Colonial Creek North Campground

We stayed here during a two-week "airplane camping" trip. That means we are Westerners currently living in the East, so at least once a year we pack four huge duffle bags of gear, fly west, make a big Walmart run, and head to the hills (or desert, or whatever). Frequently our trips surround Labor Day and we have to stay put over the long weekend to make sure we have a place to stay. Because of that, we stayed quite a while at Colonial Creek, and saw it nearly empty when we got there to totally full over the weekend.

As reviewed before, there are two loops on either side of the highway, and take note that although there are signs and plenty of warning for drivers, there is NO crosswalk on the road and cars do come barreling down the hill from the west side.

When we stayed, Labor Day 2018, the south loop was completely reservable and had the nicer campsites (both drive-up and walk-in); the north loop was entirely first-come, first-served and had completely acceptable campsites. We stayed in the north loop #33.

NPS and the forest service is starting to play around with keeping some of these CGs open slightly later in the season (thanks, I guess, to global warming), so this loop was scheduled to close the Tuesday after Labor day, with the south loop switching to first-come at that time and staying open a week or so longer.

The north sites are big enough: what we've come to expect from an NPS CG, rather than the FS CGs that can be a bit... intimate. The CG in general wasn't the nicest NPS one we've stayed in by far, but the toilets flushed, there was running water and the lights in the bathrooms worked. Water was available at enough sites through the CG. The host was there, but functionally non-existent, which was a problem: there was a complete campfire ban in place and the site two down from us kept starting campfires. In truth, the local conditions weren't dangerous for fires and they had a lot of kids with them and I know kids love the campfire, so we didn't say anything to them directly, but it kind of burned me up (so to speak) that everyone else in both loops was obeying the ban but no one official was patrolling (EVER) to say anything to them.

Lake Diablo is lovely and there are plenty of hikes within driving distance to keep you busy. Because some of the hikes were SO nutso crowded because of Labor Day (or frighteningly, maybe all weekends here are like that), we were ready to head out by day 5. If we'd had a boat to play in the lake (which was already quite cold) we might have felt differently.

As stated before, no Verizon cell service at all: you have to go to Newhalem for that. The store at Newhalem feels like a "company" store for the power plant workers, and has less available than most supply stores in camping areas, but you'll be able to get basic essentials.

Was planning on staying here. It's like a parking lot next to a busy road. Beautiful setting but so many people, loud and crammed together. Nightmare if you like peaceful, quiet nature camping.

The Campendium video says that one side of the park is first come first serve. The National Park changed a policy this year. Both areas are reservation only, The ranger said to show up first thing in the morning to check for cancellations. He said there are usually a couple of people waiting for cancellations when they open the office.

Nice heavily forested campground with tall evergreen trees. My site was in the north campground. Restrooms had flush toilets and a shower. Restroom had basic maintenance and cleanliness. Site was level and small but my Sprinter van fit nicely. The tent pad above our parking was very level and surrounded by vegetation to block it from other campers. Site included a table, fire ring, and bear box. Rangers indicated that there is fairly heavy bear activity in the area so they police the use of the bear boxes.

We camped in #17. There was a water hydrant in rear of spot. Spot was level and blacktop. Plenty of room for both our 21’ camper plus our truck. No view. 1/4 mile hike to bathrooms. 1/2 mile hike to Diablo lake.