Pardee Reservoir, Ione, CA

I left after one night even though I’d paid for two weeks and I would have not stayed at all but it was after 5:00 p.m. when I checked in. I have stayed here before and it’s actually a nice place but they have one policy I don’t agree with and they surprise you with it when you check in. No mention on the website when you reserve or in the confirming email — when I checked in, they wanted another $154 for the dogs! And she wouldn’t have even known I had dogs if she hadn’t been writing down my license plate, which is DOG MOTL. They don’t ask if you have dogs, they don’t mention in passing when you pay, “oh, by the way…”. Nothing!

So even though I stayed here once before for 4 days and it does have some things going for it, I refuse to leave a positive review based on policy alone. I can understand maybe having to charge more if there is a clean-up problem, but charge everyone the same. Why discriminate against pet-owners and then, not even charge all of them, only the ones you catch by accident?

There are only about 10 FHU sites here but almost 100 sites that are dry camping. They keep the lake stocked and so a lot of fishermen are attracted to this spot. There are bath houses and a small restaurant that’s open on the weekends for breakfast and lunch. You can rent a pontoon boat or kayak and one day a week it’s half price for seniors.

Plenty of walking opportunities with your dog or if you enjoy hiking. There’s a trail around the lake but we only walked part-way last time we were here. The sites have enough space between so you don’t feel like sardines, which is always nice.

There is also an “RV Village” of permanently parked mobile homes between the marina and the camping area for people who have vacation homes parked full time. Pardee is not close to any towns or shopping so go prepared when you go. There are several other resorts in the area, including Lake Amador and Lake Comanche, but no towns that I could see on the map.