Trumbull Lake Campground

This alpine campground is a little off the beaten path so we were able to get reservations fairly last minute. There is a sweet little lake hike from the campground and the best sites back up to the lake. Bodie Ghost Town, Mono Lake and Bridgeport are easy day trips.

The bear boxes are clean and spacious. Each site has fire rings and a large picnic table. The restrooms are pit but clean enough. Our neighbor caught his generator on fire, so it was a lot quieter after that.

There are chipmunks, deer and some sort of bird of prey instead of TV.

We have stayed at Trumbull Lake several times and always had a great time. The campground is well treed and most of the sites are spacious and not crowded together. The lake is well stocked with trout so the fishing is very good whether your fish flies, bait, or lures and the scenery is hard to beat. We haven't been in the summer, just in September so the crowds are small. If you need a shower, beer, a meal, or just some basic supplies Virginia Lakes Resort store is just a 5 minute walk away (showers are $5 for 20min). We usually have one or two bars of cell service but this last time we had none (ATT).

We stayed here for a couple nights and loved it! Half the sites are reserve only and half are first come first served. We pulled in on a Thursday afternoon and found a great site! Campground was full of very nice people. Lots of people fishing! There are three lakes within a short walk. There is a very nice l and well stocked ittle store and restaurant right next to the campground... quite the surprise when you consider how out of the way this place is. The prices were shockingly reasonable! We fished Trumbull and were successful... very tasty trout! The elevation is just about 10,000 feet so it may take a few days for some people to acclimate, but it is a beautiful place to camp!

Update:
Went back in September 2021. I just wanted to provide an update just in case things have changed. Fortunately, I can state this is still a wonderful place to go. The campsite manager "Kimo" is still there and running a great shop. During this season, there were horrible fires in the area and many of the public lands closed, including evacuees from affected areas. I saw him running around accommodating all these visitors/evacuees and keeping everyone happy. I was very impressed.

Area:
Trumbull Lake Campground is right off the 395 highway and on the East side of the Sierras. The terrain is primarily mountainous and hilly. There are some long 6% grades so make sure your vehicle is ready especially in the Summer months where 100ºf weather isn’t unusual. The campground is between Bridgeport to the North and Mono Lake to the South. Each locations have amenities, but I haven’t seen a major grocery store at these locations. There is a major Walmart North in Gardnerville so if you’re coming from the North, take advantage if you need it. The area is typical Sierras, full of sage and pines everywhere. This campground is no different. It’s beautiful anytime of the year. The 100 acre lake is a big bonus. It’s quite the site to wake up to and sit on the shoreline throwing in a line or just watching the beauty.

Campground/Campsites:
The campsites are decent sizes, but the parking is moderately level. This goes both for tents and parking spaces for RV’s and trailers. I was in site 12 and I couldn’t see a level spot to put a tent, but only needed two leveling blocks to level the trailer in the parking slot. The sites seem shorter than listed on Rec.gov’s site, so be mindful when making your reservations. I couldn’t find a water filling station for my trailer, but there were plenty of water spigots throughout the campground. The roads are dusty gravel trails and wide enough to accommodate large rigs within the 35ft range. There were bathrooms available, but I did not have the opportunity to see/use them, so I cannot make any comments on it. The sites were taken care of, so it’s on par of most USF campgrounds. The group campsite can be heard throughout the campground if the occupants are loud. Fortunately, the group that was there when we were visiting adhered to the quiet hours.

Connectivity:
I got no signal from the campground. I have AT&T on my mobile device and a Verizon hotspot, both provided no signal. I also didn’t use my booster or mimo antenna. Signal can be attained with any boost at the main road to/from the campground.

Overall:
We really enjoyed this campground. We only stayed on the Trumbull Lake side. There are about 30 campsites on this side. Even when busy, it doesn’t seem crowded, but people do come in that are not camping. We were there during the Labor Day weekend 2020 alongside the COVID-19 pandemic, so it may have played a role. The camp host, Kimo, was great and very helpful. The access to the lake is an easy walk from the campground. I would recommend this campground.

Great campground overall. No issues with noise and/or people. Arrived on a Thursday and plenty of availability. Camp host Kimo, super chill guy with plenty of knowledge of the area. Lots of access to area lakes. Definitely be back.

Beautiful place to stay, but we got off on the wrong foot a little bit as we arrived. Many of the USFS campgrounds in the Sierra's are older and are smaller than some others around and our reservation was for camp site 004 and the reservation web page said the site length was 45 ft good enough for our 30ft ArticFox, and it was about that length from what I could tell, but because the angle was completely wrong there was no way you could squeeze a 25ft trailer in there unless you were towing it with a small short wheel base SUV.

Be aware most of the sites in older USFS campgrounds are small and there are only about 4 space that anyone could fit a 30 ft trailer in because the angles are all wrong which make it very hard to back in, but if you have a class C then you're ok but you class A folks also have limited availability too, but for us longer rigs the roads inside the campground are narrow with lots of big trees to navigate around but we did it ok.

However, not was all lost because the camp host Kimo saved the trip by finding us a site next to his in space 20 which was a great space and 75 ft long and easy to back into. Let me give you all a little tip. Most USFS campground host will hold back spaces as this one was held back and a little sign was posted on it " Space under maintenance" for people who come in and can not fit into a space. Also about have the camp space are FF and the rest are for the reservation system so if you come up you will probably get a space it you have a rig under 25 ft.

Now for a little more ugly stuff. Kimo our camp host had to leave for a few days and his boss and the regional campground manager under contract by Westrek service westrekservice.com arrived in their class A and tried to get us to leave our space telling us we did not belong there because he wanted to park there. Remember from above that I told you that most hosts will hold back spaces well what happed is Westrek Sevices held back space 20 next to the host camp so he could come in and with his class C and stay there which is BS when there was plenty of space in the host camp site because there was no RV in the space because the host was tent camping and the space was very large and over 75 ft long. Therefore, I nothing good to say about Westrek service at all or this reginal manager. These are public campgrounds for the tax paying public not for the concessionare's private use. They're entitled to a space but how many do they need to hog up for them selves and they were of course the best and largest spaces.

I want to give Kimo a shout out because he kept that place running and clean as I have ever seen any bath room in any campground public or private and it was too bad he had to leave and was replaced with an incompetent manager.

We came on a whim over the 4th of July and lucked out on scoring a spot even though we didn’t have reservations. I don’t remember the site number but it was really tight for our 40’ motorhome. The camp manager came by to say hi and then mentioned that Site 2 was available. That spot was much roomier!

Thanks to camp host Kimo for finding us a site for our one night stay. It was 15 years since we last stayed here and it was great to return. Beautiful setting for a great nights sleep and plenty to do if you are staying there longer. Highly recommend an ice cold Sierra Nevada Pale Ale at the general store, and a slice of delicious home made pie.