jonahlight1

My first night at Twin Lakes was spent at the Campendium Camper's Choice 2018 winner Twin Lakes View, but after a long day of driving and another hour of scouting for a spot I pulled in to a nondescript spot with no view, and scraped the side of my van against a tree. So not great. The next day I moved to North Mount Elbert which is much more accessible and through the somewhat sparse pine trees has great views of the surrounding mountains (not the lakes though).

Access up to the campground was great. Within the campground there were some sections requiring thoughtful approach, but nothing terrible. There was space for dozens of RVs of any size, with ample turnarounds and a fire pit designating each site. There're no amenities, but walking the trail down the hill brings you to Lakeview Campground, a pay campground with pit toilets. Just saying.

The mid-July weather was perfect. Low to mid 70s, dry, and mostly sunny. The tree coverage provide shade but also plenty of sun depending on your positioning.

The only negative was the noise. This place gets very busy on the weekends. There were all sorts of vehicles ripping through the campground and on the surrounding roads all day long. There were also some neighbors who though the entire campground should enjoy their music and seemed to particularly relish screaming out the curses in the lyrics. Stay classy. Last, let's not forget the gunfire. Nothing conveys a sense of security like rapid gunfire after dark.

This is one of those campgrounds where you have to visualize what might appear as an acceptable site when the campground is nearly full. People will pack in to near RV park density, so if you have to opportunity to scout and select a secluded site by all means do.

This place and Panoche Hills are pretty much the only free camping available in the central valley, and to see them you understand why they're free. Awful, awful road in. Not long, but thoroughly rutted and washboard. Once you reach the main area where the vault toilet and picnic table are you'll find several spots up against the hills, but these are for using the hills as a backstop for shooting, not for camping. The road seems to continue beyond this area but there's a trench that makes it impassible for anything 2wd, maybe even some 4wd.

Due to a relatively dry winter, the hills were already brown in early March. So it's ugly, inaccessible, and nowhere near any viable alternatives. Throw in the shooting that's bound to scare the crap out of any pets, and the bullet shells everywhere, this ranks as the worst BLM location I've seen to date. For the record, I didn't bother to check out Panoche Hills because the higher elevation would have made things slightly chillier, but I'm confident it's similar.

Just north of Walden is the Cowdrey lake reservoir. Easy access from the highway (road?), far enough away that you can barely hear the noise, but there's little traffic anyway. The lake sits in a vast open plain with mountains many miles away. Cows are grazing on the private property on the other side of the lake and there're plenty of birds, pelicans too. Beautiful sunsets, and maybe sunrises too, but I'm not an early riser.

There's a pit toilet but otherwise no amenities. Space for five or six campers in unmarked spots. The local residents come here often to fish and the fishing seems to be good. At dusk the mosquitoes come out and they are no joke. It is a lake after all though.

The weather is unpredictable and the wind shouldn't be underestimated. Just because the forecast calls for 10 mph winds doesn't mean you shouldn't expect 40 mph gusts, because you should. I now have a tent pole duct taped to a backscratcher because I believed the forecast and apparently don't know how to properly peg a tent.

T-Mobile coverage was non-existent, and then I re-parked my van to get more level and I consistently got three bars. I don't get it but ok. Overall a nice spot. No recreation besides the lake, so best if you have a boat/kayak.

I stopped at all of the open camping areas here on a Wednesday in mid-August and saw the same thing, no available sites, with an unoccupied trailer/5th wheel parked in almost every single one. Shame so many people feel this is an acceptable practice. Two stars because the area seems perfectly decent, but the "reservation system" sucks. You'll see this review same review on several Fishlake NF sites because I was greeted by the exact same thing time and time again. Made for quite a troublesome day

The road in sucks, giant rocks embedded everywhere. The views of the Sierras are nice, but there're no trees besides sparse junipers, so the wind can be intense. Plenty of OHV usage on the weekend but relatively quiet during the week. The locals are borderline creepy, slowing down if not just stopping in front of your rig to check out god knows what. No amenities. The weather in mid May was crazy variable, ranging 30s to 40s at night and 50s to 80s in the daytime. I'd stay here again if another global pandemic ruins my travel plans. Otherwise, good for an overnight and stick to the first open area you see.

You can't make it to this location without high clearance, short overhangs, and/or 4wd

I stopped at all of the open camping areas here on a Wednesday in mid-August and saw the same thing, no available sites, with an unoccupied trailer/5th wheel parked in almost every single one. Shame so many people feel this is an acceptable practice. Two stars because the area seems perfectly decent, but the "reservation system" sucks. You'll see this review same review on several Fishlake NF sites because I was greeted by the exact same thing time and time again. Made for quite a troublesome day

I stopped at all of the open camping areas here on a Wednesday in mid-August and saw the same thing, no available sites, with an unoccupied trailer/5th wheel parked in almost every single one. Shame so many people feel this is an acceptable practice. Two stars because the area seems perfectly decent, but the "reservation system" sucks. You'll see this review same review on several Fishlake NF sites because I was greeted by the exact same thing time and time again. Made for quite a troublesome day

I stopped at all of the open camping areas here on a Wednesday in mid-August and saw the same thing, no available sites, with an unoccupied trailer/5th wheel parked in almost every single one. Shame so many people feel this is an acceptable practice. Two stars because the area seems perfectly decent, but the "reservation system" sucks. You'll see this review same review on several Fishlake NF sites because I was greeted by the exact same thing time and time again. Made for quite a troublesome day

A June heatwave pushed me to seek higher elevation and, after finding the campgrounds around Paulina and East lakes a little too crowded, I found this nice piece of isolation. It's up a generally decent forest road with a couple heavily rutted spots, but nothing that can't be managed with 2wd and choosing a careful line. The site itself is the southern slope of a mountain with a pit that appears to have been mined for pumice stone. The road seems to go around the pit, but the first left quickly descends into hills of loose stones that will trap any vehicle. The road on the far side is just fine though.

The terrain is entirely pumice stone, so not great for the paws of furry friends. The pit is a perfect backstop for shooting, as was evident from the shells and broken clay pigeons. In my stay only two other people drove through, both looking to use the area for shooting, but both were courteous enough to find another spot. The area is surrounded entirely by pine trees, really no other significant type of vegetation. The trees are relatively young and you can see long views of the valley below through them. Animal life consisted of birds, the occasional chipmunk, and lots and lots of flies.

There's no accurate local weather station but the temperatures were consistently 6 or 7 degrees lower than La Pine, and fairly windy. Cell reception was spotty. I got about two bars boosted of Verizon and nothing on T-Mobile.