Lopez Lake Recreation Area Review | Lakeside Camping on the California Central Coast

Hello everyone, today we are at Lopez Lake just inland from the central California coast and we want to show you this campground. As you can see from behind us, absolutely beautiful scenery. We're perched up on a big hill here. Our site's pretty nice. It's what they call a primitive site, so it doesn't have any sort of hookups or amenities that way, but we do have a nice picnic table. We've got a fire pit. That's it. They do have some sites with just electrical hookup and full hookups as well. We're going to show you those too and some pretty interesting attractions here in the park. The one thing I will say about our site is that it's not particularly level and a lot of the primitive sites aren't. Our trailer is kind of on a hill like that. We actually had to use our four-wheel drive just to back it up up the hill. It might not look like that big of a hill, but our tongue jack is extended to very very close to maximum and we're still not even quite level. After we got all parked, we realized we were backed up right to a massive cliff. I'm talking huge. I don't know if you can see, but stepping very carefully to the edge here, it goes kind of straight down. My guess is maybe a hundred feet. What do you think? You can't see the bottom for all the trees, but it puts us up nice and high for some amazing views around here. We can see all the way over there to kind of the lake bed area. We can see the hills all around us. Are the hills alive? The hills are alive with the sound of music, folks. And yesterday there were tons of birds around here too of all different kinds. This morning we've just got some crows. Where are the crows? Another really nice thing about this site for us is it's fairly open. We get really good sun. I think we were back up to 100 solar by like 9 30 a.m. But because of the larger trees in front of us, we actually get some afternoon shade. This campground is organized into sections by animals. So we are in the cougar area, which is all primitive camping, and we're site number 18. So of the primitive camping sections, there is mustang, conejo, grizzly, buck, campaneros, and cougar. Oh, and squirrel. The areas that have electric hookups only are beaver, toro, and lobo. And then the sites with full hookups include quail, mallard, blue jay, band tail, eagle, and hawk. There are also a number of group sites, and if you're wanting to just come out for the day, you can actually reserve a day use area where they have barbecue pits and stuff like that too. They also have cabins available in certain areas of the park. It's a really big park. All of the primitive sections do have water spigots. You can still fill up on your water. Also, all of the primitive areas have restrooms nearby as well. But do note that this campground does not actually have a dumping station. Cost-wise, primitive sites run about $25 to $30 a night, whereas full hookups will run you $45 to $50. Camping in California can be expensive, but if you have a Passport America membership, you'll save 50% off every campground in their network. Sign up with our code ROAM3, and you'll get at least three months free. Six months if you sign up before June 2022. They also have some day use fees that you should be aware of for things like extra vehicles, boats, and also if you have an animal with you. So for Benny, we had to pay $3.50 a day for him to be here. There are a number of trails here in the park as well of varying difficulty. Stay on the trails. There is a risk for ticks here. And make sure any of the animals that you're bringing with you are on the appropriate tick and flea prevention. Also to be aware of are rattlesnakes and cougars and bears. There's also a marina and store and restaurant. The Marina Bar and Grill. Apparently an arcade too. They've also got boat rentals and laundry and propane filling. All right, one of the unique things here at Lopez Lake Campground is a water slide park. You do have to pay an extra admission to go in. We were visiting in the winter so we didn't get to try it out unfortunately. But hopefully you'll be visiting during warmer months and you'll get to check it out. The park opens in May. Not sure when they close. The sign doesn't say. They close for the winter season. All right guys, we are finishing everything up here at Lopez Lake Campground. It's a really great option for camping along the California Central Coast. Yeah, it's a decent price. It's a huge campground so you're likely to find a spot. It's not too busy. It's not too noisy. Really beautiful scenery. There's that water park. All kinds of lakeside activities. Check it out and we'll see you down the road. But you'd at least have some respite. Also most of the, not most, we were, what was that? I don't know. Kind of like creaked. Make sure you don't miss the next video by liking, subscribing, and turning on notifications. Thanks for joining us and we'll see you in the next one.