Best Cabin Camping near Elk Creek, CA

A simple, rustic cabin.  As noted by others, it suffers from a little damage/neglect—many of the windows are boarded up—but it's an old fire lookout so we didn't expect a rental cabin atmosphere.  Views are exceptional, as is the peace and quiet.  Get up early and you'll catch the dawn chorus of an amazing number of birds: warblers, woodpeckers, quail, juncos, grosbeaks, cowbirds, even robins.  The cabin is roughly outfitted with cots, bunkbeds, a table and chairs.  There's a clean outhouse down by where you park and a firepit, which we didn't use because it was windy when we were there.  Keep your food up on the table at night--the mice are nocturnal visitors and will help themselves if you leave food on the counter.  Only caveat is the access to the cabin.  They're not kidding when they warn you to bring a chainsaw.  Two of the three roads in and out were blocked by downed trees (so big our small chainsaw wasn't helpful), and in places the road that was open had pretty deep potholes and gullies formed by last winter's heavy rains.  I was really glad we had 4WD.

Having visited Lake County many times, I wasn't expecting much from this camp ground. I had intended to camp at Boggs Forest - my usual hangout for mountain biking when in the area. Turns out it's closed to camping now, so I took a flyer and looked at this park. I managed to grab what appeared to be the last spot available for the Friday and Saturday night stay I had planned. And it was a spot next to the water! 

The spots are a bit close, but there are many options available - from waters edge on the creek or lake, to hilltops with views of the lake. 

The bathrooms were clean, but I showered at the back of my van and didn't need to obtain any tokens to use theirs. 

There are hiking trails, a boat launch, bbq pits, food storage lockers and a pretty good amount of trees to shade the camp sites. 

I think next time I'd opt for a spot along the creek instead of the lake. They look to be better shaded, but may get more drive by traffic. 

I did happen to be here during a heat spell - 104 was the high yesterday. The shade definitely helped! 

I will be back since it's a convenient location for me - 20 mins from my father in Lakeport, 30 mins from Highland Springs and 40 from Boggs Forest. Oh… and the bugs are not at Al what you might expect. At least for me. They weren’t bad at all. I didn’t even need the screens on my van, but the zapper was busy at dusk. Update as I’m still here: for some reason the toilets no longer flush. After all those beers I figured it’d be polite to use a toilet to return them to their maker, but the first bathroom had a large deposit waiting for me. I tried to flush it, but nothing. Went next door. Only per in this one, and it wouldn’t flush either. Oh well. I added to the color of the bowl. Oddly, the faucet worked. At least I was able to wash my hands.

Pros: If you are a person who likes to either stay all day at your campsite or are a water sport/water toy type person this campground is for you. Cons: Bathroom near our campsite wasn’t working. Campsites were overgrown with foxtails, not good for my dogs. Trash in our fire pit. A few campsites away from ours had a huge poison oak plant at the back where you park your rig. A walkway near the campground popular for fishing had a tree fall on it, instead of clearing the tree, the park rangers closed it off. Not much hiking in the park, and if you decide to walk the couple short hikes, don’t bring your dogs, NO DOGS ALLOWED. For the number of workers this park employs you would think these things would be dealt with, but no. I guess this is typical of State Parks in California, so much potential but sadly California parks slowly deteriorate.

This is the sweetest campground. The sites were on the smaller side, but came with a picnic table. And you’re blocked from the other campers by your RV. It’s a short walk from anywhere in the campground down to the lake. The water is crystal clear and there’s a little dock for jumping off of. They bring in sand for the beach which makes it a really nice experience. And apparently the canopies that were there are new. There’s an on-site snack bar and coffee bar with limited hours, which is a really nice touch. The owners were super friendly and accommodating. The road to get into the campground is very sketchy. It is extremely narrow and there is no where to pass along it. So make sure you abide by the check in check out times, which are significantly far apart, to ensure that nobody meets each other on the road. Sidenote, there are no campfires, except for propane fire, which was kind of a bummer. Highly recommend.

Came back a year later on a whim and still found it to be a nice place, in spite of the heat. Had a nice spot that was semi-shaded in the afternoon, next to a lovely couple who I was able to share some beers with. 

The place was at capacity, but many people leave during the day. In the evening it did get a little loud at times, but nothing obnoxious.

Decent cell coverage - enough that I was able to stream college football.

The upper campgrounds were closed. Not sure how long this has been the case, but it made for a nice quite walk. 

Restrooms remain very useable, in spite of the volume of use.