Eagle Point Campground

Eagle Point Campground is always ranked first in the popular campgrounds in California due to its unique geographical location and beautiful natural scenery of Lake Tahoe. It is hard to get a spot and reservation is required half a year in advance. We stayed at Lower Eagle Point Campground in South Lake Tahoe for two nights from Jun 20 to 22. It was great whether hiking, sightseeing, barbecue or sleeping. Except for two hours of extreme wind and snow weather on Jun 21, we encountered a mother grizzly (brown) bear with two cubs, one brown and one black, who kept invading the camping sites where people were barbecuing and eating in the evening of Jun 20 and at noon on Jun 22. At about 12am on Jun 21, we were lying in the tent going to sleep and heard big and small bears passing by at close range outside the tent, until 2am, the campground became quiet without vehicle horning. Perhaps because they cannot get enough natural food, they have been searching for human food and going to camping sites in every corner. Whenever we hear car horns, pots and pans knocking, and human shouting, it means that the bears are approaching a camping site and people are driving them away. When we set off at noon on Jun 22, we saw park rangers holding shotguns searching the bushes for the three bears that had just been driven away by people near the camping site. On Jun 25, I read the news that the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and California State Parks removed a bear that posed a threat to public safety in South Lake Tahoe. The bear had a long history of human conflicts, including multiple burglaries and vehicle break-ins. It was the female bear we encountered, because she rushed into a camper at around 4 a.m. on Jun 22 and attacked a camper, and later in the morning of Jun 22, she tore open the door of a campervan, disturbing the sleeping teenagers. Because of the conflict between people and bears, the female bear has been euthanized, and the two cubs have been sent to a wildlife rehabilitation facility for care.

Quiet and clean campground with breathtaking views. The staff was friendly and helpful, and the bathrooms were cleaned regularly. Please be aware of the bears! They prowl around looking for food, so be sure to keep all your food in the provided bear lockers. I’d definitely come back and recommend this spot to anyone looking to reconnect with nature.

Check in at the entrance to receive the camp rules along with your marked date and site number. Surprisingly we have connections enough for the use of Google map within the campground. We stayed at site #44 which has two levels but limited privacy and shade. We ended up sleeping on the upper deck where we enjoyed a better view! The restroom and water faucet were located directly across from our site. Showers require quarters or park tokens as shown in the video. It's just a few minutes walk down to the beach and there’s a nearby trail called Overlook. Be aware of black bears in the area (we saw two and I happened to film one of them) and ensure to lock all scented food, lotions or deodorants in the assigned bear locker. Then you can relax and fully enjoy!

What a beautiful campground. The bear defense is a bit of a chore but overall the sites are fantastic everything is clean... The shower token process is pretty annoying. The firewood is insanely expensive but it's California so I guess $10 is like their equivalent of $4 when utilizing the currency of the great Republic. Quiet well managed we didn't see any bears. The private beach is a nice enough option as the local beaches are overrun and expensive to visit. Great experience. Lots of restaurants and what not around if you want to go get lunch or a beer. The nearby vikingsholm is nearly inaccessible at all times if you want to see it you'll probably need to hike a few miles from the campsite or swim to it haha, not joking.

This was our first time camping here. It has a beautiful view of the lake. Easy hike down to the beach. It’s very well maintained and clean sites and facilities. One of the best campgrounds we’ve been. Make sure lock everything in the bear box.

Great location! Some sites are not level and no one could figure out where to get shower tokens but it is convenient to popular sites. Bathrooms had toilet paper though no soap. There are plenty of little paths and is just a wonderful place to camp.

This was my first true camping experience, and a camper friend said I am now spoiled since we stayed at the most gorgeous California campground. The views were breathtaking and the pictures can't come close to the real thing. There was a decent area for tents, campgrounds are either for 4 or 8 people with 1-2 vehicle spaces for cars parked next to your camp. There is a bench, fire pit and bear box in all campsites. Making a reservation starts in January and some sites are harder to get as they are in demand because of their location and view. Staff stop by frequently (especially during the first 24 hrs) to make sure food is not left unattended when no one's around. They told us bears recognize the coolers and attempt to open them even when empty, so we put away the empty ones. We had two separate bear sightings right on the camp in the 3 days we were there. It was a smaller wandering bear that went around the big garbage bins. People shouted and it went its way. It was also raining pretty hard for half a day so it was a good thing We had a shelter to put around the bench and our group stayed and ate together while we watched the rain from behind the screen.

We stayed 2 days in campsite 36. It was clean and well designed. The bear box at this site is large and can hold a large cooler. We had no problems with bears but do bring bug spray as the wasps are aggressive and numerous. The sites are close together but there is a lot to do here. Beach access is a short hike down the hill. The beach there can get busy but it's a great place to cool off and let the kids swim. Up the hill is the main trail with a much longer hike that ends up at the visitors center gift shop and boat launch. We packed a lunch from our campsite and hiked there, enjoying the waterfall views first. Bathrooms are clean and stocked daily. There is a lot of staff here that seemed friendly. Over all this is one of our favorite places to camp.

I'm a seasoned camper, so I really didn't appreciate getting harassed a few minutes after arrival about keeping food away. I haven't even gotten the chance to use the bathroom after a long drive and the camp hosts have the audacity to come hound me. When I politely mentioned that I am well aware and from bear country they were quite rude and not friendly at all. We did see Smokey during our stay along with air horns going off/on to scare them away, quite the adrenaline rush if that is your jam. Just please don't be dumb and keep your distance! Beach access with less people than in town but it is a good walk down (more than the .4 mile it states and it's not paved). Overall, it was an OK site might be back just for the location, crossing my fingers with different hosts.

Great spot with a 1/4 mile walk to a small private beach. All food items do need to be locked in the bear locker along with any toiletries.

The place has the potential to be a 5 star campground but the staff running the show especially the older folks like Steve and Lisa whom go around harassing all the campers at every second they can get should be let go. Working as a wild land firefighter I've been camping out where no one has been so I know the animals especially living in that area and working there for years. The employees need to put more time in cleaning the facilitlies as they were run down and nasty! I've seen fire camps cleaner than this place! for example our first night experience was that of CSI as a camper apparently fell in the shower and bled everywhere with puddles of blood and when we told the host all they said is they'll take care of it in the morning. This place needs new management to bring it to where it needs to be. Truly sad :/

This is a great spot to take in some of the most spectacular views of Lake Tahoe. The campground has ample space for tents or campers. Each site has a bear-proof trash box. The sites are well maintained, and only a short walk to the trails to Eagle Point. If you're not camping, you can park on the shoulder of Route 89 and walk down to the point to take in the amazing views of the lake and Emerald Bay. The wall down from the road is easy for al hikers and only takes 10 minutes. Totally worth your time!

Priceless beauty on a point of paradise overlooking majestic Lake Tahoe. What more could one ask for? I've read the reviews, and most of the negative ones seem to revolve around a hornet/wasp issue (we saw none), so I can't really speak to that. Based on our experience as seasoned campers, we'd absolutely return to this much coveted and unique campground when we next have the chance. State campgrounds require a lot of research in order to really nail down the best experience. We chose an amazing campsite overlooking Emerald Bay, with priceless views of the sunset in the evening and a short walk to a private beach that only the campground has access to. The pines stretched forever, we saw bald eagles, thankfully no bears and we spent each evening drinking beers and soaking it all in. As far as natural beauty, it's 5-star flawless. The rest, however, is imperfect. The bathrooms weren't always in top shape due to the high volume of campers and campsites, but the staff did a decent job of maintaining them and the showers had hot running water. What was confusing and inconvenient was that the lower showers don't have their own token machine, meaning you have to hike to the top one, then back down, or just use the top one instead. The sheer number of campsites and the quiet nights were an issue, too. One or two loud/obnoxious campsites that ignored curfew made late nights difficult for others. The sites are so close together and there are so many that it's inevitable this would be a problem. All minor quibbles, in retrospect. We thoroughly enjoyed this experience and sharing it with our son. I will be marking my calendar to go back there next year!

Very kind staff. we arrived at about 22:00 and there was no one at the reception, but we phoned in advance and were told that there was a board with empty seats. So upon arrival we took 59th place. The campsite has a place for a tent, a parking place, a barbecue, an iron cabinet for food storage (from bears), a toilet and a shower nearby (a shower is paid separately), a descent to the Emerald Bay. Very beautiful place, I recommend.

My husband and I are avid car campers and occasional backpackers, and we've camped in many places in California (Redwoods National Park, Lassen, Joshua Tree and Death Valley, at the beach, in the high Sierras and etc.) We've been in campgrounds where there are no flush toilets and no showers, only an outhouse, and we've backpacked in remote parts of Yosemite and Kings Canyon where you have to do your thing in the bush so many feet away from where you've set up camp. I say all this 'cause you have to believe me when I say that Eagle Point Campground is truly luxury camping at its best. You have showers, you have flush toilet, you have drinkable water, the lake is a short quarter of a mile walk from the lower campground, the trailhead for the amazing Rubicon Trail is in the campground and you have a great view of the magnificently blue Lake Tahoe, all for $35 a night. You don't need to drive somewhere to do lots of activities like kayaking, swimming and hiking. And the stars! Seeing the Milky Way and constellations at night was what made me realize how much I've missed camping. This part of the lake was perfect for stargazing! We camped here recently, twice in one month. The first was with friends. We had two adjacent sites for 14 people. It got to be challenging fitting all our food and toiletries in 2 bear boxes as we had to bring lots of food to feed that many people for 3 days. We took turns cooking breakfast, lunch and dinner, so we all had to bring coolers. Lol The second time we camped we camped for 4 days and it was a little easier as it was just me and my husband. But both times our sites were in the lower campground which is really the best part of the campground. So try to get a higher number (like 75+) if you want better and flatter sites and easy access to the beach and overlooks. If your group is big like ours and have more than two cars, you will have to park the extra vehicles in the overflow lot/Rubicon Trailhead. Only 1 car per site is included in the fee, so all additional cars have to pay $10 per night. Some sites are also "Premium Sites" which means they cost more than $35 a night. Yes you're gonna get dusty. Yes it's going to be cold at night. Yes the ground is hard and cold. Yes the bathroom floor gets dirty with everyone going in there with their boots. You're camping for God's sake. Go stay in hotel if you have a problem with all that! We took a 5 year break from camping because we got busy with my nephew and niece. Now, we can't wait to go again! Camping here has made us love camping again. I have to thank my friends for booking sites here. We had a great time sitting around the fire, toasting our marshmallows and assembling our S'mores, and gazing at the Milky Way at night!

This is an amazing campground, has everything I could want! There's plenty of things to do on the campgrounds without having to drive anywhere, like walk to a tiny beach where you can swim in the lake (near site 65), take a short walk to 2 stunning viewpoints (near sites 89 and 30), or hike the Rubicon Trail to Vikingsholm which starts from the campgrounds (near site 30). Each campsite has a bear box, picnic table, and fire pit with a grill. There are lighted restrooms with showers and flushable toilets, which I saw them cleaning in the morning, and water spigots every few campsites. I didn't see any bears or yellow jackets, but there are quite a few bugs that come out at night, particularly this one gross type of flying beetle-like bug, but nothing that directly bothered us. There was also cell reception throughout most of the campsite (I have T-Mobile). Highly recommend this campsite, would definitely come back! FYI, if you have questions, the camp rangers seem very responsive on campsitephotos.com

Very beautiful lake but only some campsites are great, some are bad. Pick carefully if you can The women's bathroom was atrocious. The maintenance man was doing his job but the floor was cement and the paint was peeling. Don't blame the worker. Pros: Hot water was readily available. Never had to wait on line for a shower even though the place was 100% filled for the 4th of July weekend. I hope the state updates the bathroom.

Lower Eagle Lake Campground is one of our favorites. Quiet and private sites. Newer bathrooms with flush toilets, showers and lights. Water spigots between every two spots. Several short trails that lead to panoramic views or beach side. Remember you are in bear country so keep your goodies secured.

We just left from an awesome 3 nights of tent camping here. Since the campground literally opened days ago after a 4-year closure due to remodeling, we were able to walk in and have our pick of sites! Normally this will not be the case and reservations will be a must. So on to the review starting with the cons because there are less of them than the pros!! CONS: narrow roadways in parts of the camp will make it difficult for large rigs to pass one another, the campsites near the top are on hills and will make for terrible tent sites (choose 51-89 for level spots!), and VERY hard to find the campground as there are no clear markings/signs and construction is happening all along Hwy 89 around Emerald Bay to make things a little more tricky. PROS: beautifully remodeled bathrooms and showers ($1 tokens for 3 mins- hot!), pretty natural setting and you can find private sites, .25 mile walk down a switchback old fire road to the campgrounds private beach access! (Slightly rocky beach at the entrance to beautiful Emerald Bay), on site (located just past campsite #88) short hike out to Eagle Point where there is a picnic table and great sunset views, farther out from the bustle of South Tahoe but not as far as other Emerald Bay State Park campgrounds, premium sites have INCREDIBLE views but you pay for those views at $45/night. We were happy with the standard site at $35/night and I still just a short walk away from amazing views. The only thing I would say was completely frustrating and not atypical for campgrounds is the noise level after hours. Better monitoring and enforcement needs to happen so people who actually want to sleep in their tents, can do that. Otherwise, lovely lovely campground and Tahoe, you are stunning!

I really enjoyed camping here. The park rangers were friendly and polite. Our campsite was close to bathroom and showerroom, but it did not bother us. I recommend to get stuff before you come to here because there is no grocery stores. We had to drive back about 20 min to get food. I want to come back to this campground again.

This is a great campground in South Lake Tahoe. We've camped here twice, maybe back in 2011 and Aug 2016. The campground is hilly but the sites have been flattened out. The views are gorgeous and the showers/bathrooms are clean (remodeled). The website warned us that there were yellow jackets at the campgrounds. We also had friends who were in Tahoe the previous week and reported seeing yellow jackets everywhere around the Lake. So the families we were camping with bought many (12?) disposable yellow jacket traps and set them up as soon as we arrived. The campground hosts said it was okay to leave the traps there for the campers that come after us so we left them hanging on the trees. The yellow jackets are a complete pain in the neck. Anything to do with the food, they came swarming. The host was very helpful and said that we should wait until after sunset to cook & eat dinner since the yellow jackets go back to their nests. That was too late for us since we had been out swimming and hiking most of the day. The kids wanted to eat so we cooked dinners when the yellow jackets were out. The rangers and hosts sell firewood and shower tokens. Without the yellow jackets, I would give this campground 5 stars. It's a short drive to many activities and the views can't be beat!

Really enjoyed this campground. We stayed during the week so it was pretty empty camper wise. Our spot was #56 which had a partial view of the lake. Spot was close to the bathroom and directly across from the campground host. The dumpster was not to far either. The host was David and he was really friendly and nice. The bathrooms were very nice and the shower is so refreshing and the water is warm! It's a dollar per token and token will get ya 3 min shower. Which was plenty of time for me and my son to get all cleaned up. There was a bear sighting the night before we got there but no sightings while we were there. All the campsites have a bear box but some sites have a smaller box then others. Definitely suggest having a bear proof ice chest in case spot had a smaller box. A bald eagle flew right over our campsite on the last morning. The campground is about a 15-20 min drive from the town. eagle falls/lake is only a ten min drive. We hiked to the falls and continued to eagle lake which was spectacular. Lots of trails close by the campground. While the campground is dog friendly the trails are not. Great campground to come if plan to do a lot of hiking.

Some sites are huge and others on a slant or really small (e.g., site 29 can probably fit a 1-2 man tent that's it, site 67 can sit 6 people easily). And extra vehicle will be charged $10.00. The first set of showers aren't that strong it's $1.00 per token (which you get from the ranger) however, the second set of showers toward the end of the campground have showers with stronger pumps. What makes this campground awesome is the view around it. It has a tiny beach cove one can hike to (.25 of a mile distance wise) or do the 1.7 mile hike down to Eagle Falls and the Vikingholm house. It's a very easy hike "down" meaning you will have to hike back up, the views though are well worth it. There are no toilets along the hike path. Bears are very active when I stayed for two nights for both days I saw a bear that was not afraid of people, with that being said it is crucial that campers store their food and scented items in the bear lockers (not even your car). Just so the bears do not keep coming back in search for food.

We really wanted to love this campground ... and maybe we will at one point when we're empty-nesters (or we would have back when we were a footloose and fancy-free young couple). What do I mean? This is a place to go when you want to enjoy the rustic beauty of a rugged mountainside campground. However, because most of the sites are "built up" with retaining walls against the steep rugged terrain - it's difficult for children to find clear open spaces to actually play in (if they are attempting to do anything than hiking or exploring). By the way, these "stepped" pads makes for treacherous movements in the dark if you dare to venture to the bathroom without a headlamp or lantern. Furthermore, for this same reason, it's VERY difficult to keep an eye out on where younger children while they explore beyond the tighter confines of your campsite. Here's a recount of our initial sequence of impressions when we finally found the park entrance near the top of a steep grade and we descended - yes literally descended - into the campground with a 16-foot travel trailer in tow: - Geez, this is a steep descent - Goodness, these are tight campsites (hope ours is a bit bigger) - Gosh, look how tightly the sites are tucked against the mountain - WOW, what a spectacular view! (as we came to a part of the campground that revealed sections of the blue lake in the background) - Well, some of these campsites look bigger ... hope ours is like these (as we continued our descent) - Hey! There's the access point to the Rubicon Trail ... directly from the campground! - Oh god, how are we going to back the trailer into these short parking spaces (edged with boulders?) - Boy, I hope no one else needs to get out while we hog the entire one-lane road backing up our trailer!! - Whoa ... NICE bathrooms! - Double whoa ... there are YELLOW JACKETS ... EVERYWHERE!!

Stay somewhere else. I'm here for the weekend and if it wasn't for being a group excursion I would have left within hours of arriving. The bathrooms are barely kept up. The men's bathroom toilet was plugged upon arrival and it honestly looked like it hadn't been serviced in days. The camp sites are small. The staff is rude and definitely not accommodating. It's a buck for a 3 minute shower in cold water - but the worst thing about this place is the bees. They. Are. Everywhere. You can't eat during the day without being assaulted by bees. Ive literally never seen anything like it. This morning I woke up in my tent and it sounded like I had pitched it under power lines. They're all over the place like a plague and have made this a really unenjoyable experience. And we're not talking about honey-bees here. These are nasty useless bees that swarm you for your food and get all over everything. I walked around to see if it was just at my campsite but it's not - they've infested this place and it's disgusting. Don't camp here.

First of all, Emerald Bay is beautiful and this campground has nice spots, but ours was not one of them. We were in site 64, and it was tiny. There wasn't even really a good place to set up the tent. But we figured out a spot and moved on. Then came the wasps. They were all over the campground and all over our site. We couldn't have food out for any period of time and preparing meals was next to impossible. At one point there must have been 30+ wasps in our site alone. And we weren't the only ones. My husband and I were both stung and we heard of at least two others in sites around us that were stung. There was no hanging out at the site and relaxing until the wasps had left for the night when the sun started going down. Given there are so many beautiful places in the Tahoe area, we will not be going back to this campground.

This is a decent place to camp. The area is beautiful. You can see Lake Tahoe from a lot of site on one side and Emerald Bay from a lot of sites on the other side. We were in site 47 because it had good proximity to the trail down to Lake Tahoe. The trail down had stairs and was very short, quite accessible; however, this year with the water being so high the actual entry to the lake is 5 feet wide and full of rocks. Accessible, but awkward. The access to Emerald Bay is across the camp ground by the sites in the high 60's. You walk down a fire road to the water access on the bay. The access there is a sandy beach about 30 feet wide. The fire road isn't difficult to traverse, but my family with leg and back problems found it too much. There are bees like people mentioned, but they come sporadically during the day when the sun is out on your camp site. There were bears too. The first night a bear was in the campsite across the way but they scared it off. A second one came shortly thereafter and messed with one of their cars, but was also easily scared off. Our second night a bear was in a campsite above us and walked away from them through our site. They never bothered us though. We were very diligent about keeping all our food put away and all our garbage disposed of. We were right by a bathroom, it had two stalls in each bathroom. The floors were clean, the sinks work with cold water, there was always toilet paper, and the toilets always flushed. There were always creepy bugs in there-moths,grasshoppers, spiders, but it's camping so... if you're able to climb stuff, and walk a lot this place is great, but things aren't quite as right there as they seem online. It is a short drive down to Camp Richardson which has lovely stores and a delightful ice cream parlor and a short distance past that is any kind of store you could need. It's a good deal, the road right before it has a few very short terrifying bits and the road from it to South Lake Tahoe has some terrifying bits as well, but nothing insurmountable. The campsites really vary in size. Ours is fine, but the one next to us is three times the size, and up in the upper camp the sites are super leveled, so not always that good. I'd get 46 or 67. One big thing is that the website says they sell ice and wood. They sell wood, they even drive around every evening with it in a little trailer. THEY DO NOT SELL ICE! Buy it in Richardson or South Lake Tahoe if you need it, but that's a huge inconvenience if you don't know that.

We had a great weekend of tent camping at Upper Eagle Point Campground with a group of approximately 15 adults and 10 kids--across 7-8 different campsites--under the age of 12. The campground was beautiful, with views of Emerald Bay, access to gorgeous hiking trails, a beach, and nice restrooms. The main issue preventing us from re-booking a camping trip at this site in the future would be the speed at which the cars drive through this campground. We had several near heart-attacks with cars flying around the bends while walking to and from the restrooms with our kids. Having camped at many different sites around the Tahoe area in the past several years, this one had the worst car traffic. Perhaps that could be fixed with some added speed bumps?

We visited friends for lunch and had a great time. Their area was spacious and the bathrooms were very clean. Very short walk to the lake for some fabulous views. I'm not a camper but I enjoyed the visit!

I believe to really enjoy this campground you need to know which sites are good and which to avoid. The location is excellent and the campsites/bathrooms have been mostly updated with some exceptions. There is a bathroom shower area as you drive into the campground that is in desperate need of maintenance. But the disparity between good and bad sites is way too high to merit anything higher than two stars. Clearly they went for quantity rather than quality when they laid out the plans for this campground. There is an upper section and a lower section. We stayed at campsite 22 in the upper section and it should be removed from the map. The only tent location is literally right next to the road in an area built up with a retaining wall. If a car drives by at night, your tent is totally lit up. The rest of the site is on a slope and not at all comfortable. Stay away from site 22!!! Just avoid all sites in the upper section of the campground as a rule of thumb. Not all the lower section sites are great but at least they're close to the lake. It's an inconvenient hike to get to the lake from the upper sites. And NO EXTRA PARKING at the lower area unless you want to roll the dice. The rangers drive around presumably looking for camp infractions but otherwise I'm not sure what their scope of work entails. I know what they're not doing which is enforcing the quiet hours unless you complain. The camp host is a very nice gentleman that makes multiple rounds on his ATV and sells wood for any idiot that didn't bring enough (me). He'll call you out for doing something against the list of typical campground rules, but he's also very helpful. The fire pits are really tall and I suspect it's to prevent forest fires. But you need a large stack of wood to even see the flame. Not a good design although the person in our group sitting uphill from the fire pit could see it fine. We saw no yellowjackets or bees. I think 2016 was a very bad year for yellow jackets due to the ongoing drought. Mosquitoes were barely an issue as well. As far as camping in one of the most overcrowded areas of Lake Tahoe is concerned, you could do worse. I would only come back to this campground if I could pick my site.

First off, let me say that there are a few spots in this campground that are so freaking gorgeous, I would be willing to deal with any amount of hassle to camp there. You cannot beat the location of this campground, and those sites that take advantage of the views are worth every penny you will pay. Then there are the other 95 campsites. This campground is just poorly designed. Most of the sites are very small and set on a slope, making it impossible to find a level spot to set up your tent, or anything else for that matter. The cramped conditions mean that many sites have firepits dangerously close to the picnic tables or tent pads. Lots of manzanita bushes around the campsites mean that at least you get some privacy, but not much space. There are a few larger, more level sites in the middle of the lower loop, but they are all very close to the bathroom and showers, and they get a lot of traffic. The management here is just bad. The bathrooms, which should be luxurious with hot running water, showers, and electricity, are not cleaned often enough and become so disgusting they might as well be pit toilets. The only time we saw a ranger was when s/he was ticketing someone or when they came around to tell us that the water had been contaminated and that we couldn't drink it. The only time we saw the campground host was when he was trying to sell firewood. All of this for the very high price of $35 a night. And if that wasn't costly enough, they will charge you another $8 PER DAY for any additional vehicles at your campsite...you only get one vehicle for free. So, avoid this campground unless you know you are getting one of the prime spots. If you still decide to camp here, AVOID at all costs sites 35-47; they are the worst in the campground on a very steep grade with no space at all. Also, despite being in Tahoe and containing many trees, this campground gets HOT, and many campsites have very little shade. The sun can be brutal here...plan accordingly.

PARENTS: Don't stay here! There is an infestation of wasps/yellowackets that are super aggressive. We fled after our kids were stung just standing still. We couldn't cook, we couldn't eat. There were not thousands but HUNDREDS of thousands of these "bees." The sound of them was so loud in the morning it was scary. It was like being in a Hitchcock movie! As we were arriving, the campers across the way hurriedly gave us their wood and advised us to get out. They used the word "flee." Most of the campground was empty, as people came, stayed maybe one night (the bees go to bed about 8:30) and then fled. The rangers are really angry because everyone is asking for refunds. Screened in shelters were no use. Two families of us ended up having to get hotel rooms to finish out our planned vacation. This campground has quite a scam going! They let people drive in and find an empty spot without reservations (because so many spots were paid for and then abandoned!) knowing that the new people will likely flee, too. We watched one man hose down his entire site with some toxic insecticide and he still ended up being chased out. The three sites across from us were abandoned twice while we were there. All over the campground, kids were screaming at all hours from the bees. This was the worst experience we've ever had. (And we've camped many places, and always had a great time!) Also cons: Some new bathrooms, most are still very bad and not maintained, run out of paper, etc. They just put yellow caution tape over them. The door fell off the hinges at the old bathroom near us, and they never bothered to fix it. Showers are pricey, and the first two-three minutes you waste because the water takes that long to warm up. Then it gets very inconsistent...freeze, scald, freeze, scald. The accessible shower was nice, but with the way the water was, a person in a wheel chair could be seriously burned! Edited to add: Showers are turned OFF on Tuesday/Thursdays, and it's a very dirty/dusty campground. They don't mention that on the website, so plan accordingly! Rangers have SERIOUS attitude. Never seen the like and we stay in California State campgrounds very often. Never had any unpleasant interaction before. Some sites listed for 8 people will not hold even a small tent. Some sites right next to it could hold 4 or 5 10x16 tents, also listed for 8 people. It's a total crapshoot. We drove around and realized that this campground is so very badly laid out and not well described that it's ridiculous. Also, they are NOT using the numbering system that you might read about on their website. You actually get the numbers you reserved on the Reserve America site. The Ranger said, "Oh, we're not even going to use that website next year, they keep doing things we are not authorizing." (Which website, the CA State Gov one or Reserver America? I think he was just making stuff up.) This is a beautiful place and should have been an ideal vacation. But we had to pack up all our food and go into S.L.T. to a park (Bijou is nice, if you find yourself needing a place to go!) just to be able to make sandwiches. We never could cook our "proteins" on the campfire because the bees were SO aggressive. This is a DANGEROUS place if you or someone in your party have an allergy. Do yourself a favor...stay somewhere else. Anywhere else. PS... I have a degree in Recreation and Outdoor Education. I'm no wimp, and I know how a facility should be run and maintained. This is a lawsuit waiting to happen.

Worst experience ever. This place was horrible. Sadly it was completely infested with bees. We had such high hopes and expectations of good times visiting lake Tahoe, and this campsite completely ruined it. With small children who were already afraid of flying insects, we were in a state of panic the entire trip. The loud buzzing of bees did not go away until after 8 at night, and in the morning, by about 6:00 they all start up, a loud buzzing noise everywhere that's really creepy to hear in your tent. Add a few bees hovering under the rainfly and several trying to get in your tent door turns this into a real nightmare of an experience. We planned to stay 4 days and had to pack up and go to a hotel for the last two nights. With dogs and children being stung, nobody could relax because you were constantly bombarded with bees. We left early and asked for a refund. I suggested they put up a warning on the website about the bees and the ranger said they had gotten worse the week we were there. I think it's completely inconsiderate that they didn't make some kind of effort to let people know how intolerable it would be to try to camp there. We crammed 3 kids, 2 dogs and all our camping gear into a minivan and drove hours to get to this campsite. It was beautiful, but i got no pictures of the campsite because it was a constant battle with bees while we were there.

Let me start by saying this is a beautiful location, great views with short hikes down to the water. That being said, we had an absolutely miserable 2 nights at this campsite. The yellow jackets/bees/wasps were everywhere......thousands of them, from dawn to dusk. We had to eat in our tent, got bitten/stung several times and couldn't wait to pack up and leave first thing on our last morning. We spoke with other campers who were also suffering. They also packed up 2 days ahead of schedule and left for home. DO NOT CAMP HERE until something is done about the infestation.

I booked site #35 on July 4th weekend but ended up abandoning the site and headed home. It was a very disappointing experience. With the first look the site was pretty nice. But I quickly noticed that around the picnic table and the fire-pit there were many many cones of loose soil. Upon close inspection they were all ant hills. It just ant hills upon ant hills and they filled up pretty much the whole area, with 2-3 ant hills in every square feet. The tent area was no better. Within minutes big blank ants were climbing on my feet and I had to flee. I talked with the ranger there she said that was just the nature for me and they won't do anything to help. All other sites were booked and they refused to refund me when I had no choice but leave. Another problem is that the fire-pit was like a meter deep. Not sure what the management was thinking but you got to build a gigantic bonfire to cook anything on the grill. The nearby restroom also had dozens of inch long big flying bugs (looked like antlions) and kids were stressed out when visiting the bathroom. The campground does have awesome view within a few minutes of walk but avoid site #35.

Loving the fact of so many negative reviews. Please stay away. Can't believe people give negative reviews because of yellow jackets. Yes kids, the yellow jackets were pretty much all over the high sierras during the height of summer last year. Bears??? Really? In the wilderness? Oh my. And by the way...the park rangers are awesome. But probably not if you have a serious attitude. My only complaint is that some of sites are rather small, but people still try to cram their 24' trailer into it anyway.

We stayed for 2 nights in July 2017 - site #6. The campground is beautiful, especially if you can score one of the sites in the lower area - #30 and above. We saw no bees (responding to older posts here on yelp). I subtracted one star for the following: (1) our site had some food garbage strewn about when we arrived, (2) my husband reported the men's bathroom next to site #9 was almost always unclean and (3) the water spigot at our site didn't work (#6). There was a very loud youth group close by, but that's isn't the fault of the campground, and they did honor the quiet hours for the most part. I will definitely return to this campground and try for sites in the 60's and 80's. The "beach" is more like a inlet that would be great for putting in/out your kayak, not really swimming. But Meeks Bay is closeby for that beachy Tahoe swimming experience. You MUST take the mini-hikes to the "overlooks." We saw two golden eagles one evening at sunset.

The yellow jackets were everywhere. We arrived late on Friday night and noticed a small handwritten sign on the entrance station saying there was unusually high bee activity. I wasn't thrilled with this since I have a little guy who is completely freaked out by them, but it's nature right? Setting up camp was fine since it was late, late evening, but we woke to find thousands of bees everywhere. My husband attempted to cook eggs and sausage for breakfast and the hordes of wasps around the food seriously blanketed everything. We hid in the tent to eat and that was pretty much the end of the camping trip. We hiked the beautiful Rubicon Trail after breakfast and when we returned to the campgrounds we just got in the car and went to town for lunch since eating was impossible at our campsite. We did not return to the campsite until late afternoon and my husband left right away to take another hike. While he was gone my little boy and I stayed in the tent and read and played video games. Did I mention we were camping, it was a beautiful sunny afternoon and we couldn't leave the tent? At some point we got out of the tent because I'd talked my son into going for a walk. I was standing by the picnic table and turned around because he was screaming. He was standing on this little rock right by the campfire and bees were surrounding him. SURROUNDING HIM. I swooped him up, put him in the car and there he stayed. We packed up and left an hour later. The wasps were so bad we carried out a small bag of trash because opening the dumpsters would probably have resulted in enough bites to land you in the hospital. We booked the site a year in advance, drove five hours, spent a hundred bucks on groceries and ended up in restaurants and in the end a hotel room. The campground should be shut down and they should be giving refunds.

Bears!!!!! Beware!!!!! We got to our site a late. It's was one of those pitch up your tent as the sun was going down....and I can't see anything....and where's the mallet kinda of evenings. Once we were settled, we decided to roast a couple of hotdogs over the fire. The kids were hungry....it was about 10:00. As we went to our bear locker to get the bread....which is about 10 feet from the fire ring, there was a big bear. We made noise and ran through the car and starting honking our horn and blowing our whistle. The bear did not go away right away. It went into our bear box and ate a bag of marshmallows and then the bear went toward the bathrooms (probably toward the garbage can). My kids and I were scared....I kept honking the horn as my husband tried to see if it was still there. The camp hosts (Allen and his wife) came by and assisted us. They were fantastic! They stayed with us, helped organized our stuff, kept us calm, and called the park ranger. Apparently, since the second week after the campground opened there have been a lot of bear sightings. They are most concerned about the Bears not leaving right away over the past 3-4 days. Word of advice....be diligent in keeping your food and cosmetics in your bear locker, clean up your mess around your site and when you throw things in the garbage, and do you research about what to do when you see a bear (make noise!!!!!). Apparently, some idiots have been leaving a trail of fruit loops to see the Bears come out. I'm not sure if its at this campground or another. It was something the park ranger shared. We are staying....for now. It's our first night out of three. I've decided to ditch most of our food after I cook breakfast and pack lunches tomorrow. We're going out for dinners.

DO NOT CAMP HERE UNTIL THEY GET THE YELLOW JACKET INFESTATION TAKEN CARE OF(unless you have a completely sealed canopy with mosquito netting and are comfortable being swarmed by yellow jackets). This has been my favorite camping spot. Have been coming here all the way from orange county every year from 2006 to 2012. Took a break after having triplets...came back Aug 2016, worst camping experience of my life. Cant break out food without being swarmed. Brought a canopy with bug netting but the yellow jackets are so aggressive they crawled up through the small gap between the netting and the roof of the canopy. The yellow jackets generally didnt sting unless you accidentally squish one(plenty of opportunity for that though, given how many there are)..they also might bite if you let them sit too long on you(so i was told by the people next to us). Took a short hike on an unmarked trail within 50 yards of our campsite and apparently stumbled across a nest. 6 out of 7 of us plus 1 dog were stung. 5 of which were little kids. Would have been nice if the park service were to warn people to stay off unmarked trails. We ended up getting a hotel room but the kids are so traumatized that they freak out now every time they see a bee. Really sucks and I'm ticked that the park service didnt notify us about this problem...wasnt on the website when we made the reservations (although i see it is now) and AN EMAIL WOULD HAVE BEEN NICE(to me this just seems inexcusable)! I would have given a 5 star review if it werent for this problem...