Sentinel Campground

We were here 12 -14 May 2021. None of the other campgrounds were open so not many people in the canyon. We had planned to stay 6 days in our camper but a few days before our reservation time we checked out the canyon in just our truck. The drive down into the canyon convinced us to leave our camper at a campground outside the park and just use our truck and tent to spend 3 days in the campground. We did see bears but they ignored us. It was 45 F in morning with a high of 83 during the day. All campsites are ok but 12 - 20 are very nice.

Sentinel Campground is a great, NPS campground surrounded by tall trees, wildlife, and the Kings River. Our site was a large, pull through site. Lots of afternoon sun to recharge the solar system. There are a few bathrooms sprinkled throughout the campground with water and flush toilets. When we were there, the showers were not available. There are a number of sites along the river and many very shady sites. Mixture of RVs and tent campers. Some sites near the river looked a bit muddy but it was 2019 so a very wet year. River was really high when we were there. Lots of bear activity so be sure to use the bear boxes to store food and cooking utensils (not your vehicle if tent camping).

The campground is close to lots of trail heads. There is a small visitor center. It is about 5 miles to Roads End - which is literally the end of the road - where there are lots of trails and picnic areas. We rode our bikes through the other campgrounds and also to Roads End. No cell service so you really feel like you are out in the wild.

The road into Sentinel Campground is paved but super windy and narrow - some places you are about a foot from the rock cliffs or hanging on the edge of the river.

The campground was about 3/4 full and relatively quiet - until this large group pulled in two sites away from us. They had two or three families together and set up a big screen with a projector to watch movies at night. Only problem was they started the movies at 9 p.m. - and ran the projector with their generator. Generator hours are 9-9 so, after two times of us alerting them to that fact, they finally turned off the generator.

Dump station is available in Princess CG which is a USFS site on the way out of the NP.

It was a great experience and would definitely consider returning.