We stayed at Salmon Creek Campground in late August 2020. There were fires all over that had…read morefinally been contained enough for us to feel comfortable going. We live in Sacramento and had been dealing with all the ash and smoke for weeks. Coming up to the campground was so nice, as the air was clear and mostly crisp. It was a much needed break.
We stayed at campsites #27 & #29. According to the reservation site (recreation.gov), both of these sites are on the creek side, rather than the highway side. But when we arrived, we found they were on the highway side (along with #26, so not all of them are listed improperly). It wasn't so bad, though, as the highway is a ways up above the site and it wasn't too busy. At night, I honestly didn't even notice the sound.
#26 is really close to #27, but no one was there when we went, so it was fine. #29 is on the creek side and is actually downhill a bit. It's definitely the most secluded site on the entire campground. The restrooms are almost directly across from #26 and the door has slams literally every time someone uses it (unless they hold it to stop it from slamming, but why would anyone do that?), so it was a bit of a nuisance at night or in the early morning.
The campground was clean overall. We saw the Forest Service truck come through a couple times each day just to check up on things. There was no camp host when we went. We had no issues with bears or anything rummaging through our site at night (though we did put everything in the bear box). There also wasn't much of an issue with noise, but that really just depends on how considerate the neighbors are that happen to be there when you are. And since there is no camp host on site, there would be nothing done about noise anyway.
We hopped in our cars to drive just a few feet up the highway to access the Sand Pond & Lower Sardine Lake. They were nice, but the issue here is that while Salmon Creek Campground allows dogs, neither of these allow them. And since we didn't have anywhere we could keep our dogs, our visit to these spots was very brief.
If you want to bring your dogs with you, you have to head up to Upper Sardine Lake. This is an OHV trail, so you need 4WD to drive up there. Your other option is hiking it, but it is a bit of a hike uphill...not a simple walk. With that said, my 7 year old made the hike both ways without issue, but it is rocky, so be careful. My hubby has a truck that could handle it, so we took that, but it was terrifying for me, as the width of the trail is only a few feet wider than the width of the truck and you're literally on the edge of this mountain cliff with no guard or anything. And if another vehicle comes, one of you have to back up till there's a wide enough space for passing. It was very nerve-wracking.
So while we loved the campground, we have opted not to return mainly because we enjoy bringing our dogs with us camping & it just wasn't an ideal situation.
