Campout 02 of 08 · October 23–25, 2026 · Nonami hosts
Lake O’Neill
Lake O’Neill, Camp Pendleton
Camp Pendleton
We’ve moved to Lake O’Neill
King tides have washed out most of the beach camping area at Del Mar, so the YMCA has moved us inland to the Group Area Peninsula at Lake O’Neill. It’s still Camp Pendleton: same dates, same Main Gate, same Friday 2–7 p.m. check-in. Tents go on a grassy field.
Tent camping on the grass at Lake O’Neill’s Group Area Peninsula, on Camp Pendleton. We were meant to be on the sand at Del Mar, but the king tides had other ideas. The Nonami’s quarantine zone moves inland with us — costumes encouraged.
Getting on base
- Check in
- Fri 2–7 p.m.Only then
- Enter at
- Main GateFar-right visitor lane
- Check out
- Sun 11 a.m.Packed up, strict
Come Friday between 2 and 7 p.m. A Camp Pendleton rep at the Main Gate signs in everyone on the YMCA’s driver’s license roster during those hours only.
Bring your REAL ID or a driver’s license plus passport. Keep the car’s registration and insurance handy too.
Print the new dashboard sign. The Lake O’Neill sign is attached to Heidi’s Oct 22 email; the Del Mar one won’t do. Add your mobile number and leave it on the driver’s side of the dash all weekend.
Head for the Group Area Peninsula. Past the gate, follow the YMCA’s driving directions to Lake O’Neill’s group area, not the regular campground.
Stay on base till Sunday. If you have to leave, the only way back in is the Saturday window, 3 to 5 p.m.
Weekend schedule
Friday, Oct 23
- Arrive & set up
- Tribe dinners
- Induction
- Celebration dance party
Saturday, Oct 24
- Tribe breakfast
- Zombie Survival Bootcamp
- Feed & Bead
- Chief Challenge & Ocean Plunge
- Nation meal
- Haunted houses & dance party
- Nation Fire
Sunday, Oct 25
- Tribe breakfast
- Bear Claw hike & Zócalo
- Pack up & depart
The trail around Lake O’Neill
Know before you go
- Site assignments for the peninsula come out Friday morning. Leadership is redrawing them for the new field, so bear with them.
- We share the peninsula with a dads-and-kids Adventure Club from the McKinney Y.
- Tents only, on a grassy field. No RVs, trailers or sleeping in your car: the base charges $50 a night at the rec office, and the YMCA doesn’t cover it.
- Park in the lot on the street side of the big fence. No vehicles on the grass or the dirt track, except to drop off a group kitchen trailer.
If a dad shuffles toward the coffee urn before 7 a.m., do not engage.