Spending time in the outdoors is incredibly important right now. And we want to share some of our tried and true camping tips for camping with Kern River's Edge Campground Retreat on the Kern River, in Kernville, Ca. With lots of families getting outside, such high use will begin to have a serious impact on outdoor spaces, especially precious spaces such as our campground. We are excited to have you join us very soon! We understand and appreciate how important it is to get outside and enjoy the serenity and calm that comes from being in nature.
To enhance your experience here and increase the sustainability of more camping for everyone, we recommend the following:
Make Hand Washing Easy No need to run to the restroom every time you wish to wash your hands. Make sure your camp hand wash station is accessible to all, including children. Here's an example hand wash station that you could make from items at your home. You may not even need the paper towels with our warm summer temps. Wash hands often!
Please Respect our 10pm Quiet Time Your neighbors will appreciate you. Dim your lights too, our dark skies are incredible! Meteor showers can start around 9pm. Pack everyone in the fam a headlamp or bring a couple of flashlights to ensure you are directing light at the ground instead of up towards the sky. Improves your opportunity of catching a shooting star!
Protect Yourself -- No Glass in Camp This is one of the biggest hazards we see, someone drops a glass bottle and the next thing you know you are driving your child to the ER to get stitches, on vacation! Don't let this happen. Plan ahead and transfer contents into plastic, tupperware, or ziplocs. If you must bring glass containers, please leave glass in your ice chest and transfer contents to plastic while in our Park.
Check weather Before you Come Kernville is considered high desert and afternoons can get very warm. Be prepared by bringing extra shade canopies to create shade exactly where you need it. We recommend spending late afternoons on the water on a whitewater rafting tour, or up at higher elevations such as Unal Trail or the Trail of 100 Giants.
Refill It
Please consider using a refillable water jug instead of purchasing cases of small, plastic water bottles that end up in the landfill. Have each camper bring their own, individual reusable water bottle such as a Hydroflask, and then refill as needed. You will create less trash! Our potable water spigots are located throughout camp.
Reuse It Use washable, reusable dishware like the enamelware available through GSI Outdoors, instead of packing throw away plates, bowls, cups, forks, spoons, and knives.
We offer souvenir enamel cups for sale in our Camp Store - come add to your collection!
Leave No Trace All this trash adds up! Think about what we are leaving behind in the wonderful, outdoor spaces we visit. Are you Leaving No Trace, or lots of trash and a mess that others will have to clean up?
What is Micro-Trash and why should it matter to me?
Micro-trash is small pieces of trash or litter. Some examples of micro-trash are torn corners of candy bar wrappers, plastic bottle caps, juice pack straw covers, broken glass pieces, fruit labels, gum wrappers, cigarette buts, torn off labels of sports bottle drinks. Even food scraps like sunflower seed hulls and orange peels are considered harmful micro-trash and should not be left behind. It takes a trained eye to spot this kind of trash but despite its size, micro-trash greatly impacts our land, water, and wildlife. Micro-trash is dangerous to wildlife when they try to ingest these shiny particles. It breaks down into smaller pieces and these tiny pieces migrate into our food and water sources. When micro-trash breaks down and gets pushed into our streams and rivers, this is pollution that eventually ends up in our beautiful Pacific Ocean. Who wants to swim in sea of plastic? We can all do a better job of cleaning up after ourselves and leaving a place better than we found it!
Thank you for helping us keep Kern River's Edge Campground Retreat a beautiful space to return to every year with your friends and family!
While you are here, visit the Giant Sequoias.
Get our DIY tour tips here.
