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Small boat or hike in campground on the east shore of Loon Lake campground. Access via the Loon Lake Trailhead or boatramp at Loon Lake Campground. [ **Pleasant Campground Recreation Opportunity Guide**](http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fsbdev7_018811.pdf) (ROG) - This guide contains information, maps, and directions to assist you in enjoying your trip to the Eldorado National Forest.
Great place to camp and fish. Wild trout section is just up the road. The only thing to beware of is the wind and campers that forget about their campfire and go to bed. Woke up to a fire across the river and had to evacuate until the morning. Full video of the ordeal on my YouTube channel.
Owens river cleanup day 2021!
Hot, dry, dusty next to amazing owens river fishing. Camp and fish from your site.
Water spigot tastes like a water softener. Bring your own drinking water!
May, 2021 - I'd stay again only if I can get certain sites.
Campsites are hard to review because it depends on the time of year and what your cup of tea is. Firstly the basics - pit toilets as marked on Google maps, ONE spigot for the whole campsite, no cell service (TMobile & ATT), decent river access for fishing or wading, large sites, no camp host, not much shade, bumpy ground from weeds, picnic table, fire pit, very dusty roads, and windy at dusk/night.
PRO: calm before sun up and after sun down, certain sites have good river access.
CON: DUST, WIND, HEAT.
We’re OK with roughing it, but I wished I knew a little bit more about the sites so we'd be better prepared. But mainly, the amount of dust and wind at dusk made it less than enjoyable. The kids took cover and the grown ups were battening down the hatches while cooking dinner (dust covered burgers). One of our canopy poles broke because of the wind. Day time was hot (90's - 100's in most of Central Cal), and there was no shade. No camp host, so we were worried that the EDM dance carnival across the river wouldn't settle down, but they wound down by bedtime. I understand this place is great for bouldering, and the crowd was mainly younger and diverse. There’s only 1 spigot for the entire site, so we should have brought our larger storage tank so that we wouldn’t have to make multiple car trips to get water for washing. There weren’t too many bugs, although I did get a couple of mosquito bites. Raccoons raided the few pieces of food that we accidentally left out at night.
The best part was the beautiful calm moments at dawn and dusk, and the shallow area of Owens River that the kids could play at while the grownups fished (right at the entrance of Chalk Bluff Rd).
FYI we tent camp several times a year, including dry and dispersed camping.
Was a good time until about 11:30pm when we were awoken to find that the guys from San Diego camping next to us thought it was a good idea to have a campfire in 20 mph winds, catching the campground on fire. Quite an ordeal these geniuses created. Lucky it wasn't much worse and nobody was injured. Had to evacuate around midnite and sleep near highway exit with a bunch of other refuges.
