Wanoka Lake Campground

Some sites offer great privacy, others are very open to the campground road. A few sites have a lake view and include trails down to the waterfront. There's also common waterfront access in the middle of the campground where you can carry in a canoe or kayak without much trouble. The shore looks potentially swimmable. Drinking water is offered at a pump house and hand pump; it tasted fine at both. Everything here is first-come, first-served. It's a great setup for campers passing through the area on highway 2 wanting to spend the night. If you're not picky about which site you get, you'll have no issue finding a spot here, even on peak season weekends. Early season, late season or midweek you'll likely have your pickings among numerous excellent site options.

Wanoka Campground was closed for improvements July of 2024 and will reopen July 1, 2025. They added a new pit toilet, repaved the eastern part of the campground, removed one site, added parking, renumbered the sites to the true 18 sites, rebuilt the path to the lake with better drainage, and rehabbed site #2 with a new retaining wall. One major change. Half the sites are now first come, first serve, the other half are reservable through Recreation.gov, approximately 3-4 days ahead of time. Water will be temporarily unavailable for the time being.

Nice, shady campground next to a small lake. There is only one pit toilet for the entire campground, but there are two water pumps. Several of the sites are in very close proximity to the lake. The lake was quiet and good for kayaking. The highway noise from US hwy 2 is very audible throughout the day and night. There is a nice fire ring and picnic table at each site.

Great campground! Huge fire pits and picnic tables. Decent bathrooms...no showers. Many spots are very secluded tucked into huge trees.

Late August, 2020 Wanoka Lake is a very busy, no frills campground. What it does have going for itself is great proximity to other desirable locations. With no campground host or firewood available in the campground, your night may not turn out perfect. Come prepared. We used the self-registration station. We had a very noisy ATV group zipping around late at night. If we had been around a cozy fire at the time, it may not have been so annoying. We aren’t sure how often this one is patrolled by staff. We didn’t see them during our stay. ATV use from the the campground is common, since there is trail access from the campground. If you arrive with ATV’s, you’ll love this place! In the end, for us, it was a place to stay when everything else in the area was reserved. I wouldn’t choose this pla