Campgrounds
We stay in a variety of campgrounds. Since we are members of Thousand Trails, it is our most common choice. We try to use them whenever we are close to one, and even somewhat plan our trips around them in order to maximize the cost savings of our membership.
Our second choice is usually a government park. We especially like Bureau of Land Management and Army Corp of Engineers.
We then fill in the gaps with commercial parks, preferably ones that offer a Good Sam or Passport America discount.
Below are the campgrounds we’ve stayed in most recently.
Park Sierra (SKP) - Coarsegold CA
RATING: ♦♦♦♦
- Dates: Aug 29, 2019 – Sep 7, 2019
- Length of stay: 9 nights.
- Cost per night: $16.50 including electric.
- Discount: Escapees Membership.
- Hookups: 50 amp electric, water, and sewer.
- Site number/quality: #236. Back-in site up steep drive onto level gravel pad. Nice concrete seating area.
- Park Quality: This is a very pretty SKP park in the wonderful Sierra foothills. Most of the sites are terraced into the hillside with steep drives up or down to the sites. It makes for a unique camping experience. Unfortunately, the septic system in the park is old, and residents are not allowed to use their own dishwashers or washing machines because the septic tanks cannot handle it. There was a laundry room, but it was not well maintained. If it weren’t for this, we might consider becoming lessees.
- Access: Challenging access off CA-41, which has steep grades and sharp curves. The turn off the highway onto the park access road was harrowing in the motorhome, but eventually we got used to it in the SUV. The park is fairly remote, and not close to either of the main north-south routes in California. It’s 45 miles from CA-99 and 80 miles from I-5. The nearest small town, Oakhurst, is 22 miles north, and the nearest large town, Fresno, is 45 miles south.
- Connectivity: Verizon-Weak, AT&T-Weak, and T-Mobile-OK.
- Return yes/no?: Sure.
- Notes: There is a large Indian casino called Chukchansi Gold nearby. They had a Rock and Rib-Fest over the Labor Day weekend, which we attended to celebrate Becky’s birthday. Had a good time. We also took a fun bus trip up to Yosemite National Park for a day trip. Spectacular!
- Website: Park Sierra SKP
Kit Fox RV Park - Patterson CA
RATING: ♦♦♦
- Dates: Aug 28, 2019 – Aug 29, 2019
- Length of stay: 1 night.
- Cost per night: $22.22.
- Discount: 50% Escapees Membership.
- Hookups: 50 amp electric, water, and sewer.
- Site number/quality: #104. Pull-through site on fairly level concrete pad.
- Park Quality: The park meant for overnighters off I-5. Nothing special, but good value with the discount.
- Access: Easy access off I-5. There are a couple of restaurants and fuel stations at the same exit.
- Connectivity: Verizon-OK, AT&T-OK, and T-Mobile-Strong.
- Return yes/no?: Sure.
- Notes: None.
- Website: Kit Fox RV Park
Lake Minden RV Park (TT) - Nicolaus CA
RATING: ♦♦♦♦
- Dates: Aug 24, 2019 – Aug 28, 2019
- Length of stay: 4 nights.
- Cost per night: $0.
- Discount: Thousand Trails Membership.
- Hookups: 30 amp electric and water, but no sewer.
- Site number/quality: #83 in D Section. Back-in site on fairly level gravel pad, with shaded seating area and picnic table.
- Park Quality: The park seems to be well managed and generally in good repair. It has four sections that surround Lake Minden, which is more of a large man-made retention pond than a lake. Though having a rather artificial feel, the lake causes the rest of the whole park to be more spread out than it would probably be otherwise. Section A is on the south side of the lake, and has smaller sites with full hookups. Section B is on the north side, and has no hookups. Section C is on the southeast side, and has a few sites with water, but most have no hookups. We stayed in Section D on the northeast side of the lake, which has larger sites, but there’s only water and 30 amp electric. There are three dump stations, and the park offers honey wagon service.
- Access: Easy access off CA-99 or CA-70. The nearest town with shopping and dining is Yuba City, about 15 miles north.
- Connectivity: Verizon-OK, AT&T-OK, and T-Mobile-Strong.
- Return yes/no?: Sure.
- Notes: The park is located in the middle of the very large Sacramento Valley agricultural area. There isn’t that much to do nearby. But the park itself is nice enough, with a beach and fishing docks, as well as a cafe and small camp store. We didn’t really take full advantage of the park due to the extreme high temperatures while we here, which were over 100° each day. Fortunately, our site had multiple shade trees and our air conditioning did its job pretty well, even though we only had 30 amp service.
- Website: Lake Minden RV Park
Click here to see all the campgrounds we’ve stayed in since going full-time.