French Gulch Campground

NIce pavillion and paved fire ring. Nice clean large bathrooms with showers. Nice view overlooking the lake. Great breeze up by the fire ring. The back side of the campground (below the bathrooms) is very near the main highway, and can be loud at night if car sounds bother you. Its also very warm due to lack of breeze. But the Campsite is also close town (10 min) so you can easily drive in a get s... NIce pavillion and paved fire ring. Nice clean large bathrooms with showers. Nice view overlooking the lake. Great breeze up by the fire ring. The back side of the campground (below the bathrooms) is very near the main highway, and can be loud at night if car sounds bother you. Its also very warm due to lack of breeze. But the Campsite is also close town (10 min) so you can easily drive in a get supplies. Would have given it a 5 if there were more "flat" areas for tents....lots of space, just not really flat...But great sunrise views at the boat ramp.

I reserved French Gulch for my Vintage BMW Motorcycle club. Showers are an important amenity for us because you tend to get hot and sweaty riding. Much to my chagrin, the showers are not operational and apparently haven’t been for quite a while. Additionally, the general upkeep of the restrooms is lacking. The women’s restroom is down one stall, the hand dryer in the men’s is not operational, leak... I reserved French Gulch for my Vintage BMW Motorcycle club. Showers are an important amenity for us because you tend to get hot and sweaty riding. Much to my chagrin, the showers are not operational and apparently haven’t been for quite a while. Additionally, the general upkeep of the restrooms is lacking. The women’s restroom is down one stall, the hand dryer in the men’s is not operational, leaking fixtures, no hot water, etc. I complained at the Kernville ranger station and they called the concessionaire. The person on the line sounded shocked that such a situation exists and said he’d send out someone to “look at it”. Awhile later a person from the concessionaire did arrive. When I told him of my complaints, he responded: “there are no showers, no hot water and they are going to tear down the restroom building and replace it with pit toilets”. This is an example of why the Forest Service should not be using low bid contractors to run their facilities. The buck just keeps getting passed and nothing gets maintained or improved. Additionally, the idea of tearing down the facility is ridiculous. I would say that a few thousand dollars spent to repair the facility vs many tens of thousands of dollars to replace it with and inferior building is not the way to go. The Federal government should fund the Forest Service sufficiently to have their employees run the campgrounds, as they used to.