It’s been several months since our stay at Lake Camanche, but I wanted to share a few pictures and thoughts about our experience.
We scrambled during our 30-day maximum stay at Cal Expo RV Park to find our next stop. Between our fellow traveling line family and us we must have made close to 100 phone calls to area RV parks. Finally, we found 2 weeks available at Lake Camanche’s short term location – Monument RV Park.
The sites were fairly spacious and nicely cared for. All campsites had full hookups, fire rings and paved driveways. The views were beautiful in a unique and post-apocalyptic way. I say that because the water level in the lake was clearly very low.
Water had receded far below many docks and apparent old “lakeside” picnic areas. I don’t know if that was due to the time of year (fall) or if it’s a more permanent situation with climate change.
In any event, Ellie had an abundance of room to get her wiggles out. She enjoyed riding her balance bike around the park. She also had fun on the playground, throwing rocks in the lake and flying her kite.
The grounds at Lake Camanche were quite expansive, providing me with plenty of trails and roadways to walk. There also was a marina store; however, we didn’t have a need to set foot in there.
After our 2 weeks were up, we moved to the longterm stay RV park within Lake Camanche called Miners Camp. We were only able to secure 2 additional weeks there; however, it made for an easy move – especially with the guys working 6 day weeks. Miners Camp had full hooks ups, but no fire rings or paved driveways. Monument Camp’s sites were larger, nicer and had better views.
The office staff who helped book our stay and checked us in were very nice and helpful. Though, once we were on the grounds, the gentleman we needed to speak with about extending our stay at Miners Camp was not very kind or willing to help. The only reason we were able to stay at Miners Camp at all was that the guys realized they were able to take matters into their own hands and book 2 additional weeks online. Had we had another option at the time, we certainly would have checked out from the grounds.
Lake Camanche was a nice nature escape overall. It was quite far from big box stores and chain restaurants. There was a local grocery store and a few mom and pop restaurants within about a 20 minute drive. Lake Camanche seemed to host various events throughout the year. We were able to enjoy their Trunk or Treat before heading to Pollock Pines on Halloween.
Other nearish things we enjoyed were Calaveras Big Trees State Park and Lucky You Orchards.
