Los Banos Creek Campground — San Luis Reservoir State Recreation Area

Campsites are mostly at the water’s edge of the small-ish reservoir that’s main attraction (at least this time of year) appears to be fishing. Porta pottys are clean, no potable water but I loved being able to camp right on the lake and fish just steps from my car. I was in site 12 and I’m glad I did. My dog was mostly not leashed and no one seemed to care. Super chill and cozy but not much to do if you like activity and adventure. Warning: the water crossing is no joke!!!! When I arrived it was about 7” but when I crossed the next day to go into town it was 9-10” high and flowing fast. I was legit scared (I have a Hyundai Kona) but I made it across. The people at the booth said it can get even higher and there’s no way to know when or why.

Really quiet campground nestled into the hills with a beautiful reservoir. The water was nice and cool for swimming or just floating. Not to mention the water was only a few steps away. Very small campground which made it not feel crowded. Portable Potty bathrooms which were not to bad and well maintained. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a diamond in the rough campground.

We came last summer and stayed in sites #5–7. We arrived about 9pm, unaware that the gates close at sundown. They close and there is NOBODY there to open them for you, so we had to check in the following morning. They do provide a code for you should you need to exit, or if you do arrive late like we did. Just be sure to call ahead of time and check in for the code. This information is posted on the website, but we missed it, so this was on us.

It’s a small campground, only 14 sites I believe. The entire campground is right on the banks of the reservoir so water access no matter where you’re staying. Sites #5-9 are the flattest and beach front. I’m not sure what it’s like now after this year’s rain, but there was a sandy beach front leading into shallow water. It was perfect for our young kids to play in safely (with life vests of course) and we could still be at the campsite and keep eyes on them.

There appears to be only one water spicket and it’s right at the corner of site #5, so it can be a little awkward depending on where your tent is at. There are also several porta potties across the road from site #5 but they didn’t smell. They appeared to be well maintained.

Site #5 appears to be the largest site. We fit our 3 tents at the one site and used the other two just for parking. We originally had site #2 booked as well, but it is a very small spot. Big enough for one 6 person tent. So we all crammed into site 5 but with no problem. We really enjoyed the privacy and smallness of this campground. The camp hosts were very friendly and not bothersome. We plan to return again this year!

Nice older campground you'll need a tent or smaller rig. If RV... bring leveling blocks... lots. This use to be First Come First Served but apparently it's reservable now. Getting it reserved is a website-mess though as you need to click on San Luis Reservoir SRA and then Los Banos Creek Campground. LBC doesn't even show up on the map.

https://www.reservecalifornia.com/

Sites:

1 - Good Off-season (No trees just a shade structure) - On Lake

2 - Ok - Very unlevel. Has shade structure view of lake over site 1

3 - Good Shady site, fairly level and large enough for 20' trailer / 24' RV - On Lake

4 - Good Shady site, fairly level and large enough for 20' trailer/ 24' RV - On Lake

5-9 - Ok Small, with shade structures. No obvious spot for tents but near Lake

10 - Ok Medium size and good for trailer with lots of leveling blocks... one tree for shade

11 - Meh? Small weird triangle parking spot with no obvious tent pad - On Lake and shaded

12 - Good Medium size, Lots of shade, On Lake

13-14 - Pull-throughs ? No Shade

Porta-potties were in great shape (March) to the point I'd rather have these than Pit toilets. Good Job to whoever services those!

There’s no showers or toilets only portal potties which are not very clean. There’s very few sites and the lake water is not the cleanest.

I stayed at this campground with my daughters while on a road trip to So. Cal. It is on a first come, first served basis and is only $20 per night. The staff was friendly and offered suggestions for a good spot when asked. The reservoir was beautiful, but the ranger warned us against swimming due to algae and recommended a different swimming spot on the reservoir.

We set up camp just fine, setting up our tent under a beautiful fig tree. My daughter watched a white egret in the reservoir. It was very windy which would make cooking difficult so we decided to eat dinner at a nearby restaurant that seemed like a kitschy tourist spot called Pea Soup Andersen’s. It was a fun place that I’d take the family to again. The staff there was very friendly and the food was good.

When we got back to the campsite it was dusk. We got ready for bed. By this time it had gotten dark. We watch a frog hopping along and then I felt something land on my foot. It was a GINORMOUS Spider. I kicked it off and then looking around. In the light of the headlamp I saw MANY LARGE spiders. They'd come out to hunt, apparently. This is no exaggeration, they were so large that their eyes gleamed when they caught the light of the headlamp. Many, many eyes were staring back. We immediately headed into the tent, made sure that the zippers were high and tight and went to sleep.

Except I couldn’t sleep well. The gates to the park close at 10pm, but I was consistently woken up by vehicles driving around. It took me a very long time to realize that they were probably patrolling the land. Between the spiders and the patrols it wasn’t a very good night’s rest.

We woke early to load up. The large spiders were gone, but there were tons of spider webs on the outside of the tent and small spiders in them. Those didn’t really bother me. It just seems like it’s a very spidery location.

I don’t know that I’d camp here again. While the location has a real beauty to it and nice wildlife, the large hunting spiders freak me out. No one was bitten though. The patrols I could deal with now that I know about them. But the spiders.