Canoeing/Kayaking

Clear Lake Campground

39 RV Sites

Clear Lake Campground in Clearlake, California, offers 36 full-hookup RV sites on Cache Creek with 30-amp service, taking rigs to 40 feet, plus a boat ramp, kayak and boat rentals, and an outdoor pool. Established in the 1950s, it sits on the sole natural outlet of Clear Lake — the largest natural freshwater lake entirely within California. Thirty-six sites carry water, sewer, and electric on 30-amp in back-in, creekside back-in, and pull-through configurations sized to 40 feet, with fire pits, picnic tables, and BBQ pits. Rigs longer than 40 feet will not fit, and the 30-amp service is worth noting for guests running high-draw appliances. Laundry, restrooms, and showers handle longer stays, and WiFi reaches the property. Water access is the campground's core. A boat ramp gives direct entry to the creek and lake, and boat and kayak rentals are available on site for guests who arrive without their own. Fishing, canoeing, kayaking, paddle boats, and swimming all run from the property, with an outdoor pool as the managed alternative. A playground serves families, and hiking, biking, ping pong, and birding fill out the rest. Pets are welcome. Cache Creek carries bass and catfish, and Clear Lake's position on the migratory corridor concentrates birdlife through spring and fall. Note the lake experiences blue-green algae blooms in some summer periods, which affects swimming conditions. Clearlake sits 90 miles north of San Francisco on Highway 20, in Lake County's wine country and volcanic highlands. The campground has drawn returning Bay Area families for seven decades. Summer is peak — reserve ahead, and check current lake conditions when planning swimming.

from $58/night

Blue Lakes Village RV Park

14 RV Sites

Blue Lakes Village RV Park sits directly across California Highway 20 from Blue Lakes in Lake County, Northern California, a small private resort tucked into the wine country foothills north of Clear Lake where the pace slows and the water is the center of daily life. The lake is private to resort guests, and the combination of direct waterfront access and a campground designed for campers who want to actually use the water rather than just park near it sets Blue Lakes Village apart from most RV parks in the Northern California lake country. Full hookup sites serve RV guests, and the resort's amenities lean into the lake experience: a private beach and dock give guests a direct launch point for kayaking, swimming to the rope swing, fishing from the dock, or simply jumping in on a summer afternoon. The property includes a fenced dog park, hammocks, BBQ pits, camping games, coin-operated laundry, a community garden, and resort-wide WiFi. Hot showers ensure the transition from lake to campsite is as comfortable as the experience of getting in the water in the first place. Blue Lakes sits in a long, narrow valley in the Lake County hills, surrounded by oak and manzanita terrain that holds the warmth of the Central California summer while staying noticeably cooler than the Sacramento Valley floor below. Lake County is California's least densely populated wine region—a place where the volcanic soils and high elevations produce Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc, and Zinfandel largely without the weekend crowds and tasting room queues that define Napa and Sonoma. The lakes here are spring-fed and clear, the kind of water that makes you want to get in it rather than just look at it from the shore. Clear Lake, the largest natural freshwater lake entirely within California, is a 20-minute drive south and supports excellent bass fishing, kayaking, and birdwatching along its extensive tule marsh shoreline. Lake Mendocino, formed by Coyote Valley Dam on the East Fork Russian River, is a similar distance north and adds boating, swimming, and hiking on Cow Mountain Recreation Area trails that climb the ridges above the reservoir. The town of Lakeport on Clear Lake provides restaurants, a lakefront city park, and the Lake County Museum's collection of Pomo and Wailaki basketry that is among the finest in California. Blue Lakes Village operates through the Northern California camping season with summer the peak period for lake swimming and water recreation. The resort accommodates both short-term campers and long-term guests on weekly and monthly arrangements, making it a flexible option for extended stays in the Lake County hills. The tiny home and retro RV accommodations available for overnight rental give the property a boutique character that goes beyond the standard RV park, and the private dock and beach ensure that arriving without a kayak is not a reason to miss out on what makes this particular lake destination worth visiting.

from $50/night

Bridgeport Reservoir Marina and Campground

18 RV Sites, 7 Tent Sites

Situated on the shore of Bridgeport Reservoir in the high-elevation eastern Sierra country of Mono County, California, Bridgeport Reservoir Marina and Campground offers panoramic views of the Sawtooth Range and Bridgeport Valley from a remote and scenic location that has been serving anglers and travelers since the reservoir's establishment in the 1920s. The campground's position in the upper Great Basin at approximately 6,500 feet of elevation gives it a cool, dry, high-desert character that distinguishes it from the forested western Sierra campgrounds and delivers the wide-open skies and mountain vistas that define the eastern Sierra landscape. Sites include 80-foot pull-through accommodations with electric, water, sewer, and Wi-Fi connections, alongside tent camping positions that take full advantage of the reservoir's open shoreline setting. Off-road trails from the campground lead into the Bodie Hills—the volcanic upland terrain east of Bridgeport that provides access to open-country driving routes through high-desert landscape with views across the Great Basin to the Nevada ranges beyond. The marina provides boat launch access and services for guests arriving with trout fishing vessels, and the combination of campground hookups and marina services in one operation simplifies the logistics of an extended fishing stay. Bridgeport Reservoir is one of the most productive trophy trout fisheries in the eastern Sierra, with rainbow and brown trout reaching exceptional size in the cold, nutrient-rich reservoir water that has developed a thriving fishery since the dam's construction. Anglers targeting trophy rainbows and large brown trout find consistent productivity from both boat and shore, and the reservoir's reputation among knowledgeable California trout anglers makes it a destination worth planning around for guests whose primary interest is fly or lure fishing in a high-elevation Sierra setting. The surrounding Bridgeport Valley is rich in regional attractions for guests extending their stay beyond the reservoir. Bodie State Historic Park, approximately 13 miles east of Bridgeport via dirt road, preserves one of the most intact gold-rush ghost towns in the American West—a remarkably preserved collection of 19th-century mining-era buildings maintained in a state of arrested decay by the California State Parks system. The East Walker River below Bridgeport Reservoir is managed as a wild trout catch-and-release fishery of exceptional quality, with large wild brown trout accessible to wading fly anglers on a stretch of river that ranks among the premier catch-and-release waters in California. Bridgeport Reservoir Marina and Campground is most active from late spring through early fall, with the trout fishing season and the peak of eastern Sierra tourism overlapping from June through September. The reservoir's high elevation means snow is possible through May and can arrive again in October, making the June through September window the most reliably accessible for camping. Advance reservations for fishing season weekends are recommended, particularly for waterfront and pull-through positions that provide the best reservoir access and views. The campground's long history, panoramic Sawtooth Range views, and access to trophy trout fishing on both the reservoir and the East Walker River make it one of the most compelling all-in-one fishing and camping destinations available on the eastern Sierra landscape between Mammoth Lakes and the Nevada border.

from $20/night

Outdoorsy Yosemite

141 RV Sites, 4 Cabins, 10 Tent Sites, 6 Glamping Sites

Outdoorsy Yosemite in Bass Lake, California, offers 141 full-hookup RV sites, four cabins, 10 tent sites, and six glamping sites in the Sierra foothills, with 30 and 50-amp service, cable TV, and rigs accepted to 40 feet on a big-rig-friendly layout, open all year. Superior back-in, premium pull-through, and standard back-in categories join a pool, clubhouse, boat and kayak rentals, and lake access. One hundred forty-one sites run in standard back-in, superior back-in, and premium pull-thru categories, all carrying water, sewer, and electric on 30 and 50-amp with cable TV, sized to 40 feet, with picnic tables. Note the 40-foot cap before booking a larger rig. Four cabins, 10 tent sites, and six glamping sites round out the lodging. A general store, laundry, propane fills, restrooms, showers, and RV storage handle the practical side. Reservation holders must be at least 18, and guests of all ages are welcome. An outdoor pool anchors the summer, with boat rentals, kayak rentals, and bike rentals opening the lake for boating, paddle boats, canoeing, kayaking, swimming, and fishing. A clubhouse, game room, billiards, ping pong, basketball, horseshoes, sports courts, walking trails, hiking, mountain biking, a playground, community fire pit, dog park, and on-site dining fill the rest, with strong stargazing and birding. Eighteen miles from Yosemite's South Entrance with Bass Lake's warm water immediately adjacent, this works as both a park basecamp and a lake destination. Summer fills both Yosemite and Bass Lake. Reserve well ahead.

from $44 $38/night

Outdoorsy Yosemite National Park RV + Campsite Packages

5 RV Rental + Campsite Packages

Outdoorsy Yosemite National Park RV Campsite Packages in Bass Lake, California, provides a comprehensively equipped resort camping destination in Madera County's Sierra Nevada foothills, positioned on the shores of Bass Lake approximately 14 miles south of Yosemite National Park's South Gate entrance in a setting where the southern Sierra Nevada's forested mountain landscape delivers natural beauty fully competitive with the national park itself at substantially lower competition for campsites. The resort's full-service infrastructure—cabins, full hookup RV sites, pool, boat rentals, lake access, and a complete activity program—makes it one of the most capable family vacation bases on Yosemite's southern approaches. The resort's amenity scope reflects a self-contained destination designed for multi-night family stays: full hookup RV sites, cabin rentals, an outdoor pool, lake access with boat rentals and kayak rentals, paddle boats, a game room with billiards and ping pong, sports courts with basketball, a dog park, laundry, walking trails, general store, dining, propane fills, RV storage, a community fire pit, a clubhouse, and the stargazing enabled by the Sierra Nevada foothills' relatively dark skies. The combination of Bass Lake's recreational water access and Yosemite's proximity creates a two-resource camping vacation that families consistently cite as among the most productive outdoor experiences in California. Bass Lake is a PG&E hydroelectric reservoir at 3,400 feet elevation in the Sierra Nevada foothills south of Yosemite, known for warm summer water temperatures suitable for swimming and water skiing and a mountain shoreline of ponderosa pine and incense cedar that creates a dramatically scenic backdrop for water recreation. The lake's year-round warm-season accessibility—its lower elevation keeps it reliably swimmable from Memorial Day through Labor Day—distinguishes it from the higher-elevation Yosemite Valley lakes, which are accessible only in summer and often cold even then. Bass Lake's marina services, food and beverage operations, and the developed shoreline create a full lake recreation ecosystem. Yosemite National Park's South Gate, accessed via CA-41 through Wawona, provides entry to the park's southern tier including Mariposa Grove—home to over 500 giant sequoias including the famous Grizzly Giant—and the historic Wawona Hotel district before the road ascends to Yosemite Valley's iconic granite walls, Half Dome, and the Merced River corridor. The Wawona section of the park is considerably less crowded than Yosemite Valley during peak summer season, making it a more accessible introduction to Yosemite's superlative landscapes for guests who want genuine park immersion without the Valley's reservation-constrained entry logistics. Outdoorsy Yosemite operates year-round in Madera County's foothill climate, where the 3,400-foot elevation provides seasonal snow that occasionally closes CA-41 in winter but generally allows spring-through-fall outdoor recreation in conditions more moderate than Yosemite Valley's higher and more exposed position. Summer drives peak demand for both Bass Lake swimming and Yosemite National Park visitation, with the park's timed-entry permit system making early reservation planning essential for guests whose itinerary includes Yosemite Valley exploration. The resort's dining and lake infrastructure make it a genuinely self-contained option for guests who want equal parts mountain lake recreation and national park sightseeing.

from $38/night

Mendocino Magic

Mendocino Magic in Laytonville, California, is a multi-format camping destination in inland Mendocino County offering RV sites, glamping setups, and traditional tent camping — a versatile outdoor accommodation property in the US-101 corridor of the North Coast Range where the Eel River's wild and scenic stream country, the Cahto Wilderness, and the drive to the Mendocino Coast's redwood groves, sea stacks, and art galleries give guests the most complete North Coast camping experience available from a campground positioned between the redwood coast and the inland mountain valley. Laytonville's Mendocino County position on US-101, 45 miles east of the Mendocino coast and 50 miles south of Humboldt Redwoods State Park, gives the campground the specific North Coast corridor character of a property at the intersection of the coast road's scenic tourism appeal and the inland mountain valley's quieter outdoor recreation character. RV sites, glamping setups, and traditional tent camping give Mendocino Magic the complete spectrum of overnight outdoor accommodation in a single Laytonville property — the glamping format specifically gives the comfort-seeking non-camper the curated outdoor accommodation experience that the Mendocino County inland mountain setting sustains without the tent camping infrastructure logistics, and the RV site gives the self-contained traveler the hookup service for the North Coast leg of the US-101 coastal tour. The campground's multi-format accommodation reflects the specific Mendocino County market of the coastal artisan and agricultural heritage tourism that the North Coast's unique culture sustains. Pets are welcome. Humboldt Redwoods State Park, 50 miles north of Laytonville on US-101 in Humboldt County, protects the largest remaining contiguous old-growth coast redwood forest in the world — 17,000 acres of ancient Sequoia sempervirens forest in the Eel River's Bull Creek drainage where the Avenue of the Giants 32-mile scenic alternate to US-101 passes through the Rockefeller Forest's 10,000-acre old-growth stand, the world's largest preserved ancient redwood grove, in a grove of trees that include the confirmed tallest individual specimens in the forest. The coast redwood's maximum height of 380 feet and the 2,000-year age class of the Bull Creek drainage's oldest trees give the Humboldt Redwoods the specific scale and antiquity that no other temperate forest in the Northern Hemisphere matches. The Mendocino Coast, 45 miles west of Laytonville via CA-162 and CA-1 at Fort Bragg, provides the dramatic sea stack and headland coastline of the Mendocino Headlands State Park, the Mendocino village's Victorian architecture and artist colony character, and the Noyo Harbor's working fishing fleet and salmon charter boat operation that give the Fort Bragg-Mendocino corridor its specific combination of natural coastal scenery and North Coast cultural heritage. The MacKerricher State Park's 10 miles of beach north of Fort Bragg and the Glass Beach's sea-polished glass deposits give the Mendocino coastal day trip its accessible natural and geological attractions. Mendocino Magic serves guests through Mendocino County's North Coast camping season, with the spring whale migration from February through April giving the coastal viewpoints their spectacular gray whale observation and the summer fog season from June through August creating the coastal marine layer conditions that the inland Laytonville valley's warmer, clearer summer temperatures specifically complement for the guest who values the inland camp over the often-foggy coast campground in the summer. The Cahto Wilderness in the Mendocino National Forest gives the campground's immediate backcountry hiking access in the Laytonville area's inland mountain terrain. Reserve sites and glamping accommodations ahead for the summer US-101 coastal tourism season and the fall harvest season in Mendocino County's wine and apple country.

Lakeshore Resort

22 RV Sites, 7 Cabins

At the eastern end of Huntington Lake in the Sierra Nevada at 7,000 feet elevation—a mountain reservoir in Sierra National Forest where the John Muir Wilderness begins on the opposite shore and the High Sierra backcountry opens in all directions from the lake's edges—Lakeshore Resort has been receiving campers, anglers, boaters, and High Sierra explorers since the 1920s. The resort's combination of RV sites, cabin rentals, restaurant, saloon, general store, and marina creates the self-contained mountain lake community that the Sierra Nevada's remote elevation campgrounds can rarely sustain, and the high-country landscape of Huntington Lake provides the visual and recreational context that makes the resort worth the drive up Highway 168. This is California mountain camping at its most complete. RV sites with full hookups, 30-amp electric, campfire rings, and picnic tables accommodate rigs up to 40 feet in length—meaningful at a mountain destination where the size restriction would otherwise eliminate many larger rigs from consideration. Cabin rentals provide the fully enclosed alternative for guests who want the mountain lake experience without a camping setup, and the resort's laundry, showers, and bathrooms serve both RV and cabin guests across the property's full occupancy range. The restaurant and saloon provide on-site dining and the evening social gathering space that mountain resort guests across California's elevation campground history have come to associate with Lakeshore specifically—a dining room with the character and history of a century-old Sierra resort. The general store handles provisioning, and the marina with boat docks provides watercraft access, rental boats, and the infrastructure that makes Huntington Lake's 1,500 acres of 7,000-foot elevation water genuinely navigable for guests without their own boats. A walking trail from the campsites along the creek and down to the lake connects the camping area to the water directly. Huntington Lake's high-elevation character provides a natural environment of specific appeal. At 7,000 feet, the lake sits in a landscape dominated by red fir, lodgepole pine, and the granite that defines the Sierra Nevada's geological identity—a combination that produces the cool summer temperatures, afternoon thunderstorm pattern, and crystalline air quality that the Central Valley's summer heat drives visitors upward to seek. Kokanee salmon, brown trout, rainbow trout, and catfish populate the lake, making fishing from the dock, from a rental boat, or from the resort's waterfront among the most reliable high-elevation angling experiences in the central Sierra. The John Muir Wilderness, accessible directly from Huntington Lake's trailheads, provides the High Sierra backcountry experience that the resort's position at the wilderness edge makes possible with zero additional driving. The Kaiser Wilderness, accessible from the north shore, provides a second wilderness area with its own trail system and high-country lakes accessible for day hikes from the resort's elevation base. The combination of resort-level comfort—restaurant, saloon, store, marina—and immediate wilderness access is specific to Huntington Lake's position and is not replicated at most Sierra Nevada campgrounds, which offer one or the other but rarely both. Lakeshore Resort is open from late April through October, weather and snowpack permitting, with the full season running from Memorial Day through Labor Day. The high elevation makes July and August the most reliable months for full-access recreation. Reserve the full hookup site early for summer, bring the fishing rods and the hiking boots, and let the 1920s Huntington Lake resort tradition earn its hundred-year reputation.

from $114/night

Strawhouse Resorts and Cafe

14 RV Sites, 8 Cottages, 1 Yurt

Strawhouse Resorts and Cafe in Junction City, California, occupies the banks of the Trinity River in Trinity County — a riverside resort in one of California's most remote and most scenically dramatic inland counties, where the Trinity River flows cold and clear from the Trinity Alps Wilderness through a forested canyon that supports world-class fly fishing, whitewater rafting, and the kind of genuine wilderness character that Highway 299's remote corridor delivers for travelers willing to make the drive between Redding and the Humboldt coast. The resort's combination of cottages, a 30-foot yurt, pet-friendly accommodations, and full-hookup RV sites gives guests a range of accommodation formats suited to the river canyon environment, and the on-site café — built into a 2,000-square-foot straw bale structure overlooking the Trinity — provides the culinary experience that makes staying at Strawhouse a more complete destination than simply a camping infrastructure. Cottages including the Creekside Cottage and Suncrest House, the distinctive 30-foot yurt, and RV sites positioned across from the café with private fishing and direct Trinity River access give guests multiple ways to inhabit the same riverside setting. The resort's family-friendly orientation and the pet-friendly policy across multiple accommodation types make it accessible to the full range of traveling household compositions, and the private river access at the RV site level gives campers the direct Trinity River contact that motivated their drive to Trinity County in the first place. The café's organic coffee, full meals, and river view make it a natural gathering point for both resort guests and Highway 299 travelers. The Trinity River through Junction City and the Trinity County corridor is one of California's premier wild and scenic rivers — a designated Wild and Scenic River with exceptional water quality, substantial populations of summer and winter steelhead, spring chinook salmon, and rainbow trout in a river setting of old-growth Douglas fir and ponderosa pine forest. The Trinity River fly fishing tradition draws anglers from across California and the Pacific Northwest specifically to this corridor, and the combination of drift boat float fishing and wade fishing through the green-water pools accessible from the resort's private access makes Strawhouse the natural base for fishing-focused Trinity County stays. Whitewater rafting on the Trinity River, accessible through outfitters operating from the Junction City area, provides Class II through IV whitewater through the canyon sections that the river's gradient and volume produce in the right-season conditions — typically from snowmelt through early summer. Trinity Lake, formed by Trinity Dam upstream near Weaverville, adds flatwater recreation, bass fishing, and lake camping options to the broader Trinity County recreation available from a Strawhouse base. The Trinity Alps Wilderness, rising to over 9,000 feet above the resort's valley floor, provides trail access into some of the most alpine and least-visited wilderness terrain in Northern California. Strawhouse Resorts and Cafe operates through Trinity County's outdoor season, with the steelhead and salmon fishing windows driving the most fishing-specific visitor traffic — fall chinook from September through November and winter steelhead from December through March. Summer whitewater and general resort season runs May through September when the café operates at full capacity and river access from the RV sites is most actively used. Reserve accommodations ahead for fall fishing season and summer rafting weekends, when Trinity County's limited lodging inventory fills from the Redding, Sacramento, and Bay Area markets.

from $62/night