Great campsite! Restrooms were kept clean daily…read more Heavily monitored by campsite staff. Absolutely no service for AT&T. Loved having the little community center that served coffee and snacks near loop 400. Best part of the site!

No reservation needed or possible, it's a first come first serve. To find a spot you'll have to…read moredrive through the campgrounds. It helps to have one person get out of the car and read the permits, sometimes previous occupants forget to take their permits off the site markers, so it's easy to think the site is occupied. Once you've found your desired site, park(each site has it's own parking spot). Make sure you take a picture of your license plate and remember your site number. Head back towards the entrance of the camp grounds, in front of the info board you'll find the permits you'll need to register for you site, oh yes make sure you have a pen too, and exact change, cause you'll be depositing payment into a slot. I didn't have exact change, and wasn't able to find staff around. I recommend arriving well before evening, so you're not setting up tent in the dark and with bugs. Beautiful meadow view. Restroom well stocked with toilet paper, trash was emptied daily, clean except for the bugs, but what do you expect, it's better than porta-potties, functional soap dispensers and sinks with hot water. What I loved about this campground was that each site has a parking spot and it's own fire pit and some even have benches nearby. You're allowed to burn any downed wood, twigs, pine cones around, NOT TRASH. There are dumpsters around to dump trash. Tons of cute spots to take pictures. One last thing, I have sprint and the reception SUCKED, I was only able to receive and make calls. But luckily we didn't need phone service, just make sure you check the weather & maybe make a make available offline if you're maps dependent.

TLDR; great campground with many amenities and great recreation…read more We stayed here as part of a cross country road trip. We were planning on camping at Eureka Valley, but last minute decided to stay Pinecrest. This was a great decision! The site was only slightly more expensive. The campground has several restrooms with plumbing, an outdoor movie theater, a beach, several trails, kayak rental, and a few stores. Great place!

I was able to order 30 minutes ahead of time and they had my pizza hot when I arrived.read more

Amazing camp grounds. about 10 miles down the road from pinecrest and 1000 feet up in elevation…read more(6000 ft total) is the most beautiful campgrounds ever. + only $5 a night!! +14 spots for camping + even though there is only an outhouse and no running water, this one was luxurious. the host adds lavender to the restroom and really makes sure nothing is stinky! what i was once dreading to use turned into a pleasant surprise + fresh creek running/ soothing to sleep to + fire pits/ bbq + 1 picnic table per site + wonderful host named Diane. smile and say hi to her when you see her definitely coming back here.

This place could be nice! But the camp host Dianne harass you the whole time you are there! We are…read moreadults not children Diane! We don't need to be told what time to go to bed. (10:00pm) according to her! We are also waaay over 21 and can drink if we want! We are not stupid and know how to maintain a low campfire. Never in all my years of camping have I come across such Nasty , harrassing , camp hosts. Mind you who are only volunteers and hold no authority at all. I would never reccomend this place to anyone , untill they get new camp hosts!

Small yet popular lake in the Stanislaus National Forest. Very convenient for Bay Area vacationers…read moreas it is only a 2.5 hour drive. I've done a few summer weekend trips here, but as a child. So don't remember many details, just that it was always a blast, camping with a large group and delving into lake activities. As an adult, I've mostly come to this area during the winter/spring months, and that's only because Dodge Ridge Ski Resort is in the same area. But never really knew how close the actual lake is to the ski resort...until recently when I finally did both in a one weekend stint. The actual lake is man-made, it is a reservoir meant to harness water, snow melt is my guess due to the regular snow fall every winter in these mountains. Then PG&E bulit a dam and used this for hydroelectric energy and you can see the raging water on the bottom of the dam if you hike over to that corner. We hiked only half of the lake on a gorgeous clear winter's day. I wanted to hike the entire circumference of the lake, which is only a little over 3 miles, but we had a small child in our group, so we kept it manageable. The trail is well kept and very easy to stay on, not many off shoots to other trails. It climbs in a few spots but nothing too difficult (at least to me). The lake is in view in practically every spot on the trail, so very very scenic and picturesque. Even though a man-made lake, seeing the clouds drift by the snowcapped mountains and all the pine trees all around, that I never felt like it was a man-made lake. Very natural contours and plant and tree habitat. I saw an occasional deer and tons of birds enjoying the sun on an otherwise cool winter's day. Even saw a couple of eagles soaring from the trees to the lake line, may have even been bald eagles as I observed white heads. I didn't have binoculars to confirm, so just a hunch, but it still felt special. Not much activity on the actual lake during my winter visit, maybe just a few people fishing off of rocks near the shore. No one was boating or swimming in these months. But in the summer, it is a much different story, as my memories recollect. Now i want to come back during the summer/fall and do some camping and kayaking. A promise I am making to myself and will surely bring into fruition. Trust.

Pinecrest is a great recreational area all year long. During the summer months it is great for…read moreswimming, hiking, boating and fishing. During the fall its great all of the above but may be too chilly for swimming. They drain part of the lake in the fall and more closer to winter so the water is pretty low in the fall. Pinecrest is also a great place to build a snowman in the winter and is right by the Dodge Ridge ski resort. It is beautiful, alot of people take photos here. They have a trail that goes around the lake, its not the easiest trail but it is not difficult either.

I got married at Camp Sylvester in April, 2023. It was a wild winter, and there was more snow than…read moreexpected. We originally planned to get married outside in the amphitheater, but it was buried in snow. We ended up using DeBoer Hall for the ceremony, and it was magical! Our guests had so much fun, and everyone said the cabins were warm and cozy. Everyone embraced the feet of snow surrounding camp, and it made for a unique experience. Our camp wedding was everything we hoped for, and we are so glad we found Camp Sylvester. One of my favorite moments was watching our guests having snowball fights and building snowmen on the morning of the wedding. Ken was incredibly helpful in the planning process! All the Camp Sylvester staff were kind and responsive throughout the wedding weekend. I highly recommend you plan an event at Camp Sylvester!

everyone be careful about this place it has been abandoned for years the rooms are old no pillows…read moreor blankets some rooms the heaters don't work ! the staff there are really bad they deliberately don't provide cleaning service and make our group do it ! our group is a church and rented over 10 rooms here when we returned the staff went through every room and said the floor was dirty when it was cement they provided us with mops and made us clean each room and when we cleaned they wiped the floor with their hand and it was still dirty this is crazy when it should be cement when we cleaned and they checked by wiping the floor with their hand and it was still black ! we had to do everything they asked us to do cleaning the dining room the auditorium the basketball court and also cleaning the restrooms we did all of the above including picking up the trash but they were not satisfied and they asked for a cleaning fee of $150 per room and for the restrooms they asked for $300 they kept our deposit which was over $2,000 and we could barely do anything when we started worshipping God early in the morning at 7am they wouldn't let us use the speakers! After 10pm when we were still singing worshiping God they always showed up and were annoyed always trying to stop us! I advise everyone to consider carefully when coming here because when we returned the dining room to them they came and counted every spoon to find an excuse to deduct money and asked us to leave before 1pm but at 12:30 they were still there to check every dish they always found every way to deduct our money we had a very bad experience here.

Wanted to try a new spot for fishing. Husband and I came out the week after Memorial Day, and had a…read morelot of fun. Rented a motor boat from the marina and spent 4 hours fishing at the river inlet. As soon as we dropped our lines, the bites never stopped! Came back with 5 keepers . (Free tip: the dam and the river inlet are the prime boat fishing spots) weather was manageable, light rain/sleet off and on over our 3 days there. The Marina staff, and the front office staff, and Serene Bean coffee stand were absolutely amazing! (Emphasis on all of the Marina Staff, Lori and team) We felt like we found a secret gem in the mountains. Everything is within walking distance of our on-site motel, and the lake was breathtaking. Since we went after Memorial Day it was very quiet and peaceful. Thank you all so much for hosting, we will be back again soon!

We love this place and come every year it's our family tradition. The grounds are beautiful and the…read moreproximity to the lake and local store cannot be beat for the price.

Whoa. I've been into…read morethe Sierra Nevada mountain range all my life, so I'm well aware of how rugged and gorgeous it all is. But it seems that the Emigrant Wilderness takes this up a notch. I didn't think this was possible. I bought a backpack last year to take to Channel Islands. Why not use it this year for a semi-major backpacking trip. Of the places I was considering, I narrowed it down to the Emigrant Wilderness. Got my route planned out, and off I went to Kennedy Meadows. I ended up using two trailheads. When I got my wilderness permit, the ranger warned me that snow was blocking a lot of my itinerary. It certainly was. My four days out of Kennedy Meadows turned into only 26 hours. In that 26 hours was jaw-dropping scenery ranging from vast canyons and mountain ranges to pretty seasonal creeks and wildflowers. I camped near Summit Creek, going to sleep with a raging waterfall close by. By now, you're probably thinking of the first few minutes of "The Sound Of Music", and saying "Aw, I wish I was there!" I wish you were too. Be warned that it is pretty strenuous, and you start at 6500 feet. Okay, my second trip: the Crabtree trailhead. I did much less hiking this time, only five miles to Grouse Lake. I didn't need to go any further. The area around Grouse Lake has a lot to see and do: a smallish lake divided by a peninsula, lots of fishing and swimming spots, birds flying and singing, glaciated granite to climb and run on. (And plenty of mosquitoes; bring lots of repellant.) There are other destinations from this trailhead, too; hikers I saw said that they were going to Camp Lake, Bear Lake. It's a remote trailhead, but it filled up on a Saturday afternoon, so beware! A big part of the attraction of the Emigrant Wilderness is that the only "improvements" we've made are trails and the occasional reservoir. Everything else is just as it was when California became a state. It's wild. It does take a bit of effort to get back here. And when you do, you're not disappointed. It's an immersion into the mountains, a place with just you and the Lord, and He rejuvenates your spirit among His handiwork. Dick Proenneke, who lived in solitude near Alaska's Lake Clark, told John Kauffmann for National Geographic, "Mountains are a man's best friends if he only knew it. You hike and climb every day and you don't grow old." (He was 63.) The same can be said for the Emigrant Wilderness. If you get the food situation figured out, you could live here for an entire summer and still not see it all, and still wish you had more time.

Beautiful! We did the Kennedy Lake trail (15 mi) and camped overnight. It was so peaceful!…read moreBeautiful mountains, streams, trees, and wildlife (deer and rabbits). We tried to get to the lake but it was super swampy. It was very cold (30 F in late June so be sure to pack warm stuff! Happy Hiking!

I visited for the first time with my friend and our son's.. we stood in the 2 queen chalet #J and…read morewere very happy! The space was plenty, fireplace was cozy and the kitchen was convenient! The snow all over was breathtaking. Views were gorgeous and our boys had so much fun sledding down a hill we found right outside our cabin. The man who checked us in was very nice and welcoming too. For the reasonable price and all we experienced... we will absolutely be back. *the only small downside is that the cabin could have been cleaner. There was lots of dust on the curtains and dirt stains on the kitchen floor, small areas that needed attention... however, again, with the great price offered, it wasn't bad!*

Happy to report this place has done a complete 180. Thanks to Robert the new camp manager he has…read morereturned the Chalet back to its original charm that it once had. No more dirt cabins, it now comes equipped with WiFi, and a smart tv with Roku. There are snacks and smores in the lobby for a small fee. Robert was kind enough to bring us the fire wood. We will sure return based on the changes made here.