Cherry Valley Campground — Hotel in Sonora

I wish I could give this place 6 stars. Just make sure you check in with site host JJ and his dog Zeke when you arrive. He’s very friendly and helpful and we got great tips from him the whole time. We booked site 10 knowing it was by the path to the lake, but when we got there JJ made sure to tell us about two first-come-first-serve spots at the top of the hill that by far surpassed the spot we’d reserved. We ended up with significantly more space, a nicer view of the campground, a little bit of water through the trees, and a bathroom just across from us. Which, I might add, was very clean and always thoughtfully propped open to help with smell.

Thanks to JJs tips we caught multiple bald eagle sightings, a hike down to lake Eleanor, a short hike down to lake Cherry (footpath from site 10), and a hike over to Kibbie Creek, which might have been the single most beautiful day of hiking I’ve ever done. If we’d had time we’d have continued to Kibbie lake, but we just had too much fun exploring and relaxing at the creek. It’s a fast moving creek over solid granite so there are few to no bugs, the water was great to dip our feet in, and there is a series of small waterfalls that were stunning. Just wear the right shoes! You will thank yourself if you have good grippy trail shoes on all these hikes.

Make sure to ask JJ about local hiking and swimming spots! He’s been around and knows all the good spots within a days drive. He also knows which spots are safe to swim and which aren’t, so make sure you listen!! He knows his stuff and might just save your life. He also has firewood available for sale if you forgot it, just bring cash.

Main caveats: NO SERVICE. I have ATT and was completely without it. My partner has Xfinity and got away barely enough to send a text and no more. Invest in AllTrails plus (36/year and it was VERY helpful in keeping us on the trail), download maps on Google, or just bring a map. Also, just ask JJ! He has a massive map at his trailer that is very detailed. AllTrails was slightly wrong about the Lake Eleanor trailhead, so his map helped.

DISTANCE: Nearest town is 33 miles away, so bring all you need. That said, the forest road there is beautiful and relatively easy to drive. Plus, the distance makes for great star-gazing. There is a gravel road on the dam where you can walk/drive out and get some sky.

BRING WATER. There is a water spigot on site, but when you’re that remote, and especially if it’s busy, don’t rely on it. Get a big 10-20L water cube or two from a sporting goods store. My general rule is 1 gallon per person, per day. So 2 people, 3 days makes 6 gallons. We boiled a lot of water for tea and coffee and went through it quickly. Extra water can’t hurt. I brought a Lifestraw to drink from the creek and was happy I did.

BUGS: We went in late April at the start of the season, and mosquitos were barely noticeable. I would imagine during the summer months there’d be more. it would be smart to invest in bug spray, long sleeve Sun shirts, maybe even mosquito nets for hats just in case. We kept citronella candles burning, sprayed ourselves down, and covered our ears and neck, and were just fine. There were quite a few fuzzy bumblebees flying through “on patrol” as we said at the time, because they sure did like hovering RIGHT next to our head as if staring us down 😂 totally harmless, though.

BRING A CAMERA! The whole area is stunning. Never in my life have I seen so many varieties of moss and lichen. I know this is a popular summer spot because of the swimming areas, but springtime was breathtaking. Much of our Kibbie Creek hike was through dramatic landscapes scarred by fire years prior, so there are the husks of burnt trees rising out of dense oak and manzanita undergrowth, surrounded by wildflowers of all colors and dramatic granite outcroppings adorned with moss, and overlooking lake Eleanor below. If you stop and listen to the critters thriving up there, it’s a beautiful indicator of life finding a way.

Thank you JJ! We had a magical anniversary trip and...

Stayed here for a trip to Yosemite.

The campground itself is nice, very spacious with lots of animals around. We saw woodpeckers, squirrels, tons of butterflies, wild ducks and even bald eagles over at the lake. The bathrooms were the cleanest campsite bathrooms I've ever seen. Plenty of opportunity to gather firewood on-site if you have the right tools to cut it up.

Be aware that there is no cell signal and very poor radio reception. Bring maps of the area (Gaia GPS app on my phone + offline maps worked great) so you can find your way in and out and around.

If you plan on staying here to go to Yosemite, be advised that the road to/from Highway 120 and Yosemite is not for the faint of heart. Cherry Lake Road (aka Forest Route 1N07) is a paved, about 1.5 lane wide road that twists and turns through the mountains for about 24 miles before reaching Highway 120. There are many parts with a steep drop on the side and no trees or guardrails lining most of it. While there were few enough vehicles that we could safely hug the "inside", be mindful of blind corners. You will frequently have a drop of up to 2000ft off to the side of the road, and you will have a total elevation change of about ~3000ft on your drive - down into a gorge on one side, up into the mountains again on the other. Though it's only about 24 miles, it took us a little over an hour to traverse each way. Inadvisable for large vehicles -- I wouldn't recommend anything larger than a standard pickup truck.

I'd happily stay at this camp again because of it's great location and the nearby lake, but I wouldn't use it as a campsite for visiting Yosemite again. Travel time to the Yosemite Valley was approximately three hours, travel time to Hetch Hetchy was...

Unfortunately this campground seems to be closed due to the fire of 2013 according to their website and is not opening again till April 2015, As I recall the fire never actually hit the campground but burned all around it. Have spent the last 15 years going here with the family. The grounds are clean and the sites are large and not stacked up on each other giving you lots of room to spread out. There is fresh water located through out the grounds and in front of each bathroom. The bathrooms are cement structures but are not flush so it can smell in there later in the day but nothing a can of Lysol can't solve and they do clean them every morning and most of the time the people staying in the camp are conscious of keeping them clean. Cherry Lake is the clearest lake I have ever seen and we take our 19 ft in/out board boat on it with no problems. The water is so clean that we use biodegradable soap and bath in it and it is very warm due to it being surrounded by large granite outcroppings acting like solar heaters. The downside is on weekends you get a lot of rife rafe from the Modesto area and they are loud and annoying at times so I usually always plan my trips Monday-Friday. They do allow trailers but nothing over 25ft as the road in the camp is narrow and there are some tight turns to make. The parking is ample and I can usually back my boat into the site and leave it attached to my truck and be clear...