Dower Lake Recreation Area

We booked this site for tent camping on the 4th a week before, mainly because it had openings. The campground sites were clean with some tree coverage but there was definitely little privacy from your neighbors. The recreation area offered stuff to do for kiddos like a beach, frisbee golf, the fishing pier and plenty of space to run around in the fields. The way the campground was set up you are probably going to be near one of these play areas-great if you want to watch your kids, not great if you want to quietly read. The bathrooms and showers weren’t dirty but could definitely use a deep clean. Drinking water was provided through a water spicket on the side of the building and certain sites had electrical. Firewood was available with a suggested donation but seeing as it was scraps from a local lumberyard it was best to cut to fit into the fire pit, which many people did with chainsaws. The holiday weekend had people celebrating and, for the most part, things calmed by quiet hours, but you could still hear music and talking past midnight as well as train whistles from tracks nearby. Flip side of this was things didn’t get moving until later in the morning.

Nearby, the town of staples has some fun shops and cafes to check out.

Sites are out in the open with ZERO privacy. Supposedly, there’s a “camp host” but nothing is monitored. Kids were wildly running through our campsite all the time (apparently their parents have taught them nothing about “manners” & neighboring campers were loud and partying past Midnight. Rules state quiet hours are 10pm til 7am, but that’s a JOKE.