Alabama Hills and Big Bear Camping

Plan on heading out to either Alabama Hills or Big Bear Thursday night/Friday morning. I'll be coming from NorCal so it's probably going to take 7 hours and likely arriving around 2:00AM on Friday. First preference is Big Bear yellow post sites or any locations where I can pull in at night and setup camp. Since there are only a few amount and I anticipate more people out due to July 4th weekend, I might just want to play it safe and head to Alabama Hills instead. I figure AH will have more camp sites to choose from.

Again, it's my first time to either location and first time setting up camp at night. Do any of you guys have tips for arriving at night to setup? Basically, just want to make sure I have proper etiquette and don't piss anybody off. I'll have a California Campfire Permit before heading out. I'm aware that the State of CA is under fire restriction so no campfires unless I'm at an actual campground. I'm only going to be using a propane stove for cooking.

 

You still need to do the online fire permit when camping here in California in fire restriction zones . It’s easy.

 

Yes, I did it shortly after my original post.

 

What link did you use?

 

https://www.readyforwildfire.org/permits/campfire-permit/