D.L. Bliss State Park, South Lake Tahoe

I have been camping @ DL Bliss since I was 4 months old, now 52 yrs. old, 3rd generation now teaching my grandchildren to camp. We have loved meeting here with many family members over the last 75+ yrs and will continue for many more years enjoying the Lake Tahoe area.

Highly recommended. We had booked a beach campsite 6 months in advance, much preferable to campsites further up the hill. We were visited by bears in the middle of the night, fortunately the bear boxes have been changed and not even the wily bears could open them. Although they did manage the rip open an empty cooler of the campsite next door. One of our party slept in the open and said there were 3 medium sized bears roaming around our site, but they left him completely alone. The sites are very well-maintained and the beach is beautiful. We kayaked to Emerald Bay and back, gorgeous scenery.

D.L.Bliss is a recommendable camping ground. Very clean and you can really have fun. It can get really cold at night but just bring some warm clothes and you'll be fine.

We've have been taking our family to D.L. Bliss State park for years. It's clean. Has a great beach, great rest rooms, with coin-op showers & electrical outlets and the sites are well maintained. The only thing I/we don't like about D.L. Bliss and camping in the Tahoe area is the "meatbees". These little peskie bee like Yellow Jackets seem to like meat and open soda containers. They tend to hover and can be annoying around meals or at the beach while enjoying snacks. There are traps available that can be bought at hardware stores etc. These meat bees have never stopped us from going back and only diminish the camping experience slightly.

The worst thing about D.L. Bliss is the poorly constructed food bins and lack of rangers (budget cuts). Expect a visit from a bear at anytime even if you are the most careful camper in the park. Our food storage container was open by a very experienced and smart bear that we found out lives in D.L. Bliss on a regular basis among a few others. Not that we did not expect bears, but we were not prepared at all for what happened to us. When we go camping we are all aware that there are bears in the park, but no matter how careful you are with food you have to remember you are a visitor and are sleeping in their habitat. A bear wondered into our camp around 2 am, what caught his attention---A pecan pie and some carne asada or a number of food items that we had locked up inside of our storage bin. Site 75 is spacious and nice. There is, however an upwards sloping trail leading to the mountains right off of our site. If in fact bears live behind our site, they have no choice but to wonder down and through site #75. Do not leave anything in your car not even gum or tooth paste and put every thing in the coolers (even if you are worried it will get soggy or wet. Tightly sealed containers that prevent odors from escaping are best. Lastly, do not ever bring any food or drinks in your tents at night. If we had it could have been really scary for the kids. It took my husband about 7 minutes to scare the bear off. The bear positioned itself between our tent with our three children and our truck. It was extremely scary especially when a bear has dumped out all of your food from the locked storage bins that you planned for a week. That much food and a bear is not going to readily leave. Put pans in your tent at night in the event that you may have to scare them away by beating them together. They are afraid of loud noises. Yosemite does a great job of keeping campers and bears safe by stressing the importance of proper food storage in every inch of their park even with videos playing in the park and they put metal rods in the storage bins as an additional precaution to prevent bears from opening bins. Extremely beautiful park, not to crowd considering it was Labor Day weekend 2006. Nice people all around, wonderful rangers but only on site from wee hours of morning until about 7pm, Hosts in RV campers sell wood and were very helpful and willing to help. Noise level can be loud at night but there is always someone in the park that will eventually quite them down. Showers cost money around $1.25 for 12 minutes. Showers were clean and toilets were for the most part clean. I would return but would probably eat in town and not bring food. Bears seemed nice and harmless, but you never know what can happen especially if a baby bear is present.

Before going to sleep, we dutifully locked our food in the bear box. Our tent was some distance back from the box. The next morning *everything*, our cooler, what remained of our food, was on the ground: no food left. No noise either... After some talking with the locals and a California State Parks employee, they have plans to replace the bear boxes. Oh yeah? No one told us that. The boxes do not currently have a chain system in place. Just a handle similar to a car door that you pull towards you. It does have to be in the exact right position before it will open. If the bears are this smart, perhaps they deserve the food? If you have plans to go there this summer, carry a coathanger (or some wire) with you and rig the thing shut before going to bed. Other than this nuisance, the park is great. Do not leave anything in your car, including tooth paster.

We've been camping several years at different places and found DL Bliss to be very nice. We got 3 sites which were very spacious, long as you don't mind sharing w/the chipmunks living underground who boldly search for food. Bears are a real problem. Signs posted everywhere $1000 fine if you leave food out or in your car. We had a very large bear come to our campfire as we sat around after dinner, sniffing in our garbage bag until one of the dads yelled, "hey" and it went away. We awoke on our last morning to find 2 cars up the road were vandalized by bear(s). Both had food in the car. One left the door unlocked & the bear opened it, left pawprints interiorly, chewed the cooler & ate the food. The 2nd car's camper was broken into for food. The owner (a hunter) saw the bear & said it looked about 500 lbs. DL Bliss beach was beautiful, the sand very rocky. A strip of it is separated so the boaters don't get near you while swimming. The water is very clear, cold and drops to about 10 ft deep. We're looking forward to coming back to this campsite next yr.

As this is so popular, it is best to book this WELL in advance--about six months. And, on a beautiful weekend, like the one I went on, it can get VERY crowded and campsites/parking lots close early; even for daytime spectators. Other than that, the views are spectacular...not too far from civilization, but far enough to feel like you got away from it all.

After reading the great review (10) in the Ca. Camping book, I thought this would be the place for us. Boy was I wrong! I guess I'm spoiled when it comes to camping. I like nature, peace and quiet and space. At D.L. Bliss campground, you get none of this. I felt like we were camping in a parking lot. The noise at night was insane. It didn't help that at 6:30am a car was cruising the parking lot with hip-hop blaring. We even had one of the coveted beach front campsites. Was this the problem? Even the ones up in the hills seemed to be packed in too tight. Lester beach is open to the public so it was very crowded. Dogs are pretty much out of the question. They aren't allowed on any of the trails or the beach. The bathrooms were extremely dirty. The sinks as well as many of the toilets were clogged. The clincher for me was you cannot wash dishes at the sinks by the bathrooms. I guess they expect you to wash dishes at the nearest water spout with cold water?? We will never ever go back to D.L. Bliss State Park. I am greatful they are giving me a refund for checking out early.

If you can, try to reserve the beachside campsites - they are gorgeous, but they fill up 6 months in advance. The campground saves a third of the spots to be filled on a first-come, first-serve, so it's great for camping at the last minute. Facilities (bathrooms, showers, bear boxes) are good. Only downside is that it's a bit expensive - $25 a night!