OT: Lake Isabella Recommendations

[sarwa]

We're planning a camping trip to Lake Isabella this summer. We've never been there so can anyone recommend a good camp site? I've been to their website and saw the map but I don't know which spot is better.

Btw, we'd like to spot to be kid friendly. The childrens age range are from 7 to 10 years old. Activities we plan on doing are: jet ski, fish and a little adventure hike.

Your input will be greatly appriciated. Thanks.

 

[raastamon]

My family have been there quite a few times. I dont remember much of it since I was very young. Ill ask the fam get some feedback for you...

 

[hack job]

i would suggest south fork we stayed there many times till the wind got too much and we havent been back since. i loved going there.
theres not really a lot of boats or skis on the water and it was free to camp over night. and all you had to buy was a lake permit.
i was thinking about when we would go there on memorial day the water was super cold!
enjoy

 

[flat broke]

Yeah, like Hacker said, the wind can be a downer. The first year we went there, we had perfect weather. So for a couple years after our entire group of friends always did a big holliday weekend trip up there. But the last couple years had really bad winds which made it miserable and we stopped going there. I'd imagine it's gotten a little more crowded (there didn't used to be more than 10-20 boats on the lake at any given time) but is probably still much less crowded than any so cal lake like Pyramid, Castaic, etc.

The biggest issue I would see for this year is the extremely weak snowpack in the Sierras. Isabella is fed off that snowpack and in dry years the lake will lose shoreline, have a lot of half exposed trees and bring hazards that were usually submerged deep enough not to cause a problem, closer to the water's surface. I'd definitley get a read on the water level before I made any big plans.

Chris

 

[frogiii]

I have gone to that lake many years mainly for jet sking and camping. It's about 3 1/2 hour drive from LA and BIG lake to ride your jetski without any rules and limits. I usually get a compsite at Hungry Gulch or Franch Gulch. A few trees will provide some shade during the hot miday sun. It gets pretty hot in miday in Jun through Sep month. wind starts pick up at around 1pm -3pm
you can take your jetski on a shore and launch it anywhere but, gotta be careful not to get stuck on soft soil. If you want to launch it from the boat launch there are two places on the lake. One in south of the lake where the dam is. Try to take your canopy its a must on the lakeside when you jet ski. No shade anywhere near the lake.

 

[Pistonkev]

I went there camping a year ago nice lake the wind sucked.

 

[sarwa]

Hmmm... sounds like the wind is a big downer. We're planning a late June trip so do you think the wind will be an issue then. If so, we might just ditch the jetski idea and just head out to Lake Cachuma. I just want to have outdoor activities with the kids.