Campsite Review: Lake O’Neill Campground

Campsite Review: Lake O’Neill Campground is on Camp Pendelton, on the north side of Lake O’Neill. This is a military-only campground. The full name is Lake O’Neill Recreation Park which includes the campground, lake, and other recreation facilities intended for use by military personnel.

The nearest city with services is Oceanside. The campsite has 40 campsites for RVs and tents and a boat ramp with dock.

Here is our post discussing when we stayed at Lake O’Neill Park.

Details

Website: Lake O’Neill Park

Address: Santa Margarita Rd, Oceanside, CA 92058

Link to Google Map for the area: Lake O’Neill Park

Phone Number/Reservations: (855) 922-6768

Here is the link to an article on authorized patrons: Who can stay at military campgrounds?

Dates stayed: January 1 – 27, 2018

Comfort: Temperatures were nice. Cold at night.

Elevation: 120′

Season: All Year

Price Paid: $24

Our Site: Unknown

Hook-ups: Full

Dump station: Yes

Restrooms: Yes

Shower: Yes

Laundry: Yes

Potable Water: Yes

Water to fill your RV storage tank: Yes

Cell service: Verizon – Good Signal / AT&T – Good Signal

Observations

Campsite Review: Lake O’Neill Campground insider info:

Lake O’Neill Recreation Park is nice enough but also somewhat noisy, noisy — until 10 pm due to being on the flight path to Camp Pendleton’s airport.  Thankfully, the Marines used a different route after 10 pm and we were able to sleep. We are also thankful that Camp Pendleton is full of helicopters rather than jets.  We arrived at Lake O’Neill on New Year’s Day 2018. It is not the most glamorous campground but it will do.

Lake O’Neill RV campground, is on Camp Pendelton, right next to the lake of the same name. The correct term for this is a campground – not an RV Park. The spaces are nearly all tree-covered and spread apart far enough to make them mostly private. There was enough room to wander around all sides of our RV and if we so wanted (we didn’t want to) make a fire in the provided ring.

There are three places to camp at Camp Pendelton. All three locations are military recreation areas and require base access to utilize. All three locations have sites with full hookups.

The location for us is not really convenient because of the long drive after you get on the base. Camp Pendelton has two other locations. Del Mar Beach has a more confined RV campground, located right on the sand much closer to Interstate-5. It is also right on the ocean. North, also on Interstate-5 is San Onofre Beach Campground which we love.

Here is the link to the full description of the campground Lake O’Neill

Bonus

Plenty of room around the campground for walks, including around the lake. The surrounding area is full of wildlife, although the only ones we saw were coyotes. I did see deer tracks and raccoon tracks in the mud on a few of our walks. I even saw the tracks of a bobcat in the mud along the same trail around the lake. Bobcat tracks are distinguished by the lack of claws.

Caution

Lake O’Neill Park is not the same as O’Neill Regional Park located north of Camp Pendelton in Orange County.

Layout & Satellite Views

That is our campsite review of the Lake O’Neill Campground. Here is our link to our interactive map. Campsite Reviews