Beaver Dam State Park — Hotel in Caliente

The 28 mile dirt road to get here is very graded and in fine enough condition for passenger cars. On spring break/Easter weekend when nearby state parks were full there were only two other sites being used the first night of our stay and nobody the next. Very peaceful! Water was on at entrance and firewood available for a donation. Hiked the Beaver wash trail. Only complaint was the trail was non-existent from campground til where it runs into Oak Knoll trail. Suddenly from there on the trail was quite wide like it'd been cleared by a mini tractor although I couldn't tell how it would've crossed the stream so many times... The old "walk in" campground is now an OHV campground and apparently the trail is an OHV trail down at this wider area too. Didn't encounter anyone and there are two spots where rockslides have made the trail highly questionable I'd think for such vehicles anyways. Overall, excellent experience! Update July 2020 - Returned to backpack and camp at the "walk in" campground. Trail starting out at Campground A is in worse condition than last year to the point where you wouldn't know where to go once across the stream. We did so pushed on scrambling over rocks and downed trees. The large open clearing where I believe the old dam was is now inhabited by a herd of cattle! Kinda cool except for the literally thousands of cow pies all over the place that you have to step around. They appear however to be the only ones creating or maintaining any semblance of a trail so...thank you cows? At the convergence with Oak Knoll was blown away to run into 2 guys in state park shirts in an ATV coming up from the bottom of the trail but was pleased to see although I noted they went up Oak Knoll as if the rest of the trail has been completely abandoned... Anyways, as stated before it's pretty easy going from there to the walk in campground although was disappointed to see it in such disrepair. All except one fire pit had tall dry grass all around them which would make a campfire extremely dangerous. The restroom, while doors open, hadn't been cleaned at all. Spiderwebs all over and seats covered in dust/dirt. I had my daughter with me though so made a broom out of some branches and that grass and cleaned out the women's side and hauled water from the pump (yeah there's a working well pump) to clean off the seat. It was at this point that a bee flew buy my head which made me turn around to find a yellow-jacket nest up on the wall. Are you kidding me!? Sorry, but what were those guys on that ATV doing??? Obviously not attending to this campground. Cursing I went over to the men's side but this time looked up to find another yellow-jacket nest there! I ended up actually knocking the nest off the wall in the women's room and running like hell. Unfortunately even without their nest the yellowjackets continued to congregate in the bathroom so we couldn't use them. The water from the pump isn't drinkable although it sure did smell and look clean, but it's super cold and feels good. I would like a sign though that clarifies if it's safe to drink after boiling or purification tablets. Sure would've loved to drop some tablets in and drink that icy water in the midst of the summer heat. Oh and yes, gets pretty chilly at night but heats up really fast in...

Cindy and I took a day trip out to Beaver Dam State Park on Wednesday, May 31, 2018. The long 28-mile trek, most of which was dirt road, didn’t dissuade us much. We were eager to see what the campground was like and what the river and fishing would be like.

However, what began to feel a bit unusual for us was the sense of isolation. Our entire trip which included going on the back roads into Panaca covered about 60 miles and we saw only one other vehicle on the road. While we were in Beaver Dam State Park, we saw one person.

We were both struck with the absolute beauty of the area. However, the facilities did not appeal to us although they were adequate in provision with water, vault toilets, etc.

Whereas we were in our Suzuki Grand Vitara, 4-Wheel drive that day, we live and travel full-time in our 33 foot motorhome. So, everywhere we go, we have to imagine having it there. We could not imagine it in Beaver Dam State Park.

Cindy’s interest would have been fishing but it seemed rather formidable to try to trek down to the water. We drove through all of the park, all of the camping areas and all the way to the back gate near the private ranch. Unfortunately, almost all parts of access to the river were forbidding, at least for us.

That no one was camping was also forbidding. The isolation felt too eerie and we made the decision that we would not return to Beaver Dam State Park although it...

Very disappointing! I look forward to the park being managed by supervisors who recognize it is a considerable investment in time and money to get to this secluded beautiful area. I have empathy for FAMILIES discovering they could have gotten a lot more bang for their money and time to go to another park.

Most of park road is closed! Access to trails is severely limited. No pertinent information on closures posted on campsite bulletin board. Website notes road construction/use caution. No signs (on paved highways (plural) at turnoffs onto unpaved roads to park entrance ) denoting road closures/severely limited trail access. Park personnel.

No doubt a "can do / service to *patrons" attitude could design and implement a plan to allow visitors opportunities to access most of the park. Information describing park conditions (such as road closures, inaccessible trails,...) should be posted on website (w/o links), and (remembering not everyone has internet or cell service in the area) signs denoting this should be placed at paved highway...