“California State Park system’s premier glacial park”
In 1969, Emerald Bay was designated a National Natural Landmark for its brilliant panorama of mountain-building processes and glacier carved granite. The natural beauty, geology and history of this unique island make it one of the highlights of any visit to the Lake Tahoe area.
Emerald Bay State Park includes 2 campgrounds: Boat-In Camp (accessible by boat or foot only) and Eagle Point Campground (scheduled to open mid summer 2016). The scenic Rubicon foot trail wraps around Emerald Bay, with trailheads at Eagle Point campground, Vikingsholm, and DL Bliss State Park. The park features Vikingsholm, one of the finest examples of Scandinavian architecture in the western hemisphere and the "Tea House" on Fannette Island, the only island to be found in all of Lake Tahoe.
There is no vehicle access to the lakeshore of Emerald Bay or Vikingsholm. Visitors walk to the lake from the Vikingsholm Parking Lot (1 mile walk) or via the Rubicon Trail. Some visitors arrive by kayak or private boat.
Emerald Bay was designated an underwater state park in 1994. It is the resting place for many boats, launches and barges used in the lake before the turn of the century, during the heyday of Emerald Bay Resort and used in the construction of Vikingsholm.
Visitors to Emerald Bay State Park enjoy hiking, swimming, kayaking, scuba diving, boating, sightseeing and touring Vikingsholm in the summer months.
Visitors are welcome to hike down to Vikingsholm any time of year, but please be aware: In the winter, snow and ice can lead to hazardous conditions. Before deciding to hike in the snow, consider if you have appropriate footwear, clothing, food and water supply, and stamina level. Cell phones may not have reception. There are no services or drinking water from Oct - May. Restrooms are available year-round at the bottom. Round-trip to Vikingsholm and back is 2 miles with 400 feet elevation gain.
Vikingsholm Accessibile Information
For people who have a valid ADA placard, special arrangements are necessary to reach the Vikingsholm area which is located down a very steep gravel road that is not open to private vehicles. Call (530) 525-7232 to check on the availability of shuttle service to escort people with mobility disabilities to Vikingsholm area. Reservations for this service must be made at least 24 hours in advance. This service is offered during Vikingsholm tour season: Memorial Day weekend - September.
Boating Emerald Bay
Speed limit throughout Emerald Bay is a no wake zone area. Within 600 feet of shore it is 5 mph.
Amplified music only allowed with a permit. El Dorado CC Sec. 9.16.040
Visiting Fannette Island - Pack it in/ Pack it out - Please help keep the island clean.
Restrooms are available behind the Vikingsholm Residence - 50 yards straight from the pier.
Please do your part to protect Lake Tahoe - boating inspections and launching facilities
Boating safety and information specific to Lake Tahoe
New Boating information on Tahoe for 2019 - TRPA
Reviews of Eagle Point Campground
8 people have reviewed this location
Ratings Summary
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T-Mobile 4G
Confirmed by 1 users | Last reported on June 29, 2019Reviews
I kayaked in Emerald Bay last summer and wish I would've had days and days to soak up the beauty. Parking was very full, the trek down is a few steep descents that are rough climbing back up later in the heat, though they are mostly smooth and as wide as a road and filled with tourists climbing up and down. But the beach and the water and the kayaking experience was absolutely worth it. Rent a kayak on the beach and check out the Island, for sure.
Emerald Bay State Park has two campgrounds - a boat in campground and Eagle Point. We stayed at the latter in an 18 foot long van.
This campground is designed for tent camping although vans, small trailers (such as rPod and pop ups) will be fine as long as you are careful in your site selection. I would not take a larger trailer there - the roads are very narrow and the parking areas are generally very small. The size restrictions are on the website and follow them or you won’t fit.
The campground has a reasonably short season opening in mid June and closing after Labor Day. However, campsites in weekends in particular, often book up 6 months in advance. Before you book a site, make sure you view the details for the particular site - tent sites often had sloped parking areas making them not suitable for vehicle sleeping, length of parking area to make sure your vehicle/trailer fits and number of vehicles it will fit. There is no room for extra vehicles above the one or two it says and overflow parking could be a loooong walk from your site including uphill.
As this campground is up on a peninsula you are not right on the water but there is a forest road you can walk/bike .25 mile down to the beautiful Emerald Bay. Only a small beach but good water access for kayaks, paddle boards etc. However, if you are in the upper campground it will be a much longer walk (a mile or more) and involve much more uphill on your way back.
Partly because of the easier water access but also because of the generally much nicer sites, I would only stay here if I could get a site in the lower campground although some of those around 29 - 33 would be okay. My favourite sites were some of those between 51 and early 90s. They have the advantage of being closest to the more modern bathrooms including showers. This area contained the nicest sites especially for vehicle camping, and views, but not all were great so do your research (campsite photo website helps).
The section 34 - 50 is not suitable for trailers and has older restrooms (which had several toilets under repair during our stay which was quite inconvenient). If you are staying in approx sites 40 - 44, this will involve a steep uphill walk to restrooms. This campground is definitely not flat.
We loved the feel of this campground and the proximity to some great hiking trails: Rubicon Trail leaves from the campground and there are also short overlook trails in the camp. Nearby are trails to Eagle Falls, Cascade Falls, Vikingsholm and up into the Desolation Wilderness. Emerald Bay itself is gorgeous and although it is a low wake zone, with so many boats visiting it, kayaking and paddle boarding was much nicer in the morning especially as often afternoon wind came up too.
Staying at this California SP campgrounds allows you to day visit the other SP in the area such as DL Bliss and Sugar Pine for no charge. DL Bliss has a fantastic beach area but get there very early to secure one of the few parking spots. The beach area camp looked really nice at this park but is very hard to get a reservation in and has site size limitations like Eagle Point.
This review is from the last week of June which we spent camping around Lake Tahoe. Due to some change of plans, we ended up in three different campgrounds - also see reviews for Sugar Pine SP and Nevada Beach.
Nightly Rate: $35.00
Days Stayed: 4
Site Number: 35
Cell Coverage Rating
T-Mobile 4G
From the mountaintop viewpoints to exploring underwater attractions, it’s easy to see how it earned its title as a National Natural Landmark. It's amazingly beautiful, and the views from Inspiration Point cannot be beat. We think it's one of the best places to visit around Lake Tahoe.
I can only speak on the view because it was closed during my visit. Definitely want to return when the weather is warmer, snow tends to keep it closed in the winter.
Truly a hidden gem!
SOOOO BEAUTIFUL!! One of my favorite places to go during the summertime! There is a steep walk down the hill to get to they bay and a steep walk up but it is definitely worth it to enjoy the crystal clear waters of the bay!
The state parks (Emerald Bay and nearby D.L. Bliss) were closed (in early June???) and had no information posted whatsoever about trailheads, etc. Correction, D.L. Bliss did have one map posted about the area, but nothing you could take with you and it didn't tell you how to access the trails. I had found a map online before leaving home but didn't see information about the parks being closed so didn't bother to print it, to my regret. There is a lookout point between the two parks, and ideally they could post a map there for people interested in hiking, but that was not the case. After trying to find something for 45 minutes, we finally backtracked and pulled off the road near the entrance of the Emerald Bay campground entrance and walked down to try to find something. The campground was under construction (and therefore deserted), and after following the road for a while we finally found a trailhead for the Rubicon trail hidden by a small amphitheater.
The views from the Rubicon trail were great, so I'm really glad we persevered. We saw several osprey and had a pleasant hike. I would recommend this to anyone, if they can find it! But maybe that's California's point, to make it ridiculously hard to find the trail so they're not overrun? Who knows - word of advice, print the map (http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/506/files/DLBlissEBayFinalWeb073114.pdf) before you go!!
Note: EBSP's website does say the Eagle Point Campground is closed for summer 2015, but does not make it clear the park entrance is closed as well. For someone not familiar with the area, this is rather confusing!
Emerald Bay
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Eagle Point Campground
Hours
- Sun - Sat: 6:00 am - 7:00 pm
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Parking
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Pets Allowed
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Restrooms
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Wifi
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Wheelchair Accessible
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Credit Cards Accepted
- Affiliation
- State park or forest
- Last Nightly Rate
- 35.0
- Lowest Nightly Rate
- 35.0
- Max Length
- 18 ft
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Fifty Amp
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Full Hookup
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Rec Facilities
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Pull Through
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Tent Sites
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Dump Station
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Big Rigs
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Open Seasonally
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Age Restricted
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Boondock
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Cabin Sites
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Dispersed Sites
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Firewood
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Fulltime Residents
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Group Tent Sites
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Laundry
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Mobile Homes
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Permit Required
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Potable Water
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Propane
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Public Water
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Pull Through RV Sites
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Reservations
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Sewer Hookup
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Showers
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Standard Tent Sites
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Water Hookup
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