Hirz Bay Group 1

The site was decent, but not what we were expecting based on the information on the reservation website. It worked for this trip, however we have no interest in staying at this site again. Our group has a lot of experienced campers and we encountered some major issues throughout our stay. Our group had 3 boats, 1 RV trailer, and 3-4 additional vehicles which made for an extremely tight fit in the parking lot. We stayed here 4 nights recently, it was supposed to be 5 nights but we chose to leave early because of issues with a very persistent bear. The trash bin on site is extremely small, it could accommodate one family for maybe 2 days, and the bear was able to break into it easily. We had to throw out our trash bags each day at the launch ramp. The trash bin on site was emptied once during our stay. The sink worked, however one of the pipes below was busted so all the water drained out into the surrounding area. Walking to the water was a haul, which would really depend on water levels and time of year you visit. I have never seen a site have so much trash around it, likely from the bear taking things away from the various camp sites. We picked up what we could when we saw it, but it was disappointing. BEAR ISSUES: There were only two bear boxes on site, both of which had broken locks. One of the boxes couldn't shut all the way because of dents. We were able to use heavy duty ratchet straps to keep it closed, but it was disappointing to not have the proper amenities available to resist the bear attempts. The bear opened our yeti ice chest the first night (in retrospect we likely didn't have it fully shut accidentally by one of our young kids) after that we tied it down to the bear box. The 3rd night the bear ripped the tabs off the ice chest and came close to pulling it out of the ratchet straps. We added some padlocks to the ice chest which helped it stay shut, but the bear kept attempting to open it. The bear was relentless and we had encounters with it every single night, starting around dusk, and had someone on bear duty each night. We closed up all our food and drinks around that time to deter it as much as possible, but it continued to come back. The nights that there were people in the single sites close by we didn't have as much issue with the bear, likely because it was terrorizing them and not us. Due to the lack of bear boxes for this size site, we had to lock our additional ice chests and trash bags in one of the bathrooms. Thankfully the bear would scamper away when we yelled and made loud noises, but it would come back within 30min. We noticed bear prints on the sides of our boats and on truck doors. Overall the site has potential but we have no interest in returning. It is in serious need of repair to have the proper setup to protect food from the bear getting it.

This place has lots of shade,poison oak, mosquito in the evening. The campground itself is at a slop, some area are ok for tent. Could walk down thru the wood to the lake but its a steep downhill; About 10 min walk. Could also drive to the boat launch to swim. I gave this place a 3 stars because we had a bear that came on the campground in the afternoon, chase it away and than it came back in evening. We ended going home early, just wanna be safe than sorry.

This is a really nice campground with a lot of different spots large and small to choose from. Nice outhouses and picnic tables too

There is a pair of bears that pillage through the camp site every night, not a safe situation for tent camping. The forest service is aware but will not relocate them or take any counter measures. They have figured out how to open the "bear proof" trash cans and regularly spread the garbage around. The whole area is also covered in large amounts of poison oak so be prepared for that. The group site is large and secluded, would be a nice campground but for the robber bears and the poison oak.

Stayed from a Friday night through a Monday morning. One of the bear lockers was broken - and, Yes, we did see a bear. But no actual bear damage. Somewhere it was claimed that the parking lot held 25 cars. A reviewer stated that the lot was huge. Not true. Especially if some of the vehicles are trucks and some are towing boat trailers, etc. Having said that, we had two RV's in our group and were able to park them plus about eight more cars and trucks. Somewhere it was claimed that this site accommodates up to 125 people. That would be quite a crowd. The site is big but 125 would be way too many. We had about 50 people and all the good tent locations were taken. The trash bin was a problem. It was not big enough for trash from about 50 people and that includes some of the guys with pickup trucks taking large trash bags. Sunday night, after seeing a bear, we had to go through the trash and compress as much as possible just so anything with a scent would fit in the small bin. Trash was picked up Saturday, but not Sunday. Pit toilets were not bad. They weren't too smelly. Some (there were six) were better than others. They were cleaned Saturday. Not Sunday. The lake looked to be about 50' below the high-water line. It was higher than what you see on Google Satelite view. It was about 26 feet below this year's height of 1,054.8 feet. The lake was about 1/4 mile away up a hill. There is a path down to the lake which is treacherous in a couple places. Walking along the formerly under water shore was a little uncomfortable since it was mostly sloped towards the water. Very rocky making footing difficult in some places. I'd deduct a couple of stars for the deficiencies. The good points; 1. Huge fire pit 2. Very good double bowl deep sink for washing dishes (drain broken but still functional) 3. Two steel stoves (one with a broken top) 4. Two BBQ grills 5. Two bear lockers (one broken) 6. Bear proof trash bin (not big enough) 7. Paved fairly level parking lot The road to the site was windy and of course hilly. The road climbs to a ridge from I-5 and then descends back down to the lake. I did it in a 29' RV. It's slow going but definitely doable. Although Google maps shows a lot of possible turns or places to make a wrong turn, most of those other roads were more like paths. Many had gates across them. It would be hard to get lost. The last couple of miles are about 1-1/2 lanes wide. Not really wide enough for an RV and another car without being careful.