Lakeside Camping

We spent the week camping at Shaver Lake in the sierras just up from Fresno.  I'd developed a vision for idyllic lakeside camping, and used the internets to find a likely spot, and Shaver Lake rose to the top.  It's a hydroelectric dam, and the camp is run by PG&E, and it fit the bill all around.

They have an  old-school reservation system, which involved mailing in my requested spots, and then getting a call from Dorothy the reservation lady who informed me that none of them were available, and then spending 30 minutes on the phone with me talking about the different sites that were available.  She seemed like a nice lady, but I was unsatisfied with our spot, as it was not lakeside, so in the weeks before the trip, I called Dorothy to see if any lakeside spots had become available.  A week out she told me that she was allowed to give us one of their unreserved group spots, which was just up the hill from the lake and sounded like just the thing.

When we got there we discovered the most enormous and sprawling site we'd ever seen.  The camground itself was extremely cramped, with just a handful of lakeside sites being extremely nice, but the whole place was so tightly packed that everyone but us was living cheek to jowl with their neighbors, while we had endless room to stretch out.  It was ridiculous.

The lake was down a very steep hill from our campsite, and we spent the first morning swimming and sunning and exploring the rocky shore.  It was exactly what I'd hoped for.

There was a rocky island about 200 yards down the shoreline, and about 25 yards from shore, and I led two expeditions to get the kids over there, first with Parker and then with the girls. Miranda wasn't that interested, but I coaxed her there by telling her that locals called this Mermaid Island, as this was where the lake mermaids went to sun themselves. She didn't believe me, but she came along all the same.

And then the next day, because the local beachfront wasn't idyllic enough, we drove 10 minutes up the road to another beach that was even more idyllic, where we spent the day, and rented a kayak, and Parker played Star Wars games along the shore with a little boy who was there that day, and a family of ducks spent the day going up and down the shore in front of us. The Kayak was a good idea, and sounded like loads of fun, but I was glad when our 2 hours were up and I could have a nice rest on the beach.

And then, because that beachfront wasn't idyllic enough, the next day we rented a boat and visited every idyllic cove we could find, which was not at all difficult.

All in all, Shaver Lake delivered exactly the summertime frolic we were looking for.