anita.colburn

We have only shared this area with a handful of other campers over the last week(plus). Some came and went for just a day of fishing, and some stayed for a day or two. It was rainy over the first few days so I don’t think we experienced a typical weekend, but even in the rain, it was beautiful! The road in is a little rutted for a very short distance towards the end, but certainly doable if you go slow as we did with our 33’ fifth wheel. The water level on the lake is pretty low right now so there was plenty of room for all sizes of rigs. The shoreline is muddy and silty and not a great beach area for hanging out, but it was fine for launching our paddle boards. We also saw others launch their kayaks and a canoe. Don’t take your truck to the shore line, or you’ll almost definitely get stuck as we witnessed two separate day trippers do... There is some noise from the trucks on the bridge, and a nearby train, but we never heard it during the night. There was a fair amount of trash left behind by other campers, we cleaned up quite a bit, but seriously... please pack it out so we can keep these free sites open!

There are also spaces up at the top nestled in the tree line for vans and campers.

This is a permit required area for all fires and charcoal bbq’s. Permits can be obtained at any California U.S. Forest Service, BLM, or California Division of Forestry office. Ranger stations and visitor centers are convenient places to obtain them, or you may take a simple quiz and print one off the internet.

In 2019 the lake was full and our site would have been under water! It is at 40% capacity right now (5/1/2021) and they will continue to let out more water for the farmers, so keep this in mind when planning your visit.

We pulled in and got set up just in time for sunset. There were a couple of others campers already there and a few more that came as the night went on, mostly car campers. We found it to be pretty clean of trash with a nice view, we didn’t experience any odors from the lake that others complained of. The military jets are flying overhead during the day, which we enjoyed, but they are a bit loud. White Sands was just a few minutes up the road making this a perfect spot for us! We would definitely stay here again.

Since there were no reviews of this site we didn’t know what to expect, but it was a great find with 3 RV sites, and some tent sites too, all right by the river. Some day use of rafters and kayakers putting in and fly fisherman too, but it clears out at night. We had the place to ourselves at night except the first night of the 4 when there were two other car campers. No cell signal of any kind. It is a well maintained graded road coming in, but it is washboard so just go slow. The max length of stay at this campsite is actually 3 nights. We stayed 4.

This campground is closed for 2021 due to the Ice Fire.
https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/sanjuan/news-events/?cid=FSEPRD915778

We decided to go down this well graded forest road without scouting ahead. Yes, yes, we know! Well, we won’t do that again! We were on our way to this site when a car coming out stopped and warned us not to go any farther down the road. Turns out there were so many cars parked down at the boat launch site that it would be impossible for us to turn our 35’ 5th wheel around. It was also impossible for us turn around on the road, so we backed her up about a mile before being able to turn her around!

This might be the worst parking lot campsite we've ever stayed in. It's just a run down parking area with hook ups. Dogs are welcome, but there's nowhere for them to relieve themselves thats not littered with cans, bottles and other trash. They aren't allowed on the beach or on the grass that is associated with the RV Park. The sites are super close together. The wifi is all but non existent. The lake was warm, like bath water, and staying here allowed us to experience it, but it definately isn't a do over. I'll take the more refreshing water down the Colorado River at Pirates Cove, or up river at Willow Beach.

We scoped this out and although we didn’t stay here, we could have. There was plenty of space for our 32.5’ fifth wheel, as well as larger rigs. During this drought year, there are steep drop off and this area is not easily accessible to the water, but the views are beautiful and the water is accessible in a day use area just down the road. Vans, truck campers and smaller RV’s can find space amongst the trees. Larger rigs will want to stick to the wide open space. There was just one camper nestled in the trees while we drove through, but judging from the many fire pits, I imagine it fills up in warmer months. Speaking of fire, this is a permit required area for all fire pits and bbq’s. Permits can be obtained at any California U.S. Forest Service, BLM, or California Division of Forestry office. Ranger stations and visitor centers are convenient places to obtain them, or you may take a simple quiz and print one off the internet. Since this isn’t accessible to the water, I probably wouldn’t stay here.

We scoped this out and although we didn’t stay here, we could have. There was plenty of space for our 32.5’ fifth wheel, as well as larger rigs. During this drought year, there are steep drop off and this area is not easily accessible to the water, but the views are beautiful and the water is accessible in a day use area just down the road. Vans, truck campers and smaller RV’s can find space amongst the trees. Larger rigs will want to stick to the wide open space. There was just one camper nestled in the trees while we drove through, but judging from the many fire pits, I imagine it fills up in warmer months. Speaking of fire, this is a permit required area for all fire pits and bbq’s. Permits can be obtained at any California U.S. Forest Service, BLM, or California Division of Forestry office. Ranger stations and visitor centers are convenient places to obtain them, or you may take a simple quiz and print one off the internet. Since this isn’t accessible to the water, I probably wouldn’t stay here.

We arrived on Sunday afternoon and there was plenty of spaces for our 32’ 5th wheel. There were 2 oversized - overstuffed trash bags that had been left behind by the previous campers. They had been torn open by critters and some of the trash was strewn around the site. Once we cleaned that up and dumped the trash down at the campground just down the road, the site was great! There were lots of campers, tent, RV and even a converted school bus, but it didn’t feel crowded at all. Cell service was really good as well. Judging from what was in those trash bags, I’m not sure I’d want to be there on the weekend with the partiers though.