Lake McSwain Recreation Area

Nice place to camp and relax

We have stayed here many times now in the off season. There’s great trails, fishing and very friendly staff. The sites are clean and operational and everything is explained well prior to your stay.

This is my second time staying here and I’ve really enjoyed it. There are free warm showers and the bathrooms are fairly clean. If you are staying in a tent make sure to layer up and bring lots of blankets because nights can get very cold. It’s also a nice place to fish and the on-site store is a plus.

My family and I stayed at Lake McSwain Campgrounds for a weekend during a mountain bike race at Exchequer. We showed up with our 24' trailer on Friday, and even though it was February, they brought on staff to get us all checked in since it was so busy because of the race. There was a short line to get in to the campground, but we didn't wait long and the staff was helpful and friendly. The site was a good size for two trucks and the trailer. The site was not too close to the water, not too far. The bathrooms had showers which we used since our site didn't have a sewer hookup. The site did have water and power though. The marina isn't normally open in February, but they opened due to the volume of campers that weekend. They stocked up on the basics and even had hot coffee and breakfast burritos in the morning and sandwiches at lunch. On Sunday, we moved over to a full hookup site and it was level and felt private. We camped next to some friends and stayed up around the campfire and made smores. The kids rode their bikes around the campgrounds alllll day. They had a blast! Thanks, MID!

This Campground has lots of potential. We expected a cleaner site for $40 a night. Really just a cleaner campground in general. Our site had lots of trash at it. Like Chewing Tobacco, old empanadas, cereal, etc. But it had some positives. Like the store, Lake and splash n dash. But it seems like the money you pay goes to there cabins not the campground. Cell service was spotty. Rangers were nice but they didn’t know what they were doing even though the clearly had experience. Overall the campground just needs some TLC

I guess if you stayed on the water it might be nice but the campground itself was pretty bad. 1st they have blocked any phone signal so even with my WeBoost I could not work from here. 2nd the flies were horrible. 3rd my site was across from overflowing trash can. 4th the hookups are on the wrong side so you can't back in where you should. The photos on their website are very deceptive. They shot them so your site looks close to the water but it's not. If there's a problem there is no one you can call. I was tired, it was late, and I had to leave and drive down to Merced and sleep in Lowe's pkg lot. 2 stars because I emailed them, and they did give me a refund. I guess if you're local and this is all you know.....

Awesome

We love McSwain. It is our go to camp ground in the area. It’s close, clean and friendly. It’s our thanksgiving weekend every year. Great place

Pretty dry in the summertime, lots of foxtails, so be aware if you have fur babies. Flies were a bit of a problem. The lake was beautiful and refreshing. Would come back again but maybe early spring. Our campsite was set up a little backwards. The picnic table and bbq and hookups were on the oppisite side of our trailer door. But only noticed this at our site.

Full hookups, close to the lake

Nice lake to relax at. Plan on going back again