Dusty Campground

I’ve been coming here since i was a newborn every year and i am now 18 years old and it’s stayed my favorite place in the whole world. anyone who knows me knows this campsite is my entire personality and my biggest obsession. every day i wake up i am solely motivated by the mere thought of coming to this place for the single week out of the year. the lake is maybe 20 feet from the site which is perfect for boat access and the lake britton is my favorite i’ve ever been to. i’ve camped by tent and by trailer and both were so great. the summer heat makes swimming perfect but as night falls it cools beautifully enough to be able to bundle up by the fire. friends of mine have fantasized of one day being able to join me on my trip as it’s all i talk about. the only bugs are mosquitos which is inevitable while camping. campsite is super private and calm and is super spacious. BEST PLACE ON EARTH.

Mosquitos. Vast clouds of them, attacking you through the fabric of your tent. In the early morning, when you step outside, you often see a haze, a fog, on the water. It's not fog, it's mosquitos by the millions.

The campground is called Dusty Camp for a reason - it's built on a deposit of diatomaceous earth. This is the shells of tiny sea life from millions of years ago. It's incredibly abrasive and clings to clothes - better to discard them. The good news is that there are no ants here - the DE gets into the exoskeleton joints of the ants, immobilizing and starving them to death. It's actually sold in garden stores to control household crawling insects.  DE is not toxic but unbelievably abrasive. It's very lightweight and when dry gets into EVERYTHING - it even has a static charge. When dry it reeks of rotten fish.

This is a good place to run from, which is ironic, as "the train on the bridge" scene to "Stand By Me" was filmed on a trestle just down the road. (The kids are trapped on a railroad bridge with an oncoming steam locomotive, and help each other flee for their lives

You’ll be getting dirt out of your clothes for a week. It’s more like volcanic ash or clay ash… it’s super sticky and it’s very sunny during the day in the summer. There’s no flat spots for a tent. There’s a lake access which seemed nice, people were swimming. The road isn’t paved so every time someone drove by there would be a massive dirt cloud covering your tent and chairs, food, drinks… the bathroom was really dirty and there was no garbage cans. So expect to pack out everything home. The lake is beautiful and the campsite would be awesome if they paved the road and fixed up the bathroom. I’d recommend if you have a trailer or a small RV!

Pit toilets available. There are a few level spots for camp trailers. Right next to the lake with a little beach available. A favored local spot.

I last minute drove up to the Redding and Burney area to hike and see spring waterfalls in the area. I wanted a quieter campsite to relax at so Dusty was just right. It’s right on the water and soo pretty and relaxing. Each site had a fire pit which was nice though I didn’t use because I was by myself. There was also a picnic table at each site. The bathrooms were pit toilets and well the usual camp bathrooms. The campground is right down the road from Burney Falls so I woke up early and got there before the crowds arrived! The drives in the area are absolutely gorgeous! Another perk of this campground is the railroad/bridge that was featured in the old movie Stand By Me is walking distance from the campsites - it‘s closed off and no longer in use but cool to check out!