Hospital Flat Campground

Hospital Flat is located 6 and 1/2 miles north of the town of Kernville and offers 39 primitive sites. Some of the camping sites are on the banks of the Kern River. (US Forest Service) The campground offers several single-family sites on a single loop along the river. Picnic tables and campfire rings are provided, as are vault toilets and drinking water. The campground sits within Sequoia National Forest at an elevation of 3,000 feet in an open area overlooking the Kern Wild and Scenic River. Gray pine, scrub oak, grasses and shrubs cling to steep, canyon walls along the river, and cottonwoods and willows line the riverbanks. Sequoia National Forest, located at the southern end of the Sierra Nevada in central California, is named for the giant sequoia, the world's largest tree, which grows in more than 30 groves on the forest's lower slopes. The forest comprises about 1.1 million acres. Elevations range from about 1,000 to 12,000 feet, creating precipitous canyons and mountain streams with spectacular waterfalls such as Salmon Creek Falls and Grizzly Falls.