Lake Morena County Park — Attraction in Tecate

This was a great place to go for (tent) camping! We chose to go during the summer and heat wave but where we camped there was shade from the trees and there was a breeze that help us stay cool enough. At night is where the real magic happens. The amount of stars is breathtaking. I was able to get some amazing pictures of the stars. Being to close to San Diego, and not too far away from the freeway, this campground is perfect. The restrooms were clean and well kept (except for a few spiders but it's camping, they are going to be there), never had a problem of there not being any toilet paper, soap or paper towels. The showers are quarter operated starting at .50 cents for 4 minutes to $1.25 for 10 minutes. The water did get nice and hot quickly for me and plenty of space in the shower to dry off and change too. The only thing I would complain about it the door gap, for all who wander over there they can see right into the shower ..... I tried covering the gap but didn't have much success. We are all girls but I like my privacy when in the shower. The roads did have a lot of big cracks, so not ideal for skateboarding or rollerblading. There was plenty of walking trails, and for such a beautiful area it is good to take advantage of all the walking trails. The campsite itself, there was plenty of room, I never felt like I was too close to our neighbor. Very well kept and clean. The only downside to this campground is T-Mobile does not get reception there. Thankfully our friend had Verizon and we were able to use their phone to call our friends that would be heading out for the day to visit. I don't mind not having service really but we still need and want to communicate with friends. We really lost service a couple miles down the road before arriving to the campground. Overall a...

The lake: Lake Morena has been drained significantly over the last 2 or 3 years so it's a fraction of the size shown on Google maps. You can no longer launch private boats and swimming (both humans and dogs) is prohibited. The lake also lacks any shade so in the summer it's not really worth it unless your fishing. There were also dead fish about every 15-20 feet and the lake wreaked.

Camping: The campsite does have trees and a mixed or campsites with/without hookups and tent sites for those on the PCT. They're are also very serious about quiet hours starting at 10pm and fires out at 11pm. The Rangers will dump water on your fire at 11pm. Also firewood has to be bought local (they're protecting the tree from and invasive borer species). You can buy bundles of wood for $5 a bundle at the entrance Ranger Station. Though there are trees throughout the campsite, the majority of campsites lack adequate or any shade in many of the campsites. Which in the summer makes it fairly miserable. Probably not as bad at cooler times of the year. It's pretty cool to see the turkeys walking around. There were tons of cute baby turkeys.

Pets: The campsite is dog friendly. All dogs must be on a 6 foot or less leash at ALL times and it's strictly enforced.

Location: The campsite is next to a neighborhood.

Facilities: There are bathrooms and showers. There were in pretty good condition and the shower is quarter operated so I'd bring a roll of quarters if you plan...

We stayed at this location from June 5th 2022 thru June 19th 2022 (2 weeks) *There was a "Boil Water Order issued," though you were not told when you check in. We only knew because it was listed on the website. The park was fairly empty during the week with people packing in on the weekends. We were in site 45, which was a pull-in with plenty of room for our 5th wheel plus 3 vehicles it was perfect for us. We stayed here because we were meeting up with family from San Diego, and this was a fairly in expense option.

Let's talk Amenities, Our site had full hook-ups, pet friendly, things you would expect at a county park like a picnic table, fire ring, and restrooms. The market was walking distance, along with a cafe. We did eat there a couple of times, the food was decent.

There was plenty of wild life around, lots of turkeys, squirrels, birds. It was a nice peaceful stay. We were luck to see some bats flying around at dusk. One thing I really look forward to seeing.

Challenges, of course there was the boil water issue, there were also goat heads all around that our dogs kept stepping on them, we also had some mud dipper's trying to build a nest in one of our slides so we were having one flying around trying to get out every 10 -15 minutes. So make sure your slides are tightened up if you have any. There were a lot of ants too that time of year, so make sure you are prepared for...