Loon Lake Reservoir

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

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.

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.

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.

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!!

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.