Lake Piru, oh how we hated thee.
Okay, so in all honesty it’s not the lakes fault that the weekend we went out there, ended up being a record heat wave in triple digits every single day, or that we spent about half of the time there in the local emergency room. However I’m still going to say it’s the lamest campsite I could possible envision, at least for anyone into actually “camping”.
Instead of a huge write up into the details of the weekend’s adventure (kidney infections et al), I’ll just hit some of the quick bullets on why Lake Piru itself, sucks.
1) SMALL SMALL SMALL campsites, with NO barrier or space between each other. The ground area you get to work with is even more confined due to slopes and tree stumps caused from it being planned out in an olive tree grove. We got the largest site possible and we found it just the right size for our setup, which I don’t really think is all that overwhelming. Some of these sites were unable to fit little more than a two person tent and a fold out chair!
2) Party camping, which I guess is all fine and well for some folks, is the theme there. We on the other hand, like to enjoy the outdoors and relax in a calm environment. Despite this being what we thought was the typical “camping” experience, or at least what I thought was, it appears nearly all of the campers at Lake Piru have a TV, Xbox or playstation, and several 36 packs of Bud Lite packed as the core of their gear. When not out on the lake in obnoxiously decorated, “no fear” sticker covered boats, getting sunburned and drunk … most “campers” found solice in their areas, trying to out volume the areas to either side, and discuss the finer points of Coors Vs Bud.
3) HOT. And yes, it was a heatwave and that has nothing to do with the actual area we were at, however… One would think a campsite designed and operated in an Olive tree grove would potentially offer some resemblence of shade. Of course, one would have thought wrong. Trees are pretty far apart in most cases, and pretty thin at the tops as well. This all means the sun can not easily be escaped.
4) Swimming area. Exactly 4 square feet of the lake. And I’m most likely exagerating that figure. Out of the entire lake, which was sizeable I guess, there is the smallest roped off area you could imagine for “swimming”. The entire bottom of this area is covered in rough, uneven, algae covered (slippery) rocks, while the top of the water is coated in a thick blanket of wood/vegetation debris which sticks to your body as you go in or out of the water. The whole thing just makes you feel like you’re somehow in a sequel to Cabin Fever. After the several minutes of treacherous walking across the slip and slide rocks below you, to an area rumored to be even and soft, yet only waist deep at best for grown adult, the fun begins. Standing and watching the boats enjoy the actual lake you are not allowed into, at high speed because there’s so much area for such few of them.
All in all, we could only find 1 positive out of the area. Free showers. Yep. Thats the biggest bonus this place offers.