Crystal Lake Camp Grounds Water, Electricity, Telephone, Toilets

Water, Electricity, Telephone, Toilets as of 06/Oct/2020 -- The CAMPGROUND ARE OPEN

There are no showers and no flushing toilets at Crystal Lake however one of the bathrooms North of the Cafe has running water for the sinks. There is one toilet facility which is heated near the Open Air Amphitheater however it has usually been closed and is only opened for special occasions.

Currently drinking water is working in only some areas of the campground due to leaks the distribution network which the Forest Service fixed. Water is available at the Visitor Center where there are two faucets, one of which has a garden hose which you may find useful.

Out in front of the cafe there is another faucet that people may use to drink, cook with, wash up with, all of that.

The drinking water is pulled from an underground stream called Soldier Creek which gravity-fills three huge water tanks and then eventually comes to the surface South of the tanks near Pinyon Ridge trailhead and forms the open-air part of Soldier Creek which continues to flow down the mountain to join up with the North Fork of the San Gabriel River.

Deer Flats Group Campground does not have drinking water though there is a water tank there and a small stream that normally fills it. The water distribution system at Deer Flats has not been repaired, and Deer Flats is not open to the public.

Electricity has been restored to most of the area thanks to an effort by California Edison which replaced power poles and lines that had burned in the series of fires. Electricity, however, won't be available for the general public's use (with the eventual possible exception at the Open Air Ampitheature where power may some day be provided.) Electricity has been brought in to help provide power and service to the U. S. Forest Service's Visitor Center.

There is a broken telephone available outside of the Visitor Center which will probably never be repaired because Verizon says they can not make a profit repairing and running it. Cell telephone companies have been asked to provide a tower however it seems unlikely that cell telephone access will be provided any time soon.

THERE IS NO CELL TELEPHONE RECEPTION POSSIBLE IN THE CAMPGROUNDS

There are also numerous streams located within the Crystal Lake camp grounds canyons, some of them with high volumes of water that runs all year around though the amount of water changes through the year. The USFS and other agencies recommend and warn against drinking the water since medical problems can result however boiling the water for at least 1 minute and then letting the water sit covered for at least 3 minutes is usually recommended by outdoor professionals to make water reasonably safe to drink.

There are a large number of modern, environmentally-happy toilets at Crystal Lake which replace the ancient stone toilet buildings. There is no running water in them however the facility at the open-air ampitheature has the ability to be heated since it has electricity and heaters.

Trash dumpsters have been improved in the campgrounds during the restoration effort such that finding one should no longer be a problem, and they are of modern design so that bears should have more difficulty opening them.

Also on Highway 39 at mile post 32.5 which is South of Crystal Lake within the Coldbrook Campgrounds there is drinking water in numerous faucets. The water is tested periodically so you should be able to drink it though obviously there is never any guarentees that it is always clean. (NOTE: The U. S. Forest Service web site currently states that there is no drinking water at the campgrounds however the web site is mistaken.)