Carolyn S.
Yelp
A fine campground, indeed! But yes -- it IS a campground, in quite a rustic sense. This ain't backpacking, but it's pretty darn close.
The pluses outweigh the negatives, as far as I'm concerned. Pluses include:
1. nice big spaces, and plenty to choose from
2. beautiful lake right there smack dab in the middle of the campgruond
3. beautiful trail along said beautiful lake (well-marked with yellow dots)
4. nice flat roads for biking
5. Dave's coffee right around the corner, Walmart up the road if you need supplies
Also, while the showers aren't what I'd call "hot," they are nicely warm enough to steam up the bathhouse. Weird, though, they're coin-operated, but they don't have any signs or anything telling you how many quarters to put in, or for how long. A lady I spoke with at the sink one morning said she'd been coming to Burlingame since before they even had a bathhouse -- you had to bathe in the lake! She told me the showers used to take a quarter for five minutes and you could feed in another quarter if you needed to, but now you have to put in two quarters and it runs for ten whole minutes.
Sure enough, that's how they worked for us. Ten minutes is way too long. We felt bad about letting the water run but what else could we do? There's no turning them off once they're going!
Another weird thing about the showers -- both the ladies and the men's rooms provide only two showers, one "regular" and one handicapped. The lady at the sink told me not to use the "regular" shower cause the water comes out so fast, the shower curtain blows around and all your clothes get wet. So, thanks to her, I stuck with the handicapped shower stall, which had much more room. Funny thing, though, handicapped shower in the Men's room wasn't an option for my Dude cause the water came out from a lower spigot, around waist level for him. Ugh. So he dealt with the shower curtain blowing around as best he could.
Now, the bath houses were very clean but they were constantly damp which is kinda icky, right? Oh well, you're camping, suck it up. Also, the mirrors over the sinks were totally clouded, couldn't really see so if you wear contacts you might wanna bring a little mirror with you if you need it.
Didn't run into ANY trouble with loud campers but I can see how people do go here to party and if you're looking for peace & quiet you may need to move your site. They seem to have rules about when you can move, too -- when we signed in, a lady was irate cause she was trying to move her site due to loud neighbors but the kids at the desk told her that because she checked in after 10 pm, she wasn't eligible to move until the next night, or something. I dunno, they told her to talk the ranger, no idea how that came out.
I can appreciate how inconsistently rules are enforced -- it's a really big campground and the sites go way back into the woods, frequently, so it must be hard for the rangers to keep track of everyone. I bet the urge to make an example of the revelers you do catch is hard to resist. Oh, but there are plenty of revelers. If you get caught drinking, you're no doubt a rookie. Like the other reviewer said, use solo cups. Hide your hootch. If you must get rowdy, get one of the way back wooded sites and don't bother others. So what if you have to hike to the potty, you're drunk and it'll probably do you good to get some fresh air & walk some of the alcohol off.