. Everything as the description offering.

Great site! Take the campfire test online before you arrive. I arrived a bit before designated check in time and it didn’t seem to be a problem ( weekday visit). I’d stay again

This campsite location and view and layout is great. The latrines need work. The doors are misaligned. My wife locked herself inside. Some toilet seats also need to be more secure. I was afraid to fall in one stall because the seat was loose and an ill fit for the rest of it.

I camped on site 10 everything was good just the bathroom situation wasn’t as pleasant as I wished everyone was respectful no noise complaints

Please attend to the restrooms on a daily basis. Thank you

Really lovely campground with a great beach next to calmer waters you can swim in (carefully!). Site 29, a walk-in, was really special because it was more secluded from other campsites and was perched on a hill overlooking the river – great views and the strongest rushing water soundtrack in the whole campground! Strong recommend.

We were able to move to site 16. It was perfect! Sturdy table, tree for shade, large site, across from river access! Short drive to trails and features!

We were able to move to site 16. It was larger, closer to river and no road noise. We had a blast! Short drive to many hikes and features! Picked up a trail map from forest service in town and one from R Ranch up the road.

Nice spot on the river, because of the steep ledges to the east and west, the sun hits it late and leaves a bit early which is helpful in the hot summer.

Site #14 was large enough for a small trailer or short motorhome. It is located next to the river and has a separate area for 1-2 tents, including a picnic table. It was a great spot for our pop-up trailer.

One of our favorite places to camp ever!

The sight was extremely difficult to drive it because of the rocks making the roads even smaller. The sight was NOT capable of holding/accommodating a 30ft trailer and tow vehicle. I ended up staying somewhere else and due to lack of wifi/internet or cell service I could not cancel my site. I attempted to notify the camp host but they were not there at the time. Please update the information on the site.

Everything is phenomenal. The spaces were good. The host excellent person very polite clean the only issue. It’s the bathrooms. They already are obsolete. Need some remodel after that. Everything is perfect

Nice spot, noise neighborhood, nobody stops the noise. The restroom was an hell , no way to have a shower...

Omg omg this place is so beautiful at the goldledge campground. I really recommend it to everyone out there come and enjoy your summer vacation at the Kern River.. the host name is Steven his a really nice person always going around the campground to make sure everything is fine … The only suggestion I really will appreciate it if they can do we need more trees on the camp side n solar lights on the restrooms because it’s really dark around the restrooms and more water hose post in each camp side. My experience was the best I loved this place I come every year with my husband be here again next year can wait to come back.

Perfect spot for younger kids

Great as always. New camp host was great! Sites could be updated, upgraded, privacy added by moving a few rocks. Overall great swimming hole, nice little tubing run, and my son caught 22" Rainbow.

Close to the river and incredible nature but no shade on this spot during the day just be prepare

Everything was great.

We arrived on Sunday before Memorial Day. After Monday we were the only campers in the whole campground! Most sites are not shaded-bring shelter- This is an amazing campground- close to the river and exploring in either direction.

The campground itself and the site is not that spacious, but what lacks in space makes up for the beauty surrounding it. Anywhere you pitch your tent you'll have a window of a beautiful backdrop of mountains and boulders. Our camp, camp 18 is directly across the river so you can hear the relaxing water sounds all day all night. It's also very close to town, so if you've forgotten something, convenience stores and great places to eat and drink are are reasonable drive away. The grounds are clean and the vault toilets, well they are what they are and are kept reasonably clean. Definitely recommend Gold Ledge. It could potentially be the best one in the string of campgrounds in the area.

To Start off, The host was very friendly and kind. Spoke Spanish which was a bonus for me and my family! They are bathroom that have toilet paper inside all but the smell is not that great. There is a water flaunt located in the outer parts of the campsite. I rented out campsite 37,35, and 36 as well as 8 because it was a lot of us. You can bring an extra car but it will be extra charger per day. The river current was not that strong but be advised because water was cold. Overall, had a good time here, would come next year but in opposite side of campground.

Great place!

Pros- It's a beautiful river campground, far enough from the road that the cars aren't annoying (like some other campgrounds in the area along the highway) and the river area and surrounding mountains are beautiful. Perfect for stargazing and watching the moon rise over the mountains. Potable water and easily accessible river access are also great! Cons- There was some amount of litter, the pit toilets were pretty uncomfortable by pit toilet standards. Also, I'm not sure if this was the same as other spots but there were a lot of wasps in the area that were active for about an hour each in the morning and the evening (I got stung unfortunately but it happens). Overall, im not sure I would recommend this campground to families due to the wasps and the rushing river making it swimmable only for those strong and brave. There are wadable areas but I would be careful if I were a parent. Definitely a cool spot to go with friends, I have no complaints really just observations. The host was a very friendly and cool Honduran guy, s/o Mauricio.

Spacious spot…has a table along with fire pit…table is unfortunately on top of the fire pit and was a bit of a struggle to move. Good times overall…bathroom maintenance was a little under par.

Nice campsite but should include 2 parking spaces instead of just one. Clean restrooms. Couldn’t enjoy the water at the time but overall peaceful Campground.

Campers played loud music passed 2 am.

The host was so helpful and helped us give information about the campsite and the area. He helped us get acclimated into our site without issue.

Great campground

Great campground

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Site was perfect location to the bathroom, Camp director was friendly and did his job well, always cleaning restroom every morning like clock work.

It was our groups 2nd year at this campground and we all had such an amazing weekend!!

Very small spots

the host was very helpful and nice

5 ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

small camping space, but great, secluded location with great river access

Not our first time staying at this campsite, but probably our last. We initially reserved four campsites, but cancelled one of the reservations 2 weeks prior to the date. When we got to the campsite, one of our three campsites was taken by an unknown group. Trying to read the tag markers on the sites (which have the initials and dates of the reserved party) was so confusing as they were incorrect and double marked. We grabbed our 2 remaining campsites and couldn't find the campground host to try and clear things up. When the host finally did show up around 6pm, he was clueless and blamed it on "them". "They" sent him a list - which I clearly saw had my 3 reservations and campsite numbers and pointed it out to him, but he kept going on about how there was a mistake "in the system" by "them". In the end, we had to cram everyone into 2 campsites while our third site was used by a person who slept in his car. I am now trying to get a refund for the one campsite, but trying to deal with reserve.com online is a dead end. According to them, we used all three sites. sigh...

We have been going to Goldledge campground for over 20 yrs now and my kids would not want to change this site for any other place. We love this place! Our family and friends always look forward to summer because we all know it includes a visit to the Kern. It's a very family friendly place and we hopefully we can continue to enjoy it for years to come.

The River location is great. The camp sites unfortunately are very dry with no shade which makes the trip disappointing. Also, the not able to do a campfire and sit around at night to enjoy s’mores is also pretty sad. The camp host Bob is wonderful and it’s always nice to see him and chat with him.

Very nice camp host

We arrived later in the day and our parking spots were taken. My husband and I asked around but we weren't able to find out who it was and ended up leaving after an injury.

The picnic table was missing supports and was rotting away. It had major lean to it and leaned more when just one person was sitting on it. We decided it was safest to not use it. The area for the tent was on the small side and it barely fit the 4 person tent I had. The restrooms smelled horrible and I think the seat lids are the same they had 30+ years ago when I was there last. They looked old and bent. The metal between the seat and floor on one side wasn't attached to the floor.

Wonderful place to spend good family time away from the city and specially no phone service. You literally disconnect from the world.. Great for my teenage kids:)

After having stayed in two wonderfully maintained national forest campgrounds on the same trip, Goldledge campground was a shocking departure from those standards. Our campsite, while spacious, contained a picnic table that was half-way rotted, so that the bench on one side was splintered, crumbling and unusable. It was apparent that the campground host had not looked at the campsite in several days, as there were racoon feces in the middle of the picnic table, and there was trash throughout the site. The paper tabs clipped by the parking space, used to show the upcoming reservations at the campsite, still had the two parties before us clipped on top of our name and dates, leading me to believe the camp host had not passed by in many days. This is not an especially large campground, and it would not be difficult for the camp host to look at each site on the day that a new camping party is scheduled to check in to make sure it is clean and usable. Indeed, in the other two national forest campgrounds we were at on the same trip, the employees said there were special COVID protocols in place that required extra cleaning before a new party checked in. Obviously, nothing of the sort was practiced at Goldledge. We contacted the camp host, showed him the problems, and he saw nothing wrong with it, saying no one had complained before. The condition of the grounds in general was also disgusting. For example, near the edge of the river swimming hole I saw multiple soiled disposal diapers on the ground. Bottom line: don't stay here. I don't know how the other national forest campgrounds along the same road are maintained. But this one is decrepit and uncared for. You are much better off getting a campsite in one of the well-maintained private campgrounds in the town of Kernville nearby, which is where we were lucky to get a last minute site for the night after choosing not to stay at Goldledge at all.