Antilon Lake Campground

I camped here in mid-May 2023. I camped in dispersed campground "A" and really enjoyed it. There is good shore access for bank fishing (I caught sun fish, crappie, and brown trout). 

The camping was pretty quiet. Some mosquitos, but I've seen worse. The brown trout I grilled was good, too!

No cell service for me out here (T-Mobile). The road was rough, but pretty much any car can handle it.

I stayed for several days in Upper Antilon, section D. It was over Memorial Day, so a couple nights were a little noisy, but nothing too crazy. I had heard from the ranger that things could get wild, but it wasn’t too bad. The dirt road is long with curves, and can get bumpy at times. I chose a beautiful spot overlooking the lake and close to a vault toilet. It was clean and well stocked. There was also a dumpster. The upper lake is very overgrown…no swimming and no real place to safely put my kayak in. The lower lake was much better, although a VERY steep hill down to the water. Lots of lake moss, so fishing from the shore can be problematic. However, I caught 3 gorgeous brown trout from my kayak, which made 2 delicious meals. I literally had the entire lake to myself. Aside from a very windy/rainy day and night with 40 mph gusts, the weather was perfect and I loved falling asleep to the sound of the frogs and crickets.

There are campground sections before where it’s ‘designated’ on the map - we picked one that seemed a little bit away from the main dusty road. Lots of sand and dust, and fire ban in effect (july 2021). Apparently there is one toilet somewhere but we didn’t find it. Ended up returning here for another night. Had 1 bar of Verizon if remember correctly.

Quiet place, just sounds of nature. Spots vary in size and the ones with lake access go first. Too windy for a fire, but fire rings made from rocks are present. 2WD vehicles should have no problem, but doesn’t seem equipped to handle trailers or RV’s.

1. If you're going to follow Google Maps instructions fully you're going to need an ATV. If not you will definitely get stuck in one of many holes and/or moon dust.

If you still decide to go then stop off at campground B or D. You won't get stuck and D has a drop toilet.

2. The lake is very overgrown, so swimming isn't really an option.

3. BRING BUG SPRAY!!! After setting up our tent and bunking down for the night we found probably 100 mosquitoes INSIDE of the tent. We were able to kill them all but spent the rest of the night listening to thousands of mosquitoes fly at all sides of the tent, hoping for a way in. The next morning we also had an angry bumblebee attacking the tent and dozens of large ants crawling over the outside of our tent.

The toilet was also filled with mosquitos. No bueno.

Our visit was a completely random one, one of us just selected a spot on the map, and we went. we arrived after dark, set up camp, told a few stories, and went to bed. the view in the morning is beyond description. the only detractor was the mosquitos and bees. would definitely be best in spring or fall.

A quiet campground with no reservations was exactly what we were looking for on the weekend prior to Memorial Day. Our campground backed right up to the lake. There were a couple people enjoying the lake, fishing and having a beer, but overall we enjoyed the spot in solitude. The only thing that could be improved is that there were many shell casings and some beer cans left from a previous group. Be nice and clean up after yourself :)

If you're looking to enjoy chelan but avoid the town, antilon is just the place! Extremely peaceful. Tons of wildlife, wild flowers, hiking trails and all around good views. If you're looking to avoid the crowds I would advise going in the middle of the week to atleast claim your site! Antilon has a designated shooting area, bathrooms and awesome rangers checking in making sure everyone is doing their part on keeping this area safe and clean for everyone! Did I mention Antilon is free?!

Antilon lake is a small lake above lake Chelan. It's not a very well defined camp ground other than there are road loops and three pit toilets. The lake itself has perch and bass in it to fish, but the bank is highly overgrown. The best part about antilon is that it is the gateway to the grade creek road which starts the trails up into the sawtooths and up lake Chelan. The one drawback to remember is that on summer weekends, especially the holidays, this is the back in the woods party spot for kids. Finding a spot, or quiet can be tough sometimes.