Crystal Lake Camp Grounds Camp Ground Conditions

Camp Ground Conditions as of 29/May/2010

The Crystal Lake Recreation Area is currently closed, and has been since the Williams and Curve fires of 2002. Since the camping areas are closed, this means that the Crystal Lake Cafe and Trading Post is also closed, as is the U. S. Forest Service Visitor Center in the campground's main parking lot.

The turn off from the main highway in to the camping grounds is located at North 34 degrees, 18.870 by West 117 degrees, 50.203 at 5131 feet.

There was extensive damage to the camping grounds and the facilities at Crystal Lake due to fires, beatle infestations, flooding, and vandalism. Individual camp sites, trails, and the campground's water distribution network were damaged to various degrees. The Forest Service has been doing an extremely good job working on restorations and making the camping facilities safe and clean.

All of the damage has been repaired thanks to USFS efforts and thanks to a series of volunteer efforts from the San Gabriel Mountains Trailbuilders crews, the volunteers that join them, and a variety of other volunteer organizations which donate their time and effort in to maintaining, building, and repairing hiking and nature trails such as the Angeles Volunteer Association.

• The camp sites themselves -- of which there are about 170 -- are in the process of being cleaned out through the efforts of volunteers which have included a number of Boy Scout troops.

• BBQ and Fire Pits -- Nearly all of the camping sites have either a metal fire ring or a BBQ box on a stand. Some sites have both. About 50% of the BBQ boxes and fire rings have been cleaned out to the point where they can be used.

  

• Visitor Center -- The U. S. Forest Service Visitor Center has been cleaned out with brush removed and trees trimmed from around the property and parking lot. The Center looks pretty good and it will be a great place for campers and other visitors to organize their forest activities.

• Hiking Trails and Nature Trails -- A detailed description of the hiking and nature trails in the Crystal Lake Recreation Area can be found elsewhere on this web site. Currently about half of the hiking trails have been restored to fully safe usage with about half of the remaining trails needing only minimal work. The remaining trails -- such as Golden Cup and Soldier Creek -- need extensive work to make those trails safe again.

• Cafe and Trading Post -- The Crystal Lake Cafe and Trading Post is privately owned and operated. The Cafe (when it opens) will provide hot meals, sandwhiches, and other good as well as provide typical items that one might need when camping in the forest.

• Water Distribution -- The distribution network consists of four large overflow tanks which holds water that feeds pipes which lead to distribution boxes after a network of water filters. The water system is disabled until electricity can be brought to a cutoff valve in the filtration network however when the grounds open there will be water available at most of the camp sites.

• Parking Lots -- Much of the roads and parking lots of the camping grounds have been resurfaced, including the parking area for the lake. The Visitor Center parking lot is due to be resurfaced some time this year.

• The Lake -- The steps leading down to the lake were flooded however a construction crew cleaned the steps by hand about a year ago. The water level at the lake is very low.

• Toilets -- The USFS has installed a large number of new buildings containing non-water-flush toilets. The old existing toilets built with rocks and wood which are the water-flushing kind are locked.

• Trash Dumpsters -- Most of the trash dumpsters around the main camp grounds are new and there are quite a lot of them. It's not known how often the trash dumpsters will be emptied when the grounds are open however there's enough dumpsters available that campers should have no difficulty finding one.

The effort to repair and reopen the camp grounds continues. Professional, paid construction crews will be needed to perform the majority of the camp site clean up and restoration. The volunteers of the San Gabriel Mountains Trailbuilders are currently working on a schedule of repairs to the remaining hiking trails and nature trails. The Trailbuilders are also volunteering to perform the repairs to the Visitor Center that are required.

The USFS will decide to open the camp ground eventually. As the status of the grounds change, this web page will be updated.