San Diego County Lake Morena County Park

This San Diego County campground owes one of its stars to the only local business that has WiFi for travelers (my T-Mobile had zero bars, no coverage at all). That business is .25 miles from the campground and goes by names including "the malt shop," "the malt liquor shop", "Oak Shores Store," or "the only place in town with WiFi." It's a small multi-functional burger grill, ice cream store, convenience store, and well-stocked (if your beer tastes run solely to IPA) beer/wine store. The park allows alcohol only up to 20% alcohol content.

The shower and restroom facilities are good, the shower had plenty of hot water, 4 minutes for $.50, longer for more quarters. The campsites would be cramped if you had 3 or more in a row occupied. It's a confusing maze of one-way, one-lane 'streets' that aren't always consistent in their "one-way" and are number sequentially along the one-ways, site numbers only visible from the correct direction, but the signage for turns refers to the order that you'll come upon the sites, not numerically (i.e., "Sites 80-67"). 

This Lake Morena area has obviously seen its better days and probably not likely to regain the days when the lake was full. I won't be returning, but I did enjoy my three nights there. The ranger staff was helpful and attentive, with regular patrols.

 The Lake Morena campground is well-kept and relaxing. It has a variety of sites including full-hookup, partial hookup, and tent only. The restrooms (flush toilets) are located in the middle of the grounds. They were large and clean and usually well-stocked with toilet paper, soap, and paper towels. There were also two shower stalls on each side (men’s/women’s) which took quarters. At the time of our stay, one of the women’s showers was not accepting any quarters and wasn’t working. The other one had a pretty badly clogged drain, but was still usable. Many sites have a partial view of the lake. One highlight of the campground is all of the birds! We saw woodpeckers, cowbirds, bright yellow orioles (?), wild turkeys, and several other species right by our campsite. Our tent-only site(#75) was huge! Plenty of space for multiple tents and 2 cars, though it really only had shade in the afternoon. My one complaint is that the main hiking trail by the lake (Morena Lake Trail) was way longer than the map said and you couldn’t see the dam from the end! From campsite #1 to the end of the trail and back was 5.9 miles! Beware! All in all, we really liked this campground and would come back again. It would be really great for a group and there’s even an indoor pavilion you can rent.