Pineknot Campground — Attraction in Big Bear Lake

Visited Pineknot Campground last weekend and had a good time with friends. We were at site 9 which backs onto the Forest Service Rd. Site 9 was spacious and had enough room for our big 4 person car camping tent and two more 3 person backpacking style tents. We were super close to the restroom but not so close that there were any smells or people constantly walking around our site. The site layout also had the tents a bit away from the fire ring so that the campfire smoke had enough distance to dissipate before it reached the tents. The only bad thing was that there was a slight slope, but I noticed it was a bit better than other sites. Also we did not feel like we were too close to the neighbors.

For the campground in general...

PROS: super close to stores, restaurants, and other amenities. So close that cooking is not necessary if for whatever reason you don't want to cook during your visit. flush toilets that were clean picnic table, fire ring, grill, and bear boxes at each site firewood sold on site ($8 CASH per bundle) camp host was friendly and made rounds in his golf cart to check on people potable water

CONS: super close to city. This can be a negative for those people who want a more secluded experience. could use more toilets no showers $8 CASH parking per day for 2nd vehicle some sites are very close together and most sites have a slope of some kind the site can be dusty. There isn't any grass so the ground is just loose dirt that kicks up easily. POLLEN OVERLOAD!!! I have never seen so much pollen in my life. Everything from our cars to our equipment, cooking gear, etc. was blanketed in green-yellow pollen. One of us had a bad reaction to the pollen and was miserable for two days due to the pollen. poor cell coverage. zero service for AT&T and T-Mobile. Verizon guy in our group had no problems.

Overall I would rate my camping experience here a 6 or 7 out of 10 but out of our group of 6 people, 3 of them rated the experience 8/10. I would prefer a more secluded site but Pineknot would work well for families with small children or people that just want easy access...

Set among towering pines, and walking distance to ski lifts, this campground has its pros and cons...

CONS: I thought the spots were small, tight, and stacked right on top of one another. I kept moving my chair so I wouldn't be staring at one of the other two families within conversational distance of mine. Our spot, #23, was on a steep slope... All of it. The picnic tables were so sloped I got an ab workout holding myself upright while eating. Our fire pit was on a steep, rocky slope that was pretty hard to position chairs around. There was only one place that made sense to set up a tent, but it was positioned in the center of three spots and I wouldn't have felt comfortable using it. Luckily we brought our trailer, which is only 19 ft long, but was still nearly impossible to back into our space. #23 was perpendicular to the super narrow road making it very hard to back in. They allow you to have eight people in each campsite which would look like a Tokyo subway station if filled to capacity. Luckily our neighbors only had four people between both sites.

PROS: The camp host, Seann, was friendly and accommodating, and sold firewood for $8 per bundle. Each campsite had at least one picnic table, bear box, grill, and fire pit. If you're into communal camping, you'll be stoked to be surrounded by strangers. If you're into downhill biking, you can walk to the ski lifts. If you forget something, you're close to town. They have super clean restrooms, and potable water spigots spaced conveniently around the camp.

NEUTRAL: The location for me was neutral because I don't like to camp where I have cell phone reception and am surrounded by strangers, but...

PEOPLE WERE BREAKING INTO CARS AT NIGHT WHILE THE CAMPGROUND WAS ASLEEP!

We stayed at Pineknot the first weekend it opened for the season. Around 2AM we heard our car (beep) to unlock the doors. My partner woke up to see two people by our car. One was looking directly at our tent (as a lookout) and the other was trying to open our car door. My partner quickly locked the doors but the person beeped it back open! They must of had some kind of fob to open car doors. We set off the car alarm to scare them off but they left for a moment and came back. We called 911 and the cops drove around the entire campground with search lights. We knocked on the camp host's door but he wasn't there.

The campground was fully booked and all afternoon and early evening we noticed car alarms were going off. I'm unsure if the thieves were campers or not but when we purposely set off our car alarm, to scare them away, I bet most people probably chalked it up to an accidental alarm.

Be careful. They were very quiet and were able to unlock our car door without our keys. I don't know if people are getting more desperate with the pandemic but these people were bold considering we were sleeping 50ft away in our tent in a fully booked campsite. If they were successful in breaking into cars and stealing, on the first weekend of the camping season, I have no doubt they will...