Hirz Bay

I enjoy Hirz Bay campground especially in May. Mostly one avoids the scorching summer heat. I have camped on the Sacramento, Pit, Squaw Creek, and McCloud arms of the lake. They each have their own personality. Hirz Bay campground is far enough away from the noise of the Union Pacific Railroad and Interstate five, so one enjoys relative quiet. Well, there are those loud weekend parties to deal with, but that is an acceptable part of camping, and our trailer is sound insulated. I have also spent time camping at the McCloud Bridge campground: also quite.
Hirz Bay campground is well maintained. The staff is efficient and friendly.

This year (2024) the campground was regularly attended by a pesky adolescent bear. It did some minor damage to a pickup and torn up some tents. As far as I know, the bear only went after food that was not in a bear box or otherwise well protected. The bear visited one family who had a small child in a tent. A bear and a toddler is not a good combination. There is plenty of information provided by camp officials about bears and food. I guess people have to learn the hard way.

I enjoy Hirz Bay campground especially in May. Mostly one avoids the scorching summer heat. I have camped on the Sacramento, Pit, Squaw Creek, and McCloud arms of the lake. They each have their own personality. Hirz Bay campground is far enough away from the noise of the Union Pacific Railroad and Interstate five, so one enjoys relative quiet. Well, there are those loud weekend parties to deal with, but that is an acceptable part of camping, and our trailer is sound insulated. I have also spent time camping at the McCloud Bridge campground: also quite.
Hirz Bay campground is well maintained. The staff is efficient and friendly.

This year (2024) the campground was regularly attended by a pesky adolescent bear. It did some minor damage to a pickup and torn up some tents. As far as I know, the bear only went after food that was not in a bear box or otherwise well protected. The bear visited one family who had a small child in a tent. A bear and a toddler is not a good combination. There is plenty of information provided by camp officials about bears and food. I guess people have to learn the hard way.

It was all so promising.. Driving into the campsite up Gilman was beautiful. The bathroom was clean & our Campsite (#35) was set beautifully against the lake. We had no lake access but the view was nice. We camped on the lower level of the site because it was more private & had great views. We set up camp, made a fire, & cooked a great dinner. Finished with toasted marshmallows around the fire for a while after sunset. While closing up camp & heading to the bear proof garbage cans I heard something large moving in the brush, I couldn't see anything with my headlamp. We put all the food in the alleged bear proof locker, put out the fire, & headed down the slope to our camp. After getting into the tent, less than a half hour later we hear a chain clanking much like the chain to the bear locker. Naively we assumed that noise was our neighbors securing their bear locker, we later found out how wrong we were. Next we hear something very large running & stumbling down the slope near our camp, the bear was very large & carried our medium sized cooler in its mouth, making it look tiny in comparison. The bear was about 400 pounds & about 5 yards from our tent. We could hear its panting. My partner and I decided to stay the night, and perhaps that was foolish. The bear came back to the bear locker two to three times, & sniffed near our tent. There were also so many other creatures we couldn't see but could hear scurrying around the tent too. Moments after sunrise we looked at the damage, the bear had eaten $120 of groceries. Yogi bear ate well that night, haha. That bear was pretty clean despite it all. the peanut butter container & pyrex of salad dressing was licked clean and intact save for a large puncture in the lids. We packed up camp & high tailed it outta there.
Key take awayS: The Bear lockers don't work, store your food in the car. There will be bears. Most people camp in vehicles. Tent camping felt vulnerable. signage was insufficient. stayed only 1 of our 3 days.

It was all so promising.. Driving into the campsite up Gilman was beautiful. The bathroom was clean & our Campsite (#35) was set beautifully against the lake. We had no lake access but the view was nice. We camped on the lower level of the site because it was more private & had great views. We set up camp, made a fire, & cooked a great dinner. Finished with toasted marshmallows around the fire for a while after sunset. While closing up camp & heading to the bear proof garbage cans I heard something large moving in the brush, I couldn't see anything with my headlamp. We put all the food in the alleged bear proof locker, put out the fire, & headed down the slope to our camp. After getting into the tent, less than a half hour later we hear a chain clanking much like the chain to the bear locker. Naively we assumed that noise was our neighbors securing their bear locker, we later found out how wrong we were. Next we hear something very large running & stumbling down the slope near our camp, the bear was very large & carried our medium sized cooler in its mouth, making it look tiny in comparison. The bear was about 400 pounds & about 5 yards from our tent. We could hear its panting. My partner and I decided to stay the night, and perhaps that was foolish. The bear came back to the bear locker two to three times, & sniffed near our tent. There were also so many other creatures we couldn't see but could hear scurrying around the tent too. Moments after sunrise we looked at the damage, the bear had eaten $120 of groceries. Yogi bear ate well that night, haha. That bear was pretty clean despite it all. the peanut butter container & pyrex of salad dressing was licked clean and intact save for a large puncture in the lids. We packed up camp & high tailed it outta there.
Key take awayS: The Bear lockers don't work, store your food in the car. There will be bears. Most people camp in vehicles. Tent camping felt vulnerable. signage was insufficient. stayed only 1 of our 3 days.

Partied with the bears

Partied with the bears

I think the location is great. I loved the fairly flat parking and it’s a big site! (037). I stayed on a Monday for the one night. As I drove the one way road to my spot I noticed all the trash was overflowing and people are lazy and obviously didn’t care but I also knew that no one was going to pick it. Well, the bears came about 2am. Of course. Maybe you guys are understaffed. Probably. I’m sorry. I just wanted you to know.

Great place to visit! The campsites are large, spread out nicely and very well kept. The bathrooms could use a bit more attention, quiet hours are not enforced so if you're sensitive to noise try going during the week when there are less people. Beach access is just okay but probably only because the lake was FULL when we were there.

Bear proof trash cans were full and not being emptied so people had to set their bags of garbage outside the cans. This of course attracted bears to rummage through them every day and night. Also there was no toilet paper in the whole park and the bathroom had lights but they did not work.

Site #46 which is a double has good privacy and water/bathrooms nearby. Some shade. Great views and very quiet. People were respectful and friendly. It was quiet and no loud music or problems and the curfew at 1000 pm was observed. We stayed from June 26th to July 1st. We had a boat that we put in and took out every day and the ramp was good. Plenty of parking at the upper parking lot. $16/day for ramp access. We saw numerous vehicles with violation tickets for not paying. Lake was at 97% full. There is a small beach that you can put up a shade structure. Unfortunately, there were some irresponsible jet skiis nearby the beach running around the 5 mph no wake buoy. We also saw a knucklehead boater dragging a person on an inflatable. Sigh, people.....
Also unfortunately, some non-campers left their trash and empty butane cannisters outside of the bear trash bins. If you bring it in, you should pack it out if the bins are full. I did call the private company that handles the bathrooms and trash, and they came out on Wednesday and took care of everything. I picked up four 55-gallon trash bags and put everything on top of the bathroom near our site. It was the first bathroom as you came into the campground loop with the bulletin boards. We all need to be good stewards of our natural resources.