Overview Tule Campground is located at Success Lake in the Sierra Nevada foothills just 8 miles east of Porterville, California. A variety of outdoor recreational activities abound, including boating, kayaking and fishing.Recreation The lake provides great opportunities for boating and swimming. Kayaking the lake's quiet, unpopulated coves is a favorite activity. Anglers fish for bass, crappie, catfish, bluegill and the occasional trout. Facilities The campground is open year round and offers 103 sites, several of which have electric hookups. Flush toilets, showers, drinking water and a dump station are provided. Playgrounds and boat ramps are located on-site. Campfire programs are presented at the amphitheater on Saturdays from Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day weekend. Campground gates are closed from 10p.m. to 6 a.m. Natural Features Success Lake, when full, covers 82,500 acre-feet of water with a surface area of 2,450 acres. One acre-foot is equal to 325,872 gallons of water! The campground sits on the northeastern shore of the lake, in an area dotted with sparse stands of trees. Shade is limited, but springtime wildflowers bloom on the surrounding foothills, creating a beautiful display of color.
Reviews of Tule Recreation Area Campground
18 people have reviewed this location
Ratings Summary
Cell Coverage
Verizon 4G/5G
Confirmed by 7 users | Last reported on December 16, 2023AT&T 4G/5G
Confirmed by 4 users | Last reported on October 13, 2022T-Mobile 5G
Confirmed by 2 users | Last reported on July 07, 2021Corp of Engineer parks are inexpensive campgrounds to stay in. This one is a better than average with spacious sites set above a large reservoir. Some sites have water and electricity. But Verizon Cell Service was not even good enough to text. Ranger said AT&T works.
Nightly Rate: $15.00
Days Stayed: 1
Site Number: 101
This is one of our favorite places to stay even in tents it’s close to home but a nice getaway and there is nice views all around and your close to a gas station if you run out of beer plus our dogs love swimming in the lake.
Nightly Rate: $10.00
Days Stayed: 2
Site Number: -
Cell Coverage Rating
AT&T 4G
We stopped here on a whim. We generally have great luck with Army Corps campgrounds. They are usually clean, spacious, and well maintained. We were pretty much by ourselves except for a few other occupants. Turned out after talking to a ranger that they get quite a few homeless people making camp here. Had quite a few cars come into the Campground really late, like 2am and shine lights into our camper. Not great, when you have no cell service and you find out later that it’s a pretty regular occurrence for drug users. Proximity to Sequioia NP was bonus, 60miles or so.
Nightly Rate: $20.00
Days Stayed: 3
Site Number: 87
Cell Coverage Rating
Verizon
Nice large spots to back in. Water hookup on most sites is very far away and must have 2 long hoses to reach. Luckily we found a site that was closer and used our 50 foot hose to hookup. No sewer connections which would be hard for a longer stay but they did have a dump station. Absolutely no verizon service, so plan on being off the grid while you are there.
Nightly Rate: $30.00
Days Stayed: 3
Site Number: 22
Cell Coverage Rating
Verizon
We generally enjoy COE parks but this one let us down. The park itself is nice and has great potential. However, there are no enforcement of the rules. There are a lot of people living in tents that stay here for more than 14 day limit. They would be up way past quiet hours and were very loud. Park rangers or camp hosts were no where to be found. Some of the other campers were outside drinking and smoking *things* - I have no problem with this as a life choice but when you become loud and obnoxious, it's a problem, particularly since we have a young child with us.
The park itself is nice and the sites are HUGE but some are very unlevel. We had to use a lot of blocks to get our front end up. At sites with power, the pedestals were quite a bit away but our cord just reached. There are water spigots scattered around but instead of stretching hoses we just used our tank. No big deal.
There are coin showers and they are average. My wife found a syringe cap in one of them. We've heard that there is a drug problem at this park so I guess we heard right. The showers aren't particularly clean but I've seen worse.
If we needed to overnight somewhere, I would consider here but not for more than a night. If the rules were enforced this would be a great place.
Nightly Rate: $30.00
Days Stayed: 5
Site Number: -
Cell Coverage Rating
AT&T 4G
T-Mobile
The place has puncture vine throughout. Even taking my dog out and staying on the blacktop she was getting thorns in her paws. The place is well kept but the problem of the plants is a thorny one. (Pun intended).
Overall the place is well laid out. Sites are pretty large with picnic tables, hook to hang your lantern, and firepit with grill.
The campground is between the day use area and the road so there is traffic noise but it is slow at night. The reservoir is on the other side of the day use area. There are 2 boat launches, fuel seems to be available for boats (I paddle a kayak).
The staff are nice. It is only about an hour to Sequoia NP.
I have a 25' tow behind trailer and we had no problem finding a site to fit into. Chose the dry camping option since we have solar with generator backup. Reservations say that the sites have water but sadly no. Water faucets areshared between sites and the ones supposed to be near up were pretty far out of reach. We did fill up at a faucet before setting into our pull through site.
Nightly Rate: $20.00
Days Stayed: 4
Site Number: 82
Lots of sites available without reservations. Took an unserviced site overlooking the lake in the distance. Common areas have traffic during the day, as does the highway, but all traffic slows down after 11pm. There were some people in tents that were noisy during the evening but we camped away from them. You have a choice of north and south campgrounds, so lots of sites to choose from. No OTA TV stations to speak of.
Nightly Rate: $20.00
Days Stayed: 2
Site Number: 57
Cell Coverage Rating
AT&T 4G
First of all, if I'm going to drive an hour away from civilization, I expect the site to be awesome. But this is a huge concrete pad (think gigantic parking lot) made for gigantic rigs. I was there to see the pelicans, which were not there. I would not go back again. There was a family reunion going on right across from my site and I'm not kidding when I said that those folks stared at me for nearly an hour. It was creepy.
Nightly Rate: $20.00
Days Stayed: 1
Site Number: -
Cell Coverage Rating
Verizon
Large open spaces and our site (94) is a pull through. Beautiful views of grassy Hills and a large lake. Electric and water and hot clean showers and bathroom facilities. The person who checked us in was friendly and courteous and quick- no wait times. The fee was 30 dollars and 1/2 off that with a senior pass. There are only four other RV’s in our section of the park that night and we felt very safe. Beware of the road grates as you are exiting the park. The grates are meant to keep People from driving in the wrong direction but they could damage your tires if you do not take care and pay attention to the signage. We had no cell service with Verizon.
Nightly Rate: $30.00
Days Stayed: 1
Site Number: 94
Cell Coverage Rating
Verizon
We stay here during July 4th weekend and it was HOT. The site we reserved was a pull through and have E/W hook ups. Easy to level and overlooking the lake from far away. A couple minutes walk to the lake and playgrounds. The campground provide hot shower and seem to be very well maintained. Watch for the plant/stickers (they are sharp and can poke through your thin flip flop). Most tree are young and doesn’t provide much shade, so bring your canopy and stakes them down real well. They have free life vest to borrow if needed and boat rentals. 2 dump stations near ranger station. Amazing sunset view. There are no cell service for most carriers.
Nightly Rate: $30.00
Days Stayed: 3
Site Number: 97
Cell Coverage Rating
T-Mobile
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Tule Recreation Area Campground
Hours
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Parking
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Pets Allowed
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Restrooms
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Wifi
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Wheelchair Accessible
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Credit Cards Accepted
- Check In
- 3:00 PM
- Check Out
- 1:00 PM
- Max Length
- 35 ft
- Sites Count
- 101
- Last Nightly Rate
- 20.0
- Lowest Nightly Rate
- 10.0
- Standard Tent Sites Count
- 103
- Longest Vehicle Length Reported
- 31.0
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Sites
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Laundry
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Propane
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Showers
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Big Rigs
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Boondock
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Firewood
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Fifty Amp
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Tent Sites
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Cabin Sites
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Full Hookup
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Dump Station
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Mobile Homes
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Public Water
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Pull Through
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Reservations
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Sewer Hookup
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Water Hookup
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Potable Water
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Age Restricted
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Rec Facilities
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Dispersed Sites
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Open Seasonally
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Permit Required
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Group Tent Sites
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Fulltime Residents
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Standard Tent Sites
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Pull Through RV Sites
Campground, Restrooms
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