Pinecrest Campground — Hotel in Sonora

Relaxing family, vacation spot. Just a couple miles from the town of Strawberry. Perfect small lake for boating, fishing and swimming. Campground has some sites facing the water, but typically the least private. Coin-operated hot showers or just head to the lake with some soap. The general store has almost everything you may need. There’s even a restaurant with a small lounge next door. They rent bicycles and boats too. Ideal place for a hike around the lake on a groomed trail, or a bike ride through the woods. One of the evening highlights is watching a movie under the stars and seated on an open-faced log, with the lake as a backdrop. Try to avoid the end of September and early October for tent camping, because you never know about the weather.

I wouldn’t recommend a day trip to Yosemite’s north entrance, because you’ll spend too much time driving, as opposed to seeing anything. Save that for a separate vacay or allot a couple extra days to visit. Also, the north entrance to Yosemite isn’t that pretty of a drive by comparison to the south. The north only has the town of Groveland (consisting of just a few blocks); whereas the south entrance starts up at the highest points of Yosemite and descends down to the valley in spectacular fashion. Take a day trip more appropriately into Jamestown and Sonora for some gold panning fun, or stroll through...

First time at Pinecrest, 4 nights Wednesday to Sunday. I woud go back. In the B loop which was a 10 minute or so walk to the lake (far enough away not to hear the movies) but a reasonable walk. I had fairly decent cell service with Xfinity mobile, Verizon was okay as well. Others had no service. There was definitely little bits of trash left around the site (bottle caps, wrappers, etc.) so we did our best to leave it better than we found it. While there were fewer people there on Wednesday it was actually the noisiest night due to a large group that was up late talking somewhat loudly. Otherwise, no noise issues. There are no showers. The bathrooms are unlit and were clean enough, but by the weekend they had run out of soap and it was never restocked. The beach area is cute and was fairly empty Wednesday - Friday, but on Saturday it was PACKED. There's a food truck, ice cream stand with some other quick bites and a general store so supplies/food are easily had. Ice and firewood right at the station where you check-in. Do the hike around the lake, it's quite lovely. Rented a motoboat which was fun to take out. Stopped at Dodge Ridge on the way out for lunch and so that the kids could burn some energy at the bouce house and climbing wall -...

We heard all about this campsite and wanted to give a try. For us it was a two year wait, last year we had to cancel our campsite booking due to bad weather. This year we finally made the trip during the 2017 memorial weekend. Yes, you do have to book these campsites at least 6 months in advance. There is no debate the lake area is really lovely and has some nice features with a general store complex, snack bar, movie theatre, beach access, boating and hiking options. However the other reviewers are correct about the crowds, lack of parking, close campsites, the rough campsite bathrooms (no showers), and the high noise levels. This is like camping in Yosemite at the height of summer in the fraction of the space. We recommend camping outside of the valley, staying in a remote cabin and just coming in for the day (6am-10pm for day parking). We are veteran campers and for us the night time noise was intense. We had at least three large groups in our area doing heavy partying with live music plus the sounds of the nearby open air movie theatre (D loop). We ended up leaving a day early just so we could get some rest, take a shower and escape from the noise. We would definitely come back in the future but we plan on...