Shuswap Lake Provincial Park — Attraction in Area F (Scotch Creek/Seymour Arm)

We tent camped on the first week of June 2024. Site 102. As other reviews have stated, this is a beautiful campground with all of the bells and whistles. The staff here is very friendly and helpful. There are plenty of fully serviced, clean bathrooms, some with hot water showers, and some with dishwashing sinks. The sites are large, well spaced with plenty of tree coverage and privacy. It’s a dog friendly campground. We experienced no mosquitoes at our site. but we were far from the water and temperatures were still mild. So that might change once temps really start to heat up.

Our site was right in front of a basic bathroom with no electricity, two toilets and a sink. The water spigot was on the next street, right next to the trash and across the bathrooms. There are well maintained paved roads throughout the campground and park which make leisurely bike riding a breeze. And I highly suggest bringing your bike to get around because this campground is big.

This campground is great for families, with two fully equipped playgrounds. One playground even includes a mountain biking practice area/scramble. An open grass area for sport activities, a beach, a nature center, that was unfortunately closed when we were there. And an easy trail through a forested area next to the Nature Center. No bikes allowed on that trail.

The lake is beautiful, and open to all water activities. But like all BC lakes, the water temperature is cold. Not a problem for most Canadians, but I grew up in the tropics so I always think twice, or six times before jumping into a lake :) There is paddle boat and kayak rentals right on the beach area of the lake. Unfortunately for us they were still closed for the season.

My biggest complaint and im being super picky here, is that this campground, like all large campgrounds, can get noisy. Since we were not camping during peak season (July, August) it was not terrible. But I can see where it might be too much for those seeking a quieter setting. Our site was closer to the main road, towards the back of the loop, so you could hear live music playing late at night, coming from the bar/restaurant on the main road.

The other thing that keeps me from giving this place 5 stars is that if you are not a lake person like me, then you might struggle to find other things to do after a day or two. There are no options for hiking and very limited trail biking inside the park. You would need to head over to another area to do those activities.

Overall this is a great campground. And if you live in the area this is a great option. Since I live 5 hours away, I will probably not be returning anytime soon. Although the lack of camping options in my area because of ridiculous demand versus capacity was the reason I camped here in the first place, so who knows, i might be back here sooner...

If you are looking for a nice peaceful camping experience avoid this place. It's beautiful, but poorly managed. I can't believe the immature, disrespectful and irresponsible behaviour of some parents with young kids. There is a noise curfew of 10pm, and a noise allowance all day, that is not respected by noisy families and not reinforced by staff. And just disresectful of other campers' comfort. There were 3 super noisy families, you know the ones who never taught their kids how to talk, only to yell. They left their numerous 7-10 year old kids in one site while the parents partied about 10 sites down. The kids yelled and screamed until 10pm when the mother came to wind them down with her almost equally loud voice, until about 10:30. (This was about an hour after one of the dads walked by and said "yeah those are mine", as I stood looking at the mayhem campsite of noise). Then after they were in bed one kid was loudly bawling in his tent about someone's blanket touching him. Mom just casually acknowledged but said nothing about being quiet. Animals are better behaved. Thankfully on my last night of 3 nights, they were replaced with normal campers with kids, who know how to respect the noise levels for the enjoyment and experience of others. The park attendants drive by in their golf cart a couple times each hour, but never say anything. The noisy occupants sometimes quieted down as soon as they saw the cart. The staff know this as they explained to me, but they do nothing. Like maybe park the buggy and do a walk by? Told me I could call the police if it goes to the wee hours. Um excuse me? You get paid to do a job right? Enforce the rules. If dogs aren't allowed to continously bark, why are kids allowed to continuously scream. And I mean obnoxiously so. The only good thing is, by about 11pm it was dead silent all 3 nights. Never again. Unless it's during the week and kids...

Believe the 'conservation' efforts are misguided and make the 'camping at the lake experience' less enjoyable. These campgrounds are a minimumal area in the whole parks reserves. If they want to preserve natural ban all motorized vehicles and watercraft from Parkway and waterways! Or better yet, ban people period!! And don't go preaching "don't be ridiculous" and continue to poison and drive away all nature by continuing to allow humans in and justifying it's ok if 'they don't allow people to touch fallen foliage' ! Till a single spark from a idiot with a cigarette lites up that dried out deadfall and rips through that park space making it undesirable for decades! (Nature's fix for us)

Campgrounds should be managed to minimize impact if something goes wrong and make the experience as enjoyable for as many people as possible! Of course the poor judgement and understanding of the nature that people are going to enjoy is the bigger part of the problem! That's why 'managed' campsites are needed at all!

Privatization of the management has also had a negative impact on the care of the facilities at this campground (and I'm sure other provincial park spaces)! It is just too difficult to have an understandable legal document that can convey the true intent rather than financial limitations and boundaries for what needs to be done...