Lake McSwain Recreation Area

We were originally headed to McClure further up but a friend highly suggested this lake and we're glad we stopped in for a few days (Thur-Sat). A mix of sites with full hook-ups (further from lake), elec/water only, or water only (next to the lake). We chose an electric site within sight and walking distance to the lake to launch our kayaks. Very peaceful in the off season but ranger told us the weekend before (pre-Halloween) and the following weekend (Veteran's Day) are nearly full with reservations. Only reason for 4 star vs 5 is they charged $4 for our dog (on top of the $28 for the site)! That's 15% of the site fee! We also had lots of flies at our site.

There is a dump station onsite with 3 lanes. The bathrooms/showers in the C/D/E/F loops were old and not well maintained (woman's shower stall was falling off the wall).

There is a marina store onsite but the hours were reduced in the off season (8:30-2:00 Fri-Sun). We would stay here again but only in the spring or fall/winter as it gets VERY hot here in the summer. We had high 70s in early November.

I have been camping here for a while already, the rangers are very friendly and keep the camping very clean and tied.

They have a lot of the sites, many are electric and water and 22 sites full hookup. They have a special rate for more than 7 days that is $18.00 full hookup but you need to call them, online you don’t have this rate.

On weekends are pretty busy, on weekdays is peaceful, very close to the lake, that you are able to fish or just relax at the beach. This is my favorite camping in Central California so far.

We stayed here because we were looking for a “home base” for visiting Yosemite on weekends that had cell signal so we could work during the week and enough last minute availability to stay a few weeks during the summer. It’s still an hour to the Yosemite gate from here. 30 minutes from lots of supplies & resources in Merced. This is a 4 star campground during the week, 3 stars on weekends.

Pros:
- The partial hookup sites are big and well-spaced. MUCH better than the full-hookup sites. Most have nice views and shade. The ones near the road are much worse. A blog, theironwolf.net wrote a very helpful and detailed description of the pros and cons of all the sites & loops.
- Very affordable, especially at the extended stay rate
- Good amount of availability.
- The reservoir lake is nice if you have a boat or kayak. I wouldn’t really be into swimming there.

Cons:
- Although the campground is nice, it’s pretty poorly maintained. In-site pavilions super dirty & cobwebby. Bathrooms really run down. Limited on-site staff & they weren’t very helpful. Hard to get a hold of someone to call for reservation edits.
- very busy on weekends, mostly families though which is nice
- Not near much
- Biggest con is the insane amount of Verizon cell signal congestion on weekends. During the week the cell signal was okay for working. Once the campground got busy it was unusable.

As hard as it is to find a campground with cell signal in this area, we’ll probably try to find something else next time.

We stayed here for one night just as a spur of the moment thing because it’s so close to our home but we were pleasantly surprised at how awesome it is! The lake is beautiful! We walked around and it was very peaceful. During the summer they have an obstacle course on the water called “splash and dash” which we will definitely check out. Only drawback was cell service was very low to non existent. However that means you and your family are forced to disconnect and actually talk to each other lol
We had electricity, water and sewage in G loop. We have a 39 ft big girl

Great stay. We camped here to fish the lower Merced or Tuolomne Rivers; ended up fishing the Merced. We stayed in the G-Loop; full RV hookups (30A, water, sewer). Sites were level and come with covered picnic table and fire ring. Restrooms do need to be "refreshed"; but are functional. Trash cans at the gazebo area do need covers; the creatures of the night raided the cans most evenings. We found some great spots to fish the Merced River between the campsite a the nearby town of Snelling. Overall, a great stay. We'll be back.

We stayed here at the end of December, 2019 for one night. I had researched the sites prior to our trip and wanted #9 as it was lakeside, long enough to not un-hook our Rpod and looked nice - it was! The lake was right there... we were in between Labs, but if we still had our old one or had already rescued our new one, either would have loved the lake! Our area was quiet - some of the areas not quite as much - lots of families & kids - which we love, just don't want the party scene. Nice walking, gorgeous lake and sunrise / sunset. Only cell we had was near the restaurant. Would definitely return in the off-season.

Kind of disappointed. Site A-17, no real separation between you and your neighbors, electrical post was full of black widows, a lot of small trash (cigarette butts, bottle caps, etc) around the site. Worst part; flies. Couldn’t cook outside the flies were so bad. Open the door, 3 or 4 flies would get in every time. Don’t know if it was just the time of year for flies here or not. Nice lake though.

Nice stay. Way too hot for August if you plan on spending anytime outside. Price was $40/night for electricity and water site. Good dump facility.