Explore Spring Cove Campground: Your Guide to Bass Lake

• Facebook
• Instagram
• Amazon
• Pinterest

Doing a mountain/ lake camping trip is one of our favorite traditions, and this summer we discovered a hidden gem of a campground: Spring Cove Campground at Bass Lake. If you’re looking for a California lake to camp at, this might be just the spot for you.

We love camping in Yosemite, but those campsites are so hard to get, especially when coordinating with a group. So for the past several years, we’ve been trying out other campgrounds on lakes.

Spring Cove Campground: Choosing Where to Camp

We spent a week camping at Pinecrest Lake (and we loved it!) over the last two summers, but this year we decided to venture out again and explore the campgrounds in Mammoth Lakes. We chose to book a site at Twin Lakes campground. Unfortunately, due to the high volume of snow fall, the campground wasn’t able to open on time. We had to come up with a new plan two weeks before our trip.

I’m the kind of person who books campsites six months out. I know many popular campgrounds book up far in advance. So I was pretty nervous about what our options would be like trying to find seven campsites available at a campground two weeks before our trip.

Ideally we’d find somewhere with a lake or river the kids could play in, and somewhere warm enough to want to go in the water. I read several blogs and reviews, checked many different Bass Lake campgrounds, and used this campsite finder app that showed me availability at Spring Cove campground at Bass Lake.

There wasn’t a lot of information about Spring Cove campground that I could find online. But there were enough available campsites for our group on the dates we wanted. And it’s located right across from Bass Lake. Other Bass Lake campgrounds were completely booked, so we figured the lake must be a fun enough place.

Within six hours of our Twin Lakes campsites being cancelled, we were all re-booked at Spring Cove.

Spring Cove Campground in Sierra National Forest: What to Know

Spring Cove campground is a fairly small campground with 61 campsites. It’s open from May through September at 39900 Road 222, Bass Lake, CA, with a maximum of six people per site. And none of the campsites have hookups.

Because of the tight turns, smaller sites, and a few steep entrances that can be tricky for RVs, it’s a good campground for tent campers and smaller RVs. Our group had a 29, 30 and 31-ft motorhome in the bunch, so we were lucky to find sites that could accommodate those sizes. Sites 4 and 7 are accessible sites.

Each campsite at this Bass Lake campground has a picnic table, a fire ring and a bear locker, with bear boxes for food storage available at each site. There didn’t seem to be a ton of shade in the campground, although some sites had more shade than others. Fire wood is available for $10 a bundle at the on-site camp host’s site. Visitors consistently describe the host as friendly and helpful, which matched our experience.

There was no check-in kiosk upon entering. Check-in is handled at the Bass Lake registration office, which is 3.5 miles from the campground. But when we arrived at our site, the host just rode over on the golf cart and checked us in. It felt pretty relaxed and we had no problem getting onto our campsite an hour before check-in. Check-out time is 12 p.m. and check in time is at 2pm.

Bathrooms and Showers at Spring Cove Campground

There are bathrooms and water spigots in the campground, but no showers. Showers are available for $4 just a short walk or drive away, at Millers Landing. I thought the bathrooms were very clean, especially compared to other campgrounds I’ve been to. Each sink had hand soap, and toilet paper was never an issue.

Quiet hours in the campground are between 10pm and 6am. Generators cannot be used during those hours. We were there from a Sunday until Friday and never had any issue with excessive noise. However, I’m sure the weekends can be a lot busier and louder.

The Spring Cove campground is a bit hilly, and the campsites are fairly spread out. We had site 62, which was close to the entrance and therefore closer to the lake. Some of the campsites were back pretty far in the campground, making it a much longer walk to the lake (although lake access is right across the road from the campground entrance).

You can book campsites at Spring Cove up to six months in advance by going to the recreation.gov website or clicking here.

Hiking At Bass Lake

Right outside of the campground entrance, you can find some great hiking trails as well. There are trails all over the Bass Lake area, but having some so close to the campground made for an easy and fun adventure. You can hike 7.2 miles roundtrip to the Fork Campground or 8.4 miles roundtrip to the Goat Mountain Lookout. Willow Creek is another nearby option if you want to switch up your hike. We only did 3 miles roundtrip, but if I come back, I definitely want to attempt the entire Goat Mountain hike.

Check out my recommended family hiking gear here.

Another perk of Bass Lake is that it is a short drive to the entrance of Yosemite. Spring Cove Campground sits in the Sierra National Forest within the Bass Lake Ranger District, which gives you even more to explore while staying in this area.

Spring Cove Campground is 21 miles from Yosemite National Park, which is about a 30-minute drive to the Yosemite entrance. From there, it’s another 45 mins to an hour into the valley. So you can easily drive over and spend a day in Yosemite. I totally recommend that, if you have the time.

Bass Lake Day Use Area

Right across from the Spring Cove campground entrance, you will find a nice day use area and water access at Bass Lake. It costs $10 to park in the lot for the day, however, there is some street parking, which is free. We had no issue walking back and forth from the lake (several times a day), however, it was easiest to haul the kayaks and paddle boards over on my stepdad’s jeep. The boat ramp is also a key access point for getting out on the lake.

There are also restrooms, fire pits and picnic tables at the day use area.

The lake is open 24 hours a day, but at sunset or 8pm (whichever comes first), a speed of 5 mph or no wake is enforced until 8am. Bass Lake is popular for swimming, kayaking, water skiing and motorized boating, so there was always something fun to do on the water. We had a blast on our kayaks and paddle boards all day on each of the days we were there. And one night, we even went out for a sunset paddle.

Fishing here includes Rainbow Trout and Kokanee Salmon.

The kids all commented on how warm the lake water was compared to other lakes we’ve been to (Pinecrest, June Lake and Lake Tahoe).

Millers Landing on Bass Lake

Miller’s Landing has lodging, boat rentals, souvenirs and grocery items, along with a restaurant and ice cream shop. You can also walk or drive there, but it was fun to venture over on the water. It was an easy kayak ride away, so we would take the kayaks over there for lunch or to get more ice as needed.

All in all, we were very pleased with our time at Spring Cove campground. Going into it, we weren’t really sure what to expect. But we all had a great time and thought the campground was great. In fact, my kids still say this was one of their favorite campgrounds.

More Camping Resources

• Easy Camping Meals
• Top 10 Things to Bring Tent Camping
• Tent Types for Camping
• How To Have an Outdoor Movie Night While Camping
• Fun Camping Desserts

Note: Links on this page may earn me a commission at no extra charge to you. These small profits help to keep my website up and running for free, so thank you in advance.