Boat-in Sites (Lake Sonoma)

October 2021 - Extreme drought has left the lake very low, the campsites are still lovely and remote and peaceful, but be mindful of the boat-in approach, there is considerably more steep bank to climb to access the sites, and the boat landing is on surface was recently lake bottom - while it looks like solid ground it's easy to sink to ankle or knee depth in thick muck. n it's essential to use sticks and rocks the make a stepping zone or otherwise cover the surface to walk the first 6 feet up from the water line. This is true for all of the boat-in sites at the lake this year - I've stayed at 4 different ones since the summer began.

Cool little campsites. Water is low but still accessible if you want to get a little muddy. Bring water if you can, pulling from lake definitely tastes like… well, lake.

The camping spot was clean and the area is beautiful. The pit toilets had great TP available and seem well maintained. Overall, if coming to the area again I would happily chose to camp here again and do recommend it.

There was insufficient signage indicating where the bum loop camp sites were located along the trail. With the trail being a loop there needs to be signs pointing telling hikers which way along the loop they should go to reach the campsites. The only sign that mentioned the bum loop campsites along the trail were pointing in the wrong direction. This needs to be fixed.

Booked Madrone Point, which is accessible from Liberty Glenn Campground, only to discover upon arrival that the Liberty Glenn Campground was closed. Therefore we could not access our parking area and therefore we could not access our campground. Absolutely no regard for stranding people - even my confirmation email said I could park there. No one answers the phone when you call the visitors center.

We stayed for 2 nights with a small group at Broken Bridge campsite, and were really happy. While the description says it is a boat-in only site, we arrived by backpacking. The well-maintained trail from Rockpile Road at Lone Rock parking area was 3 miles and took us a couple of hours to navigate with backpacks on. Note that the hike involves is 1000 foot descent plus 300 foot climb; so be prepared for that much climbing on the way out. One short section of the trail was tricky to hike due to erosion. The best online map I saw was from Gaia GPS (https://www.gaiagps.com/) which accurately depicts the trails: descend from the archery range on the Oak Knoll Trail, then turn left on the Huff 'n Puff trail. The cutoff trail from "Huff 'n Puff" to Broken Bridge campsite is unmarked, however, and easy to miss, so pay close attention to the map to make sure you find the turn.
We also rented canoes from the marina, which took us a couple of hours to paddle to Broken Bridge campsite; the public boat ramp is probably just 5 minutes with a motorboat. The canoe ride had to navigate wake from many motorboats, which were significant but did not swamp the canoes. The campsite itself had two pit toilets that were well maintained; there were about 6 picnic tables. Campsite had several garbage cans, which had been emptied and lined with new trash can liners. The redwood glen was a beautiful location to make a campsite. Tent areas were not very level, so be prepared to sleep on a slope.

Campsites were covered in garbage scattered all over necessitating clean up prior to being able to set up camp.

The maps showing the locations of some of the campsites is not accurate, and some entire camps aren't in the right location.

The campsite numbers are messed up and people had problems figuring out what campsite they should camp in. Luckily people were cool and worked it out, but I could see it getting ugly quick when you boat all the way out there and someones in your campsite and your the one who has to tell them to pack up all their stuff and get out. (Recipe for a confrontation.)

Scenic spot. Very private. Bathrooms are bad though.