Cachuma Lake

This place showed up when we were searching for tourist places around Santa Barbara. We visited this place on the way to Solvang. This is a nice lake. As this place is facing drought, we understood that water level is much less than otherwise. There are boat and kayak rentals here. We were a group of 12 and we ended up renting a boat (14 seat capacity). It was fun to drive it around the lake. There are some hiking trails but, we didn’t hike though.
Friendly staff at the counter. Don’t plan for this place exclusively but if you are on the way, this place would be a nice stop over for an hour or two.

This was a great area to explore and hike. We were visiting Solvang and decided last minute to swing out to the damn and check it out. I’m very glad that we did as there was lots of wildlife to see along with the most unexpected find of all — a tarantula hiking along the trail.
The water level in the lake was extremely low and clearly illustrated that a drought is in full force. Even so, this is a great stop to hike or have a picnic as there are benches /​tables under some shade oaks just waiting to be used.

A group of us camped here last weekend. I would not recommend this campgrounds. You can not get in the lake. There are two small pools that are only open for a short period of time. There are not big enough for the entire campgrounds. When we went to the pool, we were told the pool was full so we were not able to get in. The showers are coin operated and take at least $ 2.00 in quarters for a shower. It was hot and dusty. No grass, no water, no electricity.

We were supposed to stay only for 4 nights and ended up staying a full 7 nights! The plan was to stay 4 nights and head down to Gaviota State Park for 3 nights. So after staying our 4 nights we headed to Gaviota only to go back to Cachuma Lake due to the severe wind conditions there. My kids 4 and 6yr old loved this place so much that they told me we should go back, so we did.:)
I like it here, especially when it’s a weekday… less people. The general store is awesome as well! Perfect for little stuff you need for your camping needs.
The grounds are not grassy or soft, so bring an air mattress, trust me we learned the hard way.
The only downside is that there’s a beautiful lake that you CAN’T swim in (that’s why 4 stars)! although they do have pools you can pay to swim in. Scenery is great. We’ll definitely come back for sure.

Really big lake with lots to do. You can’t swim in the water which is fine by me. It’s about $ 10 for a day use parking pass. There are lots of places to fish on this lake with no coverage so bring your umbrellas, etc. The fish cleaning station was nice and made it so easy to dispose of the unwanted parts before returning to camp. There is also a nature center which is fun to explore.
Bring your own ice for your fish as the store does not always have the smaller ice bag. Plus it’s more expensive then in town which is not in close proximity to the lake.
The day use areas have a lot of flies and bees. I tried to grill here for lunch while my husband fished. It was so bad I had to leave and I came back for him later.
There are showers here at the lake. The ones closer to the store are MUCH warmer then the ones in the campground. We came twice on our week stay. The second time the women’s shower took my money and wouldn’t work. I had soap all over me and shampoo in my hair. I wrapped myself in a towel and went into the men’s showers since no one was there except for my husband and my boys. There are 2 stalls without doors in the shower section. And I will say that the showers on the men’s side lasted much longer than on the women’s side.

Peaceful and romantic lake. Very clean facility.
HOWEVER, the only complaint I had was the restroom. It was really dark and I couldn’t turn on the lights. :/​Hopefully someone will fix that…

Beautiful lake and greenery.
Wildlife all around makes the atmosphere amazing.
There are lots of walking paths on the northern part and water areas to fish and observe at in the southern part.
Great place for a photoshoot too!

What a beautiful place.
We came stopping by and wanted to check the views. The ranger station had some nice fellas who were kind enough to give us a FReE 30 min pass to the camp grounds. I think normally it was like 15 $-20 $ a vehicle a day to camp.
The camp grounds were really clean and nicely spaced. We didn’t camp, but the amenities were avail and seemed like a quiet camp site.
We stopped over on the back side and walked up to the water. I guess it’s Forbidden to touch, swim or fish in the water. Because it’s some towns drinking water. Pretty interesting. But you can visit the dam and the water lines have beautiful views. Some camp sites even offer some type cabin/​hut for a couple extra dollars for a real nice experience.
We got some gorgeous pictures and got to see some of California’s great hidden gems.

Bass were jumping out of the shallow side of the lake. Use some Texas rigs or carolina rigs for the Bass if you are using stick bait. Husky Jerks, Artificial Worms and spinner baits work well by the bank.
Went during summer and water levels were very low.

So, I’ve heard of this lake … but have never been here in the 40 years I’ve lived in Southern California. You’d think I was living under a rock, in a cave, in the middle of Mojave! :) I’m not. I’ve been to Solvang and I’ve been to Santa Barbara — just not here. Weird? You decide.
Anyway, it’s a pretty nice lake, not much different from some of the other man-​made reservoirs nestled in the foothills of many a So Cal location. Based on the once was a shoreline here, the lake is VERY low. I have no idea, but maybe 50+ feet? It’s pretty sad that we’ve been in such drought conditions for so long as most all of the large reservoirs are low like this.
It was pretty windy during the past 3 days, which was nice because it kept the bugs away … mainly gnats and mosquitoes. We had some really, really small bugs get into the camper at night — maybe no see ums? If so, we saw them! Came back with a few bug bites, but I guess that’s normal when you are around water that has some very stagnant areas. We’ll be back again sometime knowing that it will be pretty nice out here in the winter.
Anyway, during the late spring/​early summer, it gets pretty hot out here. Most of the grassier areas are now brown and the only green you see if from scrub oak and oak trees. Still it is pretty when the sky is blue and the hills are tan and the lake is aquamarine. The water temp was 75 they said so any trout in this lake are way down at least 50 feet to stay cool. Bass fishing time I guess. I didn’t get a chance to fish here, but will bring all my gear in the late fall or early spring. Speaking of water, since you’ll be drinking this water sometime in the future, there is NO swimming at all in this lake. Although it could be quite tempting as hot as it gets out here! Splash!