Echo Bay Upper Campground

Some of the reviews on here are for the private RV park ACROSS the road! Folks need to review the correct facility and not the NPS CG. Seems the pvt run rv park across road has issues! Anyhoo, The Upper Echo Bay CG is run by the NPS and has a camp host. Only one loop seems to be open in winter and about 1/2 of those are rv size..rest are more suited to back in vans and tenters. Note that sites are $20/$10 senior with a 30d stay limit, all are now reserve or pay online at site, NO CASH OR CHECKS ACCEPTED, No fcfs. Trash, water, vault toilets, and an rv dump. Cell service is ok at the upper cg, but very limited at lower cg. Not sure why.

Clean well maintained. Used dump station and it was cleanest I've seen anywhere! A parks employee was sampling potable water, which I love to see.

Spent night of Jan. 26, 2024. They just started reservations in the Echo Bay campgrounds. 4 campers in the whole campground. Go figure! I tried but failed to register online. Complicated system. No place to put in senior pass. Other campers tried and failed to find their way to pay. Otherwise, quiet campground. Bathroom needs maintenance.

Nice ,quite .shower house was very clean . Water pressure very low but gets the job done . Laundry services washer it says 2.00 to wash but literally took 4.00 to start worked good , drying was an issue . Didn’t dry good at all

My wife and I stayed at the Upper Campground and really enjoyed our stay. Very few visitors at the upper campground during our visit. We very much enjoyed our stay and am planning to visit again. A couple things to note: - The campground host recently left (it seems there was a bit of drama), hopefully this will be resolved soon. I hope the NPS keeps this campground open and folks don't abuse the site as it was a lovely place to stay. - Had good cell and data reception at the upper campground, not sure about the lower. Data was considerably slower on crowded weekends though when a lot of folks were at the lake. - Some campground sites have slightly better shade than others. Some palm trees throughout the campsite The oleander bushes were everywhere and have grown quite tall which provide some shade depending on the time of day. Be careful though, the bushes are toxic to humans which is likely why NPS will cut them back. - The upper campground has a resident fox (about the size of a chiwawa), so don't leave any pets out overnight. We only saw him once in the evening and didn't cause us any issues. We also saw some Bighorn sheep and burros around the campsite. - The NPS campground does not have any showers available (only toilet/sink). The RV park next door has showers but they are not available for non-guests (I asked). Callville Bay has coin operated showers open to the public however they are closed due to Covid and the staff at Callville Bay were skeptical the showers would reopen summer 2021. - Bathrooms at the campground were clean and stocked and included flush toilets and sinks (no soap in the mens room though). I think there is a flush toilet and a vault toilet at the lower campground. The facilities are older and have a few years of wear and tear, but are perfectly functional. A few bugs though, but this is to be expected during camping. - Winds can be blustery at times. Tents should be prepared, and take down awnings when not in use. - The hotel/restaurant was all boarded up on the way to the lake. Apparently Echo Bay was a lot more popular some time ago even with a Marina, boat mechanic, and several other services, but business died down and it's decaying. - The convenience store/RV Park staff I met was good. Very quick transaction and not necessarily friendly, but not unfriendly either (mentioning due to previous review). - The upper campground has a drive up RV dump with non-potable and potable (drinkable) water. From what I hear, it's free for anyone to use. No campground hookups or electrical connections though. - Most campsites can likely accommodate smaller to medium RV's. (perhaps 20' to 25' length or so). I don't think there is enough room for a large trailer and a truck at most of the campsites. We had a minivan and had plenty of room. No hookups were available (but did have a dump and fresh water fillup station). A sign was up indicating no generators were allowed.