General Creek Campground — Sugar Pine Point State Park

After October 2, it is first come, first available and only sites 26-72 were open so my review is limited to a small portion of the campground. When I researched ahead of time, it was the ONLY open campground I could find in the Lake Tahoe area. At least the per night rate was decreased to $25 ($23 for seniors). I don’t know about the rest of the loops but most of the sites in the open loop appeared to be “doubles” or even “triples”; the camper pads were paved but appeared to be side-by-side parking spaces. Fortunately, there were not many campers so this was not a problem, however, if the park were more crowded, this layout would only make sense if the camper pads were used to park vehicles and people tent camped. All sites appeared to be level. No hookups. Each site had a large picnic table, fire ring, and bear box. 

We had been warned multiple times that we were camping in an active bear area and although we did not encounter any, one of the other campers told us they had seen a mama and bear cub, along with a coyote. 

The showers and dump station were closed for the season. There was no host on-site. The restrooms were very basic: toilet and sink but no soap, paper towels, or air dryers. 

My rating might have been higher if we could have seen other parts of the campground, but our experience was limited to one night and we did not visit the day-use area.

I gave this place 2 stars instead of 1 because the staff was super nice and the sugar pines are cool. Oh and the bathrooms were decent.

However, the sites are CRAMMED together. Our neighbors were right next to us. We might as well have been sharing a site. They cluster like 4-6 sites together with a little parking lot for all the sites and absolutely nothing between the actual sites. It looks like that doesn't bother other people, but I do not like that. It was super uncomfortable.

Not that it's the park's fault, but the bears in Tahoe are ridiculously addicted to junk food and will rip open your car doors so you have to take EVERYTHING out of your car and stuff it in a bear box (we were on a 3 week tent camping road trip, so we have lots of smelly stuff). The dumpsters were scratched and dented to oblivion. I mean, I LOVE Hank the Tank, but these highly populated areas have created some major problems for the bears. To top it off, I found a bunch of food trash and even a pork rib as I was setting up my tent. Glad I found that before sleeping on it and meeting Hank before he got famous.

We did not like the vibe in Tahoe. It's pretty. But it seems like it's mostly for rich people who want to be in luxury with some nature around them. That's not really what we're into and we did not felt like we belonged and the nature felt really spoiled.

In one photo you'll see a big cloud above the Tahoe National Forest. That was the fire when we were driving in. The next morning we were in it. I know it's natural, just beware when you're planning your trip dates when wildfires are likely. I was wheezing and my nose was bleeding and we basically beelined home and ended our trip early. This was early August 2021. 

Also, of course, the lake is very cold if you plan on swimming. But beautiful where you don't see a ton of boats.

We spent a total of 4 nights at the SPP SP/General Creek campground and LOVED it! 

The campground is across the street from the state park day use area where you can access the lake, but it's so easily accessible and you don't have to pay for the day use area once you pay for your campsites, so totally worth it! You can drive and park over there or walk or ride a bike. 

The campground bathrooms and showers were so clean, the camp hosts were AWESOME and our site was huge! We actually came here earlier than expected after leaving our South Lake Tahoe "campground" early due to overcrowding and congestion. This campground is close to all the greats, across the street from the Lake and with your camping fees you get access to all of the State Parks in the area, which meant we got to go to DL Bliss for multiple days for free and hang out in the Sugar Pine Day Use area. We also got to check out Meeks Bay, Tahoe City and Kings Beach because of this great central location. Make sure you stop at Obexer's market for some camp goodies and West Shore Sports to rent some bikes or kayaks. While Lake Tahoe was super busy, especially on the North Shore, it never felt too crowded or chaotic at Sugar Pine or any of the areas we were in on the west shore. Highly recommend this area and this park and campground! Active bears, so be cautious! Nice bear boxes provided. Great cell service on AT&T as well.

This campground is on the West side in California about halfway up Lake Tahoe. You take a very winding and narrow two-lane road. When we reached Sugar Pine Point State Park, we were a little disappointed that it wasn't directly on Lake Tahoe. That meant we had to walk or ride bikes to get to the water. The campground didn't have any frills but we were willing to give up a few luxuries to be close to the lake. Restrooms with showers, dump station, fire rings & hiking are main amenities. Near the lake is a museum which used to be a mansion. The water was a beautiful shade of deep blue and nothing like our lakes back home in Florida. The water was freezing but that didn't seem to stop anyone from swimming, boating, skiing, etc. The boys went straight to the dock for some jumping and flipping. There were many others there daring to do the same. I rented a kayak and paddled around to get a different view while the boys swam by the shore. Also, they have the biggest pine cones I have ever seen (Sugar Pines). I had to collect a bunch to take back home to friends and family.