SLO County campgrounds only open to local residents, sell out for holiday weekend

LOPEZ LAKE, Calif. -- All available campsites have been already sold out at Lopez Lake.

On Friday morning, San Luis Obispo Parks and Recreation posted to its Facebook site the campground was full.

Later in the day, it was announced Santa Margarita Lake campground is also full.

Due to COVID-19, the county has reduced approximately half of the campsites at the parks.

In the current configuration, Lopez Lake has about 274 campsites available for use.

All of those have been taken for the Memorial Day weekend.

"People are very excited to be out here," said park ranger Coby Whitaker. "People are excited to camp. People are excited to get out of the house, boat, recreate, boat, fish. We are finally seeing some campers in the campground, which is great."

There are several sections of the park unavailable, including the Park Hill area, group sites and Camp French.

Last week, county leaders closed camping to residents from outside San Luis Obispo County.

Anyone from outside the county that had a reservation for this weekend will not be accommodated.

People that live outside San Luis Obispo County may still use the park to day camp, but will not be allowed to stay the night.

"Normally, we would welcome visitors with open arms to our county," said SLO County Administrative Officer and Emergency Services Director Wade Horton. "However, now is not the time. Right now, the county is focused on moving through the Governor's resiliency plan, and we want to get through in Stage 2 into Stage 3 as quickly as possible. That's what we're focused on right now, and the more quickly we can get there, I think that's good for the community of San Luis Obispo County."

Camping at Oceano Memorial Park is also available only to San Luis Obispo County residents.

All three county campgrounds are not taking reservations at this time.