Dixon Lake Recreation Area
Escondido · near Escondido · San Diego
Camping
At a glance
- Difficulty
- beginner
- Elevation
- 1160
- Campsites
- ~45 sites (11 full-hookup)
- Season
- Year-round
- Fee
- ~$30 standard · ~$50 full-hookup 'deluxe'
Permits and booking
- Reservation required
- Yes
- How to reserve
- City of Escondido, 90 days out (+~$5 fee); quiet midweek, weekends fill. Only rental boats allowed - no private boats. Bring aggressive food storage - raccoons are notorious here.
What is here
- Setting
- lake-river
- Amenities
- Hot showers & flush toilets · Boat rentals (no private boats) · Food lockers & amphitheater · 1-mi nature trail
- Best for
- A small, quiet inland-lake camp famous for trophy bass
- Features
- Trophy largemouth bass (near-record fish) · Hillside sites over the water · Small & quiet · Mellow North County weekend
Worth knowing
- Dogs
- Allowed
- Good for a first timer
- Yes
Camping detail
- Camp type
- developed · rv
- Intl tip
- Bring bear-box-level food storage - the raccoons here are relentless. Only rental boats are allowed (no private launches), and hillside sites have the best water views. Weekends fill; midweek is quiet.
The guide
Dixon Lake is a small, quiet inland-lake camp above Escondido, famous among anglers for trophy largemouth bass - the lake has p…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Dixon Lake Recreation Area — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 33.177, -117.028