Buena Vista Aquatic Area — Hotel in Bakersfield

Was at the campsite for 24 hours and had four visits from the Rangers. Pickup truck was parked facing the wrong direction it was parallel instead of horizontal had to move it. Had to turn down some music. Then I was told I had to turn my RV around it's 30 ft long. If I did that the hookups didn't match the ranger said well mine is that way too but since you're leaving the next morning will let you stay there. Few hours later two men came up to the campsite and straw hats shorts golf cart demanding I turn my RV around facing the other direction. I asked them who they were they told me they were Rangers. They had no Ranger uniform they had no ID they were in a golf cart not a ranger truck. So I told him they better leave. He said if I didn't turn it around he was going to go get his ID and return with his ticket book. And then if he wrote me a ticket and I still didn't turn around the RV so it's facing in the street instead of the campsite he was going to have it towed. He said I had to be off the grass. I said there is no grass but when I read the ticket he wrote that I was parked on the dirt not on the pavement. The only payment was the middle of the street. So I had to pack up and leave a day early also lost my money. The place was horrific with flies I then noticed that the sewer holes for the RV hookups didn't have a cover over them. The place was dirty and nasty even the water. The shower head was like a pressure washer in the men's restroom my son told me my grandson couldn't even use it either. The ranger should stop bothering people and start cleaning up the campsites there must be 500 Squirrel holes on each campsite. Do not go there...

I'm not sure why this place gets such bad ratings. As an avid tent/car camper and festival goer I have seen my fair share of dirt and bad bathrooms. If you can handle the outdoors you'll love it here. I docked a star because of the bathrooms. If you have a trailer or RV this place is 5 stars. Camped at site #4 which has tons of shade but wasn't lakeside. Only a minute walk to the lake. We car camper and the bathroom wasn't filthy other than bugs. There are a lot of knats/no see ums/whatever you call them. Nothing that bit us just millions of teeny little bugs attracted to the lights. Personally never had an issue with them til we had to use the restroom at night and during the day I wish they'd have come in daily to sweep them up, clean up the spiderwebs. They build them fast as things we left over night had some already. But WE ARE GUESTS IN THESE SPACES...yes there's small gopher holes but watch your step and you're fine, don't leave food out just like you wouldn't in bear country. The lake is beautiful, wasn't cold. We had paddle boards so we used them in the small lake, Lake Evans. It was murky but tbh I'm Canadian and swam in much worse lol. Happy to spend some time in nature this weekend and I'll definitely be back.

Lots of families with their kids, people spend all day on their boats to get back at dusk and the campground can liven up however no one was obnoxiously loud the night we stayed. It's definitely not your lights out at 10 and no one is to be seen campground but I felt everyone was respectful and it was mostly families while...

Had a pleasant time. We were hauling through N on I5 and this was convenient just a short way off the freeway. We were able to reserve a spot online and change to a better spot when we arrived. We got campsite #18 which had hookups, pull through, picnic table and fire pit, a couple trees and beach front. Very large campsite. Pull through easily accommodated our 29 ft Class c with tow vehicle. There are lots of ground squirrels who will pilfer anything that is left unattended. I thought they were fun to watch and didn’t feed them. The water was nice. Beach had some trash, that should have been addressed better. View across the lake was lovely sunset and sunrise. Lots of flies so I’m glad we only stayed one night. Didn’t use their bathrooms so I can’t comment on that. Staff was nice. It was a weekend so there were lots of boaters there. At this camp site and all the other beach front sites that I saw, you could tie up your boat right at your campsite. Lots of people so there was music and noise but it quieted down during quiet hours. They do charge extra for dogs. I would stay again if doing the trip the same way—just an overnight on a long haul. Note that the cool photos of artwork are from a music festival that is held there every year. Don’t expect to see that stuff when the festival is...