Sockeye Campground — Hotel in Clayton

Drove up on a Thursday morning to find that the entire red fish lake area was sold out by 7am. This campground looks beautiful and I'm sad it's so hard to get into it. But after seeing the lake it's understandable. The host told us cars line up before 6am to snag the 2 or 3 spots that MAY open that day. She even said some cars show up at 4am! Thursday morning only 3 spots became available. We tried again Friday at 6am but there were already 8 cars lined up and no one leaving that day so none of us got in. There is no Verizon cell coverage here which is annoying. I think the only way to get Into this campground would be to show up at 6am on a Monday or Tuesday. Even then, have a backup plan. We ended up boondocking by the river which turned out great. I'd love to be able to camp here one day in the future though. The sawtooth area is very busy. By Friday afternoon there were campers in every available spot boondocking like us. All the forest campgrounds filled up way before that. This campground is first come first serve. We ended up using the day use area by Glacier campground one day. That was beautiful! But again, get there before 10:30am. We snagged the last parking spot there at...

Camp hosts do an incredible job...immaculate vault toilets & they clean the fire pits/concrete area after each camper leaves. First come/first serve campground that is super popular. The reason for the 4 star review is that you are not able to access the water from any of the waterfront sites due to a revegetation/erosion control effort by the Forest Service. There is a rather small Beach area that you can walk to at the end of the campground (near site 15) or a nice day use area with a large beach/boat ramp located near the campground entrance. Our only issue with these options is the out of control/loose dogs everywhere regardless of the "No Animals" on beach signs. There is a dedicated dog beach/leash free area near the Redfish Lodge but lots of folks let Fido run wherever & whenever with no leash & no control...

Lovely, well maintained campground on the shores of Redfish Lake. There were lots of latrines, water spigots, and bear safe trash cans, so no matter which site you get, you're close enough that you don't have far to hike for any of the necessities. Camp host was welcoming and helpful. We went early in the season and although there were plenty of other campers, we were still able to get a nice site with no wait. Loved watching the scrub jays, ground squirrels, and mink. Even got serenaded by some sandhill cranes and loons. Giving 4 stars only because, as of this writing, there was no water available in camp. We had to drive into Stanley to make use of the free water station (behind the gas station). They knocked $2 off/night, but it cost us more than that in gas to...