Thanks for all of your replies. We assumed the poster at High Desert was exaggerating and that is why thought we would check with those who really knew. We were free this morning and thought we would take a nice drive to check out the lake and the area for ourselves. At the lake, we saw boy scouts, babies, families, dogs (not the least intimidating although one little one was barking at us), young couples, and kids in rubber boats. Try as we might, we didn't see one gang member.
We checked out the campground and decided it was a little close to the highway for our liking, so we decided to drive up to Table Mountain to check it out. We were very impressed and have decided to stay there instead. They still have openings.
We did have one distressing moment at the lake. After spending some time enjoying the scenery, we got in our car and the battery was dead and we had no cell phone reception. Sure that the gang members (who were obviously hiding behind the trees) had disabled our car, we were petrified to be caught at such a terrifying place. No seriously, one nice young man drove my husband to a phone to call AAA and before the tow truck got there, two other gentlemen helped us jump start our car so we could make it to Wrightwood to replace the battery, and we got great service there too, I will say.
Except for the battery, it was a very pleasant trip, and we are looking forward to coming back on Labor Day. I think the poster at High Desert maligned your community and obviously doesn't know a gang member from any normal kid who likes to hang out and listen to music. I am a high school teacher--I should know about kids
See you on Labor Day weekend!
