Lake McClure

My family went camping at Lake McClure, East of Modesto, California.

It was a pretty long drive going there, but it felt very short coming back for some reason.

Anyways, I'm unsure if it was just the time of year, but it was VERY hot. My family reserved a campsite near a pavilion with sinks etc, and it was near everything. We were near the swimming spot, playground, bathrooms with open showers, shop, and lake. It was a very easy walk to everything and the campsite was well lit near the bathrooms. It was still very easy to see all of the stars in the sky.

There weren't really any annoying bugs that bite. We didn't really have to worry about leaving the tent door open and bug spray very much. The only thing was the flies. There were so many and they were after our food!

There was also a lot of animals! The deer actually got very close. I suppose they're already used to humans. They didn't hurt any of us though, they did rummage through our garbage. There were turkeys roaming around too! My family heard them in the mornings. I also liked to hear and watch the woodpeckers. It was kind of weird to see little frogs in the bathroom though.

The swimming was alright, the swim spot didn't seem all that clean because so many people had been in it. I bet there was a ton of pee. Also, the deer use it as a watering hole and some people allowed their dogs to swim in it even though it wasn't allowed. It's a good spot for children though because it really isn't very deep. I am 5 feet tall and the water only ever reached my neck. I think the deepest part was probably 5 feet.

Overall, it was a very good experience. I give the campsite an 8/10.

My only real problems were the heat and the lack of private showers. Although... the flies were quite annoying.

My advice if you go:

• Make sure you have shade.
• Bring soap because like most campsites, the bathrooms don't have any.
• Bring some sort of cover for yourself to shower with. Maybe a gigantic umbrella or some kind of portable shower curtain.
• Bring some kind of toy or floaty to play with in the water to make it more fun.
• Let friends and family know before you leave that you may have trouble contacting each other because of the lack of signal. Verizon seemed to work better than AT&T.