Timothy Lake, Meditation Point Campsites

The entire Timothy Lake area is under a new dispersed camping management plan. You can only camp in designated sites now, and a fair number of older unofficial sites along the trail have been signed as closed.

There are exactly four designated sites on Meditation Point and there is a $5/night fee for each of these payable at a little box in the middle of the trail out there on the point.

There are a few other sites designated along the Timothy Lake trail between the parking area and Meditation Point (Five, as I recall.). There is no fee to camp at these sites. We stayed at one of these this weekend, as the four sites on Meditation point proper were all full by the time we got there mid-day Friday. However, we were pretty disappointed with how much the site was trashed. There were numerous -- like 30-40 -- piles of toilet paper scattered in the woods immediately adjacent to the campsite. In addition, there was also the usual assortment of empty beer cans, fishing line, broken glass, etc. This area is getting really really heavy use and by not the most respectful people.

If I were to go back, I'd avoid the Meditation Point area entirely, and either head to the North Arm campground, or possibly try to find a campsite further around the trail on the north shore of the lake. We walked the whole loop around the lake this weekend, and there are a few other primitive sites scattered along the trail that appeared to have slightly less heavy use, although since people can motor-boat in across the lake, the length of the hike in is not as much of a deterrent here as it would be in other areas.