Bass Lake Recreation Area Rudy

About 20 miles from the southern entrance to Yosemite park via random county roads, the campground and surrounding area are a recreation destination in and of itself, with the "Forks Resort" nearby, huge professional boat rentals advertising everywhere, and of course the lake itself, surrounded by the lights of hundreds of vacation homes. There are five public campgrounds, several group campgrounds, and at least one private RV resort on the lake. We were at the very first campground on the right that you come to after leaving Yosemite, called "Forks" (not to be confused with the other larger Forks campground in California).

Forks Campground on Bass Lake has 28 sites on a fairly steep hill, a bathroom, and includes sites anywhere from tent only up to a 40-foot RV. It's on the opposite side of the road from the lake and a couple of the sites are right on the road. When we arrived at night in our RV both the main office and campground host/space were all closed up for the night with just a sign that said, basically, if you don't have a reservation go away, so you'll definitely want to book a space online as early as possible. We arrived and left in the dark (it was just a stop-over site for us for the night), so didn't get any good photos, but the little we experienced of the campground was that it was a sufficient campground with level sites despite the steep hill and a smallish amount of privacy between the sites (which are all right up against the loop).

Beware: While this didn't affect us, the reservation website warns that a drastic amount of dead tress have been recently removed and "The campgrounds at Bass Lake are now exposed with very few trees. Please plan for very little shade at the campgrounds."

Tips: Book online and book early. We were told some spots book up 6 months in advance via the online recreation.gov website, especially on weekends.

Don't let anyone tell you that you can't camp with an infant. It's actually one of the best activities that you can do with them, and it's a great break for the parents. Bass lake is the perfect campground for young family camping. There are plenty of facilities and even a restaurant. Our friends brought a boat, so we were able to go out on the lake, which was fabulous.