Old Shady Rest Camground

I have a family with 4 young girls and would stay here again. I appreciate the space between site and the shade. Only wished they had showers.

I created this campground «buisness» on Unilocal just to write my review. My husband and I finished a wonderful 5 day, 4 night trip to Mammoth and Old Shady Rest was our campground and home base.

We picked this campground over Convict Lake, Lake Mary, Twin Lakes, and Coldwater because it was the last campground with a site that matched our trip dates. We were disappointed with our limited choices of having to stay at either Old Shady or New Shady Rest because there weren’t any showers on the campground itself and no pretty lake view. But after our trip, we are SURE GLAD we stayed at Old Shady Rest spot 28. Our spot 28 had lots of shade, a lot of room in between our neighbors, and restrooms a short walk away.
PROS of Old Shady:
— Somewhat secluded as it’s tucked away from the busy 203.
— Plenty of water spigots.
— Flat throughout (no hills to hike).
— Shade, shade, shade, a huge plus during the summer.
— Clean well-​maintained bathrooms.
— Less crowded than Mary Lake, Coldwater, and Twin Lakes. (We took day trips to the other campground to see what we missed out on and didn’t find much).
— Less bugs/​gnats than the other above campgrounds.
— Lots of room between camp sites for privacy and quietness.
— Less vehicles in and out (less dust).
— Shady Rest Park was just up the street and had swings and baseball field.
— Dogs allowed.
What we found visiting the other popular campgrounds:
Convict Lake — There was no shade.
Coldwater — Lots of rocks, hilly, restrooms far away.
Lake Mary and Twin Lakes — Too many people, lots of bugs, and lots of cars in and out.
Mammoth RV tent sites — Lots of traffic in and out. Crowded.
The other campground also had sites that were closer together so there is less privacy.
CONS of Old Shady:
— Lots of RV’s that produced generator noise. It was tolerable to us since it kind of just drones in the background. No generators were allowed after 10 PM.
— Showers off site. We drove a short distance across the street to Mammoth RV and paid $ 6 to shower.
— Occasional emergency vehicle sirens heard from the busy 203.
— Lots of ants. But it’s camping.
Also FYI, we didn’t really know the different from Old Shady vs. New Shady. We randomly chose Old Shady. But now we know New Shady seems closer to the 203, seemed to have less shade, and had more campsites. If my husband and I ever were to camp in Mammoth again especially during the busy Summer, we would choose Old Shady Rest again in a heartbeat. Also just a tip, I would buy a fly bag trap to help with the bugs and buy mosquito coils to repel mosquitos. This helped alleviate our typical bug problems and allowed us to just sit, relax, and enjoy.