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One of the few areas in the Sierra Nevada we hadn't visited was the Huntington Lake
(and Shaver Lake) area. I finally found a good spot in our vacation schedule to
visit it, and reserved a site at Upper Billy Creek campground at Huntington Lake.
After having had problems getting a walk-in site along Tioga Road a couple years
ago, I try to reserve as much as I can, but I needn't have bothered.
In the past, I might have driven up to our campground on a Friday night, but I didn't
feel like fighting Friday traffic, and this was a new area for us so I didn't want to
scramble around at night driving and finding our site. So Saturday it was. We left
the Bay Area around 11:30am. Unfortunately the night before we found out that Jared's
hiking boots were too small (he hadn't worn them since October), so we had to make
a brief stop at REI on Saturday morning before we left.
There are two main routes from the Bay Area to Huntington Lake -- either 101 to
Highway 152, or 580 to 205. We took 101 south to Highway 152, stopping for lunch
along the way. Then it was Highway 99 south to Madera,
then a maze of roads that the GPS directed us to, eventually leading to Highway 168 up
toward Shaver Lake.
We stopped briefly for some supplies at a Shaver Lake market, then continued on to
Huntington Lake. We stopped at the campground information center, where we were
supposed to check-in, but it was too late. There were people there at nearly 5:30pm,
but they said they were closed (they close at 4:30pm). They told us to just go ahead
to our camp site and check-in the following morning.
So we got back in the car and drove the remaining 10 minutes along the shore of
Huntington Lake to Upper Billy Creek Campground. While Shaver Lake looked like it
was filled with recreational boats, Shaver Lake looked much more peaceful in
comparison. And although there were many campers at the Lower Billy Creek campground
next to the lake, the Upper Billy Creek campground where we were staying at across
the road was only about half full. In fact we had no direct neighbors.
After setting up camp and having dinner, we walked across the road down to the lake
shore. It's an easy walk down to the water. If you want to actually camp at Lower
Billy Creek, which is practically right next to the water, you'll have to share
the experience with lots of other campers (mostly RVs), jam packed next to each other
like sardines. Up on the hill at Upper Billy Creek, we had all the space we wanted.
Huntington Lake from near Lower Billy Creek Campground
Huntington Lake from near Lower Billy Creek Campground
Huntington Lake from near Lower Billy Creek Campground
Huntington Lake from near Lower Billy Creek Campground
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