Merrill Campground

We stayed here in late September, at the end of the season. The campground hostess, Karen, was very accommodating and helpful. We stayed in the full hookup loop (furthest from the lake) for the first few days when a storm blew through, then moved closer to the shore in the loop with no hookups. The spaces are deep and spacious with plenty of room between neighbors. The bathrooms are clean, but there are no showers. There is a 5 mile bicycle loop that is gorgeous. We did some kayaking and birdwatching and had a great getaway. I imagine it is pretty busy during the summer. We used our Senior National Park Pass for a discounted rate.

We stayed here one night on our way from Crater Lake to Yosemite in late Mid September. Camp Host were great. Several price options depending on level of hook ups from Dry to Full. If you have one of several national park passes, you get half off. This is true with many of the National Forest Service Camps. So.. if you are visiting national parks and staying in forest service camps, get the pass! The pass also works for day use areas. Ours has more than paid for itself this year. Back to the park. We stayed out at the lake view slots. Nice flat paved sites. Tables and fire pits provided. Beautiful sunset and moon rise. Sites are HUGE compared to most parks with lots of room between camps. Bathrooms are nice and clean. I spoke to several fisherman who all gave decent reports. Looked like a trolling game for the most part. RV Dump located across street with a $5 honor system. Great stay.

This is a campground with multiple options such as $20/40/50/sites depending if you want nothing to full hookups. We paid $20/night with our national parks pass and had water and electric. The $20/ night sites are closest to the water but the lake is still 100/yards away. The sites closest to the water had little shade but you had your choice with the other sites.
There are paths to the Lake but the entry for kayaks or swimming is muddy and shallow. Some people had boats on buoys a few hundred feet from the shore. I did have my paddle board there and not locked up for 4 days. We launched our kayaks about 3 miles away at the free boat ramp. We kept our kayaks locked up aside the ramp. There is a 10 plus mile hike bike path that goes from multiple CG’s to the launching facility. Many people were fishing for trout but only from boats.
THE BIG NEGATIVE ARE THE BEES. (Yellow jackets, wasps, bees). They are everywhere and previous campers had brought along bee traps that you saw hanging everywhere.

Not many options to swim either.
$5 dump fee

Merrill Campground is right on the lake. The loops farthest from the lake have full 50A hook ups. The trees in and around the campground are tall and beautiful. People in the camp seemed really friendly, and it was very quiet at night. The camp hosts were very good.

We fished all week. The catch was limited compared to years ago. There seems to be quite a bit of conflict over the lake users and the surrounding ranches. See https://eaglelakefishing.net/current-fishing-report/

Normally it can be blistering hot in July, but temps were in the 80Fs and low 90Fs. Not cool, but better than the sometimes 100F+.

For me, it is a bit of a haul to get there. We live near Santa Rosa CA, and despite Google map's 6 hour prediction, it took us 8.5 hours towing. The roads from Red Bluff to the lake are in good shape, single lane, with frequent passing lanes and turnouts.

Chester was recommend by my brother as the last chance for fuel, but we gassed up in Red Bluff and make it back with fuel to spare.

My only thought about the site, and perhaps camping in general, was the presence of dogs. I love dogs. We had dogs as a family growing up, and I've had very loyal and sweet dogs as an adult. What seems to be the norm during this trip was that there were a LOT OF DOGS. If you did not hear the dogs challenging each other with barking, you heard the owners yelling at their pet. Something to think about.

The most silly thing I saw during this trip was the neighboring site's camper using a full sized blower to spruce up his pad during the day. I never expected to see that. Perhaps a broom made sense to me, but not an electric blower.

So pretty out here and well worth even one nights stay. Sites with hookups are a little close to each other, but the scenery is gorgeous, the lake is amazing, and I didn’t even mind the mosquitoes and midges. Stayed in early June on a Thursday night and the campground was mostly empty. Sites are large. We stayed in a 34 ft travel trailer.

Of the 4 campgrounds at Eagle Lake in Lassen NF, Merrill is the biggest and busiest. We were here in mid July, mid-week with no reservations and there were over 20 walk in sites available. It did get more full by Friday. I had a water/elecric site which is one loop away from the loop closest to the water that had no hookups. The only reason I got hookups instead of choosing the uninterrupted lake view sites was that it was 95 degrees and my daughter wanted AC in the heat of the afternoon. From the campground we walked down a short trail and swam in the lake. It was shallow, soft silt bottom, very warm water near the shore but progressively cooler the further out we went. No beach, but people had chairs and canopies set up in the 18inch reeds and mud that line the shore. Lots of boating, floating, and fishing going on. Our favorite activity was riding bikes on the dedicated, paved path that winds through the woods with periodic amazing lake views. It is an easy 5 mile path that goes from the marina(were you can get ice and take showers) by Merrill and ends at Christie campground. We had a few mosquitoes in the morning and evenings but not enough to make me put on repellant or retreat inside. The nights cooled down pleasantly. The only reason I did not give it 5 stars is that I think this campround should have showers for rinsing off after tubing or swimming in the lake. Nice newish flush bathrooms in this loop. I really liked the adjustable bbq grill/platform over the fire pit that could be used for a camp stove or to cok over the campfire. Most sites have partial to full shade from mature pines. Sites closest to the lake had little to no shade. Noise was mostly from lots of vehicles moving boats and shuttling folks to anchored boats and marina.

We chose this campground because of the reviews it got here on Campendium. The reviews are right-this campground is great. It is clean well-kept, spaced wonderfully, the lake is beautiful, it was everything we want in a campground.
The bugs at this campground were at a minimum which I was surprised about. Its mid July so I expected more mosquitos, flies and Yellowjackets.
The only negative for us was that there was really no shore fishing on this lake – you’re really need a boat of some kind.
We loved, loved, loved our time here at the Merrill campground. We will definitely be back!

This campground has it all! Lakeside living with spacious sites and your choice of hookups under the pines. Merrill Campground has over 180 sites and the loops are a mix of dry camping (closest to the lake), water and electric (middle loops) and full-hookups (closest to the entrance). There is also a good mix of reservable sites and first come/first serve. All the sites are long, nicely separated and fairly level. The sites closest to the lake are a little more open, the other loops are tucked under giant pines. You can’t go wrong here – it’s a beautiful and well maintained campground.

Each site has a picnic table and fire ring. There are restrooms in every loop, but you’ll need to go to the Marina for showers. The Marina was still closed when we arrived on opening day (May 15th). We loved the 5.2 miles of paved bike path that runs from Christie Campground to Gallatin Beach and can be accessed from Fir Loop in Merrill Campground.

Eagle Lake is lovely and a prime spot for trout fishing. We were here nearly two weeks before the season opened and already the fishermen were arriving and staking out their spots. 😊 Very friendly, helpful camp host. Several other dry campgrounds close to Merrill in case you need a Plan B.

We had 3 bars of Verizon 4G.

Perfect end to a week of on-the-go camping in Northern CA. Beautiful, peaceful place. Great campground vibe. Most sites have hookups. The first rows get a lake view site with no hookups. The view makes it worth it. Theres a bike trail and a store at the marina which also has showers for a fee. There's a good mix of sites with sun, shade or both.

It's a clean, fun campground where you leave feeling like family.