Hundreds of people planned to spend their long weekend at Lopez Lake. With the lake now full, it looks much different than it did two years ago.
David Mijangos’ family was visiting Sunday from Lompoc and was excited to spend the day in the water.
“I like the lake." Mijangos said. "I like the fact that my kids can swim in it. They have a good fishing... they even have a water park, so that's, that's pretty cool, too.”
Over by the campsites, visitors like Tony Gonzalez have been coming to the lake for decades with family and friends.
“We were as big as probably 30 for a while," Gonzalez said, "but, you know, people have passed away. People have moved on and moved to other locations.”
While cooking breakfast for his group, Gonzalez said the recent change allowing reservations to only be made six months in advance for the lake makes him nervous, adding that they used to be able to book a whole year in advance.
"If you, say you lapse on a day or two, the spots get taken up and then next thing you know, we're scattered out," Gonzalez said.
Park ranger Miles Tuinstra explained the change was made in March to simplify processing refunds. He noted that booking can get competitive, especially for holidays, but nothing out of the ordinary.
Gonzalez plans to book for next Memorial Day as soon as that weekend opens up.
“12 a.m.? I guess, as soon as it kicks over," Gonzalez said about when he plans to make those reservations.
Rangers say weekends are filling up fast, and RV and trailer sites with full hook-ups are almost sold out for the summer.
