This is for the northshore campground at loon lake spot 21 Ok here's the sitch, amazing views and vibes but just beware NO SHOWERS HERE. Also if you are at lot 20/21 you are RIGHT by the entry for off roading people who are on the way to do the rubicon trail. On our camping experience here they would make loud noise starting at 11pm- 1 am so it was not quiet by any means and felt like the cars were right next to the tent. Despite that the camp itself is nice, bathrooms are well maintained, shade comes in the evening, and off the beaten path from Tahoe read more

Loon Lake? More like ANT Lake! Went to this campground with my husband last weekend. I would highlight how pretty the place is, but unfortunately the campground design had many flaws. First, the elevation was pretty high, so right away, we were noticeably winded even after the shortest walk. They should really consider lowering the campground. Then, we went to sit on the lakeshore, and what did we see?? Not a single loon, but THOUSANDS of ants. Less than 5 minutes after I laid my towel down, it was covered in ants. Turns out there were several ant hills....ON THE BEACH. This is an unacceptable flaw in design. I would suggest the camp hosts or Forest Service relocate the ant hills, so that people can actually enjoy the shore. Just as we were settling down later in the evening and trying to sleep, I heard someone making a God awful owl hooting noise, from high up in the trees. It was very obnoxious. And I know it wasn't an actual owl because birds aren't real. All in all, it's a pretty place but I'd recommend visiting a campground that values comfort and caters to your needs. Wide regards, Slop Doppolis read more

Camped here in June weekend, stayed at the Northshore campground site#5. Overall the location is great. 2-3 minute walk down to the water. The vault style restrooms were clean, well stocked, odor free. The overall campground could of used a few more trees here and there as it was a little difficult to find shade. Only a few sites provided ample shade. Most sites offer RV parking, tent camping is available, but difficult if placing for two tents. Overall I would be back and would recommend. read more

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Very beautiful lake. There is a lookout point during fire season the forestry watches for fires. It overlooks the loon lake. Incredible views. I love coming up here. The lake is beautiful...its peaceful and lots of wildlife. Its beautiful when the trees are covered in snow. read more

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Gorgeous views and relaxing place. There's no service, which is great for us. You can put your boat, jet ski or kayak in water for some fun and bbq at one of their picnic areas. Definitely a spot worth going to. read more

Quite. Peaceful. Low crowds and dark sky's. About as rural as I can get with the kids. Only thing missing was a water vessel to enjoy the water. There are no amenities and no cell service and surrounded by granite and trees. read more

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Love Love Love Loon Lake! I have camped here 3 times, once at the Northshore Campground which had the best views of the lake (it was closed this year b/c they are remodeling and expanding it). This year I stayed at site #3....it was alright. Site #4 would have been better, it was bigger and had more morning shade. You can see the lake thru the trees and there were trails that you can walk to the lake. Lake is gorgeous and the water was warm and clear. My problem with the campground are the pit toilets. No, I am not afraid of pit toilets. But there were sooooo many flies in the toilets, I could feel them on my butt while I tried to poop. Gross. Next time I will camp at the upper sites 35-53. The bathrooms are newer and cleaner with less flies. read more

Love it here!! If you're looking for lots of amenities to entertain your family - keep driving... But if you love dark skies and blue water to kayak in - this may be your spot!! read more

We stayed at the campground for two nights starting 8/12/16, in tents. Other than a neighboring spot with some noisy occupants, and the almost constant presence of yellow jacket wasps (called Meat Bees by pretty much everyone around here, more on that later), I'd give it a solid 5 for what it is. What is it? It's a typical Cali campground... paved roads and spots, vault toilet (ie, no flushy flushy), spigots with drinking water here and there... tables, fire rings, bear boxes, and cooking grills at each spot. Lots of fine dirt that gets in everything of course. Beautiful clear lake that allows motorized boats. Good swimming with a gradual deepening shore... good for kids... bring your water socks, lots of rocks. No poison ivy or oak. Oh, and there are no fish in the lake. I know this because I didn't catch any. Jus' sayin'. We didn't see any bears and the park attendant said they'd hadn't seen any this season yet. There were, however, tons of meat bees who, shockingly, like meat... and the occasional sweet treat. Cooking eggs? No big deal. Pancakes? As long as there's no syrup. Bacon? Well, that's where the comparison flips. If you're cooking, eating, or even looking longingly at any bacon in any form then there'll be a meat bee right there looking with you. Okay, not so much looking but more of a crawling, sniffing, licking, chomping, carrying off bits type of thing happening. And to be (hehe "be") perfectly clear, it won't just be one meat bee but a whole family unit which consists of everything within a 20th cousin 50 times removed sort of vibe. The meat bees are actually yellow jacket wasps and, get this, they not only sting... and as you all know wasps can sting as many times as they can plant their little yellow and black booties firmly onto your soft fleshy skin... but they also bite. Yes, you heard it right, they bite. So they could literally decide to bite you, which in itself is pretty painful and lasts at least a day, but after biting you they could decide to throw in a few extra stings free of charge. But here's the deal, not everyone gets the attention of these little guys. Of our party of 7 only 4 got bit and no one got stung. Kinda like those people who don't get stung by mosquitoes... maybe. The two things that got people stung were being mean to the wasps (unintentionally)... ie: waving frantically, moving really quickly, accidentally grabbing them (while grabbing a half full trash bag)... and "tasting" good. Now, this is just my personal opinion of the reasons, but all 5 bites (yes, someone was bit twice) I think can be narrowed to these things. I think one person had some pancake syrup on their hand and, since the person tasted sweet and was made of meat of course, this was too good a situation for the wasp to pass up. I think it was manageable... of course, I wasn't one of the ones who were bit either, but generally if you didn't have any food they liked sitting out then they wouldn't bother you. Generally. I didn't see anyone packing up early or anything so I think everyone were able to deal with them. There's a good chance we will return... with a netted canopy to go over the picnic table. read more

This will be my 8th year going. I love camping here! The last leg of the trip up icehouse road, you pass many campgrounds, but none of them are as good as Loon Lake for those who want to actually enjoy the beauty of nature, and not have 20something year old campers partying right on top of you at night, or tons of children and loud motorboats everywhere. While there are children, and motorboats, it is still an enjoyable camping trip and not your typical campground overrun by noise. While campsites are first come first serve as someone mentioned, you also can make a reservation. I work very hard every year at picking one of the sites that has easy access to the lake (and growl at those who think it's appropriate to walk through other's campsites to get to the water...ever hear of camping etiquette?! NO NO NO- people have valuables in their tents and cars, and are renting the space...there are plenty of ways to walk to the lake without walking through someone's site if you failed to book a lakeside site!)...If you make a reservation show up ON TIME. My friends were making fun of me because I'm neurotic about showing up on time, however last time I was literally 5 minutes late and they had already given my campsite to someone else (I thought maybe they would wait 15 minutes)...however they immediately moved those campers when we arrived. If you want showers, hot running water, toilets- this isn't the campground for you- however you'll be missing out on a lot of beauty places that offer those amenities don't have. The sun rise and sunsets are amazing on the serene lake. The sky is splattered with tons of stars- more than I've ever seen- due to no cities being nearby and no light pollution. The last cell phone reception (if you have a good company such as Verizon) is 30 minutes back down on a certain cliff with an amazing view (so if you need to contact someone, at least it's beautiful). One thing to add- the lake is freezing! So unless you're willing to try to get used to the water- you won't enjoy wading or swimming so much. Also make sure you have shoes for the water, it's very rocky. And...be sure to load up on gas at the station at placervile or right after placerville before Ice House Road- because there is one gas station around 45 minutes down from the campground and it is expensive (for obvious reasons). You can bring your dog too...however they must remain on leash. (And re: Dennis W's review, that was one year of ten there was a wasp problem, and it was throughout the sierras, so you would have had that problem anywhere! That's not the campsite's fault!). It was a serious problem that many people I know who weren't at loon lake went through, not just us!) read more

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This was my first time at Loon Lake as our family wanted to try a different location. Be warned. There are hornets/ yellow jackets/ meat bees/ wasps (whatever they are called) all day. We waited until dusk to start pulling out the food to cook for dinner. They are relentless and annoying. Only one person in our 8 person group was stung. If the bees weren't at full force, I'd have nothing to complain about. The lake was crystal clear and refreshing. The restrooms were decently spread out amongst the campsites and weren't too bad. The lake wasn't walking distance for our large group as we had toddlers with us & all the necessities that went along with them. We got to the CG at about 3pm on a Wednesday and did not make reservations. We got the last two available spots for the time frame we were there but they were not next to each other. The CG manager came by the next day to let us know that we could jump into the neighboring campsites spot for the remainder of our trip which worked out perfectly since we had another group coming that day. Overall I highly recommend Loon Lake. read more

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This place is awesome. Nice and quiet and relatively remote. Very beautiful and some of the darkest skies I've seen in a long while. Excellent for stargazing and taking long exposure photos of the milky way. The biggest drawback were the insanely aggressive and ubiquitous yellow jackets. Yellow jackets everywhere! From sun up till sun down getting all up in your bizzness! We went in August of 2016. Although, talking with the other campers who have been going there regularly for years said they have never seen it so bad before. Maybe it's a cyclical thing that occurs every x amount of years? Climate change? Drought? Who knows? read more

Went up there in early August to do some kayak camping. You can paddle an hour across the lake and set up camp in lightly used campsites where the cars can't go. Everything was wonderful, and this place deserves 5 stars, EXCEPT.... the very unprofessional, rude, arrogant private concessionaire employee (American Land and Leisure) who oversees the operation. We pull in, explain what we want to do, and show our national forest pass. It turns out that when the gov't allows a private company to run a park, the pass is no good. Fair enough, but the guy could just politely explain that. Instead, he gruffly yells, "I don't even know what that thing is". We ask him if there is a free parking area since we will not be staying in any of the drive in camps. He says no. LIE. Turns out there is all the parking you want over by the dam. We unnecessarily paid for 3 days of parking. What a jerk. read more

I don't understand the 5-star reviews. Yellow jackets are a part of the campground this year, and they're a part that made the trip completely miserable. I've been camping at Loon Lake more than 5 times over the last 20 years, and I've never seen it like this before. We hung out in the car, in the tent, and out on the water during the day. The bees are aggressive, swarming, and follow you around even if there's no food present. Loon Lake is beautiful, the campground pristine, and the weather was impeccable and deserving of every 5-star review it has garnered, but a 1-star needs to be in here for how TERRIBLE the trip was with those damn bees. read more

beautiful place havent been here in over 5years. the yellow jacket have moved on as we didn't have a problem with them but the restroom are not restrooms they're out houses and are nasty .the lake was clear and the view is amazing with short hikes but no cell phone service vary remote Verizon needs to step up .a tip to you from me would be do your hike research and other activities you might want to do before. read more

Loon Lake Reservoir - Hiking Near Me - Loon Lake, California

Loon Lake is located high up in the Crystal Basin recreation area. It's about at the Timber Line so the air is thin. This is a great high-altitude campground and lake. The paved/improved camp sites on the South side of the lake are very nice. For larger RV's, there is camping at the boat ramp. There is also an RV dump which is nice. Restrooms here are pit toilets with running water just outside. The North side also has some improved, dry sites which are also very nice, but have no running water. The water at this lake tends to be cold even in the dead of summer so enter with caution. Afternoon wind coming out of the east and blowing to the west can kick up and cause some very rough water so be advised. Spider Lake is just a short hike away if you feel the urge to walk a bit. read more

Each year, our camping experience becomes more and more memorable at Loon Lake. This is a campground suited for the serious outdoors people. It is at an elevation of 6,500 feet, at the timberline and there are no running toilets or showers. If you are looking for running toilets and showers, go down 25-30 minutes to Fashoda Campground where the elevation drops to 4,500 feet and is for the camper looking at a "tamer" experience than Loon Lake. The hornets were terrible this year. I would rather deal with a bear roaming through at 2 am than hornets buzzing around from sunrise to sunset. 4 out of 7 in our group were stung by these little bastards. I am not going to remove a star due to this harassment as it is just nature being nature. However, be warned for 2016 (hopefully, 2017 will not be nearly as bad) that the hornets are mean and aggressive, as well as plentiful in the campground and around the lake. Our only relief during the day was to get out and kayak or sit our chairs in the water. Get a screened tent for eating your meals. It was a lifesaver against the hornets for us. Otherwise, we would have been eating in our tents! read more

In the quiet of the morning just when the sun comes up the humming starts... I have never seen the yellow jackets like this here before. Bring a screened canopy to eat in. We ended up eating in the car. They will end up in anything you cook. read more