Hirz Bay

Great campground right near the lake. The facilities are nice and the area is beautiful.

Great campground right near the lake. The facilities are nice and the area is beautiful.

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 lb & 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 lb & 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.