Carter Lake

A charming and seemingly underutilized location. During a week when all of the state parks we’re unavailable,this little national gem was almost vacant! Sites vary dramatically in size! Before forewarned! Some are not much larger than a large van with space for a tent in the grass beyond. Other others, like the one I was in was spacious enough for my 24 foot trailer, my Ford F150, and my friend’s SUV with plenty of room for the picnic table and fire ring. A dense under story keeps the sites very private and trees provide just enough shade, but allow for good use of solar too! My only regret was being there before all of the blackberries were ready to ripen! My site was on the end across the road from the parking area for the beach, right on the lake. A few cars came through to make day use of the lake and there were some nighttime visitors on Friday, but it was never a disturbance. There is a great trail that takes you over to large sand dunes to get to a beautiful spot on the beach! It’s pretty straightforward, though walking through the sand might be more of a challenge than some people are up for!This will be my go to place when I am in this area! Clean vault toilets, portable water, and some road noise that diminishes dramatically at night.

Beautiful campground! The camp host was very friendly and helpful! Very clean bathrooms and well kept campgrounds

It's a nice enough campground. When I got there, there was only one other group besides the host who was off duty. Cars drive through quite a bit, and one seemed to make multiple trips, plus stopping to look into the back of my vehicle. My dog barked, and they left quickly. Then they went around again to get out and peer through the bushes. It did not seem safe, and I packed up and left.

The Volunteer host was awesome, so friendly the entire week we were there

The camp host came over and tried opening my daughter's tent at 8 am and was very rude while asking for proof that there was a reservation made. She showed him the picture of the reservation reciept and he turned around and walked away. I have been camping at carter Lake for 35 years and never has anyone treated us this way. I do not appreciate it at all and will be rethinking our camping trips to carter lake in the future

Great stay

Lovely quiet campground with Great Lake access for kayaking and paddle board.

The lake is a very pleasant spot for young kids to splash. We enjoyed our stay but were worried about our space after we arrived. We reserved site 6 without knowledge that site 6 and 7 are essentially connected. (Literally you can touch the other sites picnic table while standing at your fore pit.) It was fortunate that the family that booked site 7 for one night was not present for much time. More information about sites like like these would be helpful.

We love the idea of having the lake right at our camp site

#15 was a nice, private spot with plenty of shade. close to bathrooms so we kept hearing the toilets flush but that's fine given it was so convenient. Plenty of other running water taps. Bathrooms were very clean and well kept (bring your own hand soap). The lake was lovely. Small, but large enough for several groups of people to enjoy at once. We appreciated the picnic table for stargazing at the lake. Fire pits are nice.
The 1 mile trek to the ocean is very treacherous. The trail definitely needs some maintenance, some plans laid down over large patches of mud. If you want to get to the ocean, be prepared to walk through 2 sand dunes and mud. Otherwise the ocean spot was completely isolated which was really surreal and definitely cool.