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South Shore Campground

Pioneer, California

Book this listing through our partner Recreation Gov

About South Shore Campground

Overview

South Shore Campground is located next to Lower Bear River Reservoir in the Eldorado National Forest the central Sierra Nevada Mountains. It's a prime location for fishing and boating.

Recreation

Lower Bear Reservoir covers 166 acres and has 2.5 miles of shoreline. Activities include fishing, swimming, boating, canoeing and picnicking. Anglers may catch rainbow, brown and mackinaw trout. A boat ramp is located within a mile of the campground.

The Pardoe Trail can be accessed a short distance past nearby Upper Bear River Reservoir, and borders Mokelumne Wilderness.

Facilities

Each campsite comes with a picnic table and grill. One campsite is accessible, as is one of the vault toilets. Drinking water is provided.

A general store is about a mile from the campground on the northern part of the reservoir.

Natural Features

The campground is nestled in a mixed conifer forest on a hillside just above the south shore of Lower Bear River Reservoir at an elevation of 5,900 feet. Some campsites offer partial views of the lake through the trees.

A Mediterranean climate extends over most of the forest, with warm, dry summers and cold, wet winters.

South Shore Campground Reviews

This campground often has availability when others don’t. We stick to the sites on the lower section (site 5 is our favorite). Some of these sites are on an incline so if that’s something you prefer to avoid, there are lots of flat and tons of ADA sites on the upper section. You can easily walk to the lake to hang on the beach, fish, or swim. It’s just across the road and its common for people to leave kayaks and canoes on the shore here during their stay. (You put in at the boat launch at the other, more crowded campground at the end of the road.) Be prepared to see or hear bears at night and in the late afternoon. They know the campgrounds rhythms. However, they do still fear people and can be scared away with a shout or banging pots. Biggest downsides to this campground are the pit toilets and lots of noise from HOV enthusiasts driving by on the road in their ATVs trucks and trailers.

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