Camino Cove Campground

This spot was fantastic. The campground had clean toilets and trash cans. The lake was beautiful and so was the area. It is about a hour and a half to drive to the tahoe area, but with the view at camp it is fine to spend the day around camp. Big lake to fish or boat on, and plenty of areas to hike off and explore. There were a dozen or two other campers while we were camped there, it was hunting season when we went, October 2016, so lots of hunters. Not many sunny spots if you depend on solar like we do, but there is cell reception and internet. This was my favorite camp site that we have found on this website so far.

Drive-by review, we planned to stay at this site but found after a long drive up, the gate was shut and the campground closed for the season as of Oct 11. Area is great but there are not many camp alternatives on the way up, nor too many places to turn around. We mistakenly progressed farther up the road to where it gets quite twisty and inaccessible for a 30' Airstream. Cell is excellent on one side of the hill and non-existent on the other so it cuts in and out as you make your way up.

This is a wonderfully beautiful site that is free, which means there are people that think free means they can do what they want and it fills fast! We pulled in Thursday late afternoon and found the place full. Made the full loop with our 25 foot trailer and it was tight at the lower section of the camp ground with our 25 ft trailer. We pulled back up to the mail dirt road and found a area we could pull off at and spend the night there and walked in first thing in the morning to see if we could find someone who was pulling out. Luckily we did and made arrangements for them to call us as soon as they started to leave. They called we headed down and sure enough there were a couple of other people who were trying to get the spot. They said they had it, I looked at them and my rig 10 feet away and said sorry I closer and we made arrangements for them to call us and they did. He hung around until they pulled out and I pulled in. I would recommend getting there not later than Wednesday during the summer, ideally Sunday through Tuesday.
Next problem was people, free means sometimes no respect for others. Police were called after a site insisted after a lot of consumed alcohol that 3am was still a great time to blast their music and it was their armed right to play it that way. Thank heaven there is cell coverage and the Sheriffs Dept has a pretty fast response time. The Ranger said this happens on occasion.

Beyond that the area is beautiful, the lake is beautiful and not too cold to swim in. There are a lot of areas to explore, if you have a boat it is a great boating spot and there are sites were you can tie your boat up at the shore. Most of the people were all very nice and there were a few very interesting fun characters that live moving from spot to spot every 14 days.

This campground, located on the Union Valley Reservoir, is a bit of a challenge to get to. We drove our 25 ft. Winnebago on the bumpy, rocky access road. We were the only rv in the campsite, though there were several pickup truck/trailer rigs. No reservations here, it's first come, first served.

Vault toilets, no water in the campground, large sites, picnic table, fire ring. Decent cell phone access.

This campground seemed to be popular with boaters and fisher people. Some campsites were on the lake and we did see some people swimming. During our stay, it was fairly quiet in the campground. Quite a deal for the price!

Spent last week at Union Valley Reservoir, a long time camper there told me Camino Cove is being remodeled and will begin charging when it opens back up. He said it's the most beautiful spot up there, but the road to it is hard closed as of 6/2019 so we can't attest to that. Maybe next year.

Camino Cove was closed all year for 2019. The rumors are true it will be paid starting 2020. It's all about the money. All the areas in the Cristal Basin have pretty much been closed by gates or big rocks. They don't want anyone camping off grid anymore. All good free area have been closed one way or the other.

There is a new paved road to the CG. It was nearly full on a Wednesday afternoon. There are several waterfront sites but of course they were all taken. The water level was really low making for a hike to the lake even from the closest sites.

The water Is crystal clear and camp site is good as well. Plenty of waterfront campsites but they are snatched up fast.
It was a late night for us because of some rowdy party campers. But that might be Labor Day Weekend rather than the location.
Long winding road leading up to it.