Lopez is my family’s favorite local campground. It’s close enough for an overnight or weekend trip, but rural enough to feel the “getting away” affect that comes with camping. Campground itself is beautifully maintained and offers plenty of wildlife sightings (bears, deer, turkey, and many different birds.) Tons of hiking trails and the mustang water slides are a plus!

I spent the weekend at the bandtail campground at the Lopez Lake Recreation Area.

The lake is about 10 miles East of Arroyo Grande. The campground is well maintained and patrolled by rangers often. 

The views that can been seen from the campsites are incredible. Take a look at the photos. 

THINGS TO KNOW

You can make reservations online and you can reserve a spcific site. They have sites ranging from primitive to full hookups. 

Check-in is at 2 pm, but they normally will let people in earlier, checkout is at 11 am. 

The cost is $20.00 a night. This includes one vehicle per site, you can pay an extra $10 a night for an additional vehicle.

Dogs are allowed in the campground, but they must be on a leash at all times. Dogs cost $3.50 a day.

There a launch ramp and marina store in the campground .

There are multiple trails throughout the park that range in their level of difficulty.

You can reserve spot online line up to 2 days ahead.

3.50 a day charge for animals

They have a multitude of trails.

It's Nice and Quiet, Beautiful and Clean and Rangers are friendly, helpful and kind.

We checked in on Friday (earlier than the posted 3pm time) and setup camp. The site is clean and fairly level. Very little wind and lots of shade made for a perfect weekend.

We're locals here, so it's nice to have this option for a quick weekend "stay camp" if we feel like getting out of the house.

Many different campsite types, reasonably priced. The primitive sites we favor are set back from the water a bit, which is a bit of a bummer.

A few hiking trails nearby, and a full-blown adventure/ropes course is just outside the park, if you feel like ponying up the cost for that added fun!

The squirrel campsites for tent camping is great as they have more shade than other spots. Restrooms were clean and always had toilet paper stocked. They have been having bears coming into camp but we kept our food locked up and cleaned up all trash and didn't have any issues with them. The lake is low but they have great hiking trails and the wild turkeys are always fun to see.

I would highly recommend Lopez. Very friend staff,The camping sites are well maintain. Sites will accommodate a large family or group camping. Restrooms and showers are clean. Kayaking was great. Had a fun time at the marina restaurant. They have a happy hour. If you enjoy hiking you'll find some great trails…