Kyen Campground

The tiny signs say it's closed but it's clearly occupied. A little research the next day and we learned FEMA is operating the place right now - I assume for fire refugees.

As far as Army Corp campgrounds go, this is strangest we've been too. If we had not snagged a site on the lake, we would not have stayed. Be aware that you need to make a reservation for all sites online even though there is someone working in the office. Not a big deal since there is cell service or you can call recreation.gov on one of the old school pay phones.

This campground is very tight. Typical Army Corp campground with the huge posts lining the road made many sites impossible to get into along with the curves and low hanging trees. We were one of a few travel trailers here, everyone else had tents and there were a couple pop up's. Our 30' was really pushing it in the tight turns. I wouldn't try a Class A or 5th Wheel here. Dogs have to be leashed at all times as usual but the camp host did say they can go in the lake to swim leash free.

The further back in the campground you go (up the hill), the stranger the layout. I would not even waste time going up there. Sites are crazy unlevel front to back and side to side and look like an afterthought. I'm glad we did not book a site ahead of time either because many along the lake we would not have been able to get level. There were about 5 sites available right along the lake in late June when we drove in on a Sunday.

Most of the sites in the campground are partial to fully shaded. There are about 4 near the lake in fairly full sun. We found the sites to the right along the lake were preferable to if you initially turn left (which we did). It's also further away from the day use area which was very busy on the weekend and kind of extends along the lakeshore in front of the lakeshore sites.

Verizon is reliable unboosted near the lake sites about 8 down. The further back in the campground, the internet became unreliable.

The lake site campsites that were booked during our time here were people on vacation with their large extended families so it was loud during the day but everyone was respectful of quiet hours.

There is a lot to do in the area; vineyards, Anderson valley, redwoods but you can probably see all the same things if you stay somewhere along the coast for not much more $$.