Clear Lake State Park - Kelseyville, California

Jonathan F.

This is my 35 year coming to this Park and by far I was happy with arriving yet disappointed once inside by the camp site. Hydrilla and this green/red moss like film took over the lake behind our campsite. The WATER LEVELS are extremely low for summer conditions. Not to mention the little yellow star flowers with the dangerously sharp needles that could pop a tire were every where, and the geese droppings covering places where we walk through, Grounds keeping need to do a better job. Most importantly it doesn’t give families with young children anywhere on the bank to enjoy the experience.

We had to literally go to COUNTY PARK just to see CLEAR WATER.

Nonetheless I’m in hopes that something is done before our next trip to Maximize our experiences that we’ve shared from many many years.

Hai S.

Nice little park with picnic tables and clean restrooms. There are some trails but we did just a short one because it was too warm. The water had a lot of green algae but some people were swimming regardless.

Moe F.

Pretty place to be in nature. Lovely view of the lake.

LOTS of hornets and their nests. Or wasps. I forget which. It may be a seasonal thing. They did respect boundaries for the most part. Plenty of mosquitos as well.

Saw a couple deer as I was driving around. Glad the speed limit is 15 so I saw it coming from the side of the road

8 dollars for a day pass at the entrance. Not in my personal budget for a casual outing, but not too bad.

Bathrooms are somewhat clean but have those sinks that only work as you're pushing on them, and no hot water.

I waded in the swimming area before I saw that I shouldn't have because of the algae. I regretted not bringing swim shoes because the rocks were sharp and painful to walk on throughout the whole beach.

You can use the water fountains and shower rooms and buy tokens for water around the side of the showers/bathrooms.
One dollar gets you 2 tokens, and each token was 2 minutes of water (turns on right after you put in the first token), so it's a dollar every 4 minutes.

Water got hot after about 30 seconds. Great water pressure and size of each shower.
Super tall ceilings with sunlight coming through, and still nice and cool inside.

Overall, pretty good experience, just expensive.

Nancy B.

We spent 4 nights here over Father's Day weekend and had a great time. The park is so nice. The campsites are large and clean. Lots of shade on hot afternoons. Restrooms were cleaned every morning and there were lots of staff around to assist if we needed anything. We felt very safe. Quiet at night. Saw lots of wildlife. The water was clean and refreshing. There was NO algae along the water in the park and the swimming area was nice and also clean. Even though there was a Reg Flag warning due to the weather and we couldn't have a fire, we still enjoyed our time. We will be back! So close to the bay area yet we felt very far away.

Avinash K.

Nice lake. Not a lot of activities on the south shore. Most activities are on the north shore. Camping is nice in the state park.
If going to the Clear Lake State Park by Tesla plan to reach there with more than 50%, as there are no parking places nearby, and we had almost 30% charge which restricted our driving to nearby locations.

Joann M.

It was turtle day at the State Park..I've never seen so many red eared sliders out there as there was. One log had 16 good sized turtle sunning themselves. Another log had several & 2 had climbed way up to the top. We saw a Goose with her Goozlings..several camera shy Grebes..beautiful Blue Heron..there are small cabins for rent..lots of picnic areas..perfect day..lots of great places to fish..Kayak..swim..canoe..easy access to the lake. This year 2023..there is an abundance of water so lots of critters to see.

C I.

We went on a Tuesday afternoon. Not many people. This is our most favorite park in all of Clearlake area. Well kept, very clean, many picnic areas, nice looking cabins, and great trails to walk. We loved the nature trail with wonderful views to the lake. There also is a swimming beach with shower nearby. Watch out for yellow jackets.

Justine

We camped here in a cabin for 3 nights.
We didn't know "no mattress pad" meant no mattress was included so we slept on our spare clothes on the bed board which meant we didn't really sleep much.

The park and lake is amazing, a really beautiful place. The view from the cabins is so good in the morning as the sun is rising. Fire pits are included.

There are some nice trails and a swimming area, staff are nice, there are plenty of birds and wildlife including woodpeckers and turtles, kingfishers, egrets, deer, and you may see a river otter (sadly we weren't so lucky but searching was fun)

We visited the swimming area which was cool, lots of lizards in the rocks and undergrowth which I thought was neat.

If you choose to camp in a cabin, there are 6 cabins quite close together, which may not be for everyone but we're UK tourists and everyone we've met has been really friendly so we quite liked the vibe of it! They all have electricity and AC which we weren't expecting at all. It was $60 a night which I think was really good value.

The only thing that even slightly bothered me during my visit here was Americans having really loud conversations, on person and on loudspeaker on the nature trails. It scared a lot of the wildlife off so was a bit irksome.