Gooseneck Lake Dispersed Campsite #1

So really only two downsides here.

1. “Dispersed camping.” Not really. If you’re used to the term out west, which can be defined as “places you can camp that are outside of a designated campground, typically free and scattered throughout a portion of the forest or desert,” well this is not that. Essentially, these are MASSIVE (spot 1 is probably a full acre) numbered spots. Apparently there were 4 spots at one point, but #4 has mysteriously vanished. Each one has a fire pit, and spot 1 has what essentially amounts to a private vault toilet positioned in a wooden shack which left it smelling as fresh as a laundry commercial. Spots 2 & 3 were essentially neighboring spots with no privacy from one another, and just next to a private residence. Spot 1 is where we stayed and the golden goose, so to speak.

2. You MUST reserve these spots. A sign indicates quite clearly that “Walk-ins are not permitted.” We didn’t have a reservation, but checking the website it said that the night we stayed (Thursday before Labor Day), spot 1 was first come first served. This conflicted with the signage, so I called and after a 40 minute wait, the guy basically told me we were good to go. This confusing combination (you can’t reserve a site for the same night) also meant there was no way for us to pay the $8 but I would pay much more...

Spot 1 has the best cell service in a five mile radius, 2 bars of Verizon and Go Speed Racer, Go quality. It is completely private, immensely shady but enough sunlight creeps in to just barely keep our solar rolling. I spent hours in the personal lavatory, just because I could. One ATV drove by, in a way we could hear but not see, during our stay. The roads serve as nice makeshift trails. Some type of very loud generator could be heard across the water, all evening and night, but it wasn’t the worst thing ever, because the spot is just so very very close to perfect.

If the reservation situation didn’t prohibit it, we’d have spent the weekend and possibly work week in this spot.