We stayed at Sequoia RV Park in Dunlap, California. (Campground Reviews listing.)

The closest RV park to Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks, with nice large spaces.

Dates:

• Check in: 2024-09-22
• Check out: 2024-09-29
• 7 nights

Weather:

• Sunny
• High temps 88-95°F, lows 65-70°F
• Negligible wind, gusts to 14 MPH

Noise:

• Some road noise
• No train horn noise
• A little neighbor noise (kids)

Site:

• #68, back-in, asphalt
• Needed to disconnect toad, parked beside coach
• Fairly level site; high on driver side and front; used hydraulic leveling
• Asphalt driveway about 50 feet long by 10 feet wide
• About 40 feet to neighbor on driver side
• About 90 feet to neighbor on passenger side
• Picnic table
• Fire pit
• Some tall trees
• Unclean site; small bits of trash
• Invasive ants

Utilities:

• 50 amp power, somewhat conveniently located (at rear of site)
• 35 PSI water, inconveniently located (at rear of site)
• Loose sewer connection, inconveniently located (at rear of site; 3 10-foot pipes needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

• Starlink: 45-140 Mbps down, 12-15 Mbps up, 30 ms ping
• T-Mobile: 5 Mbps down, 3 Mbps up, 35 ms ping
• AT&T: 14-16 Mbps down, 1 Mbps up, 60-1,000 ms ping
• Verizon: 1-5 Mbps down, 0.02-1 Mbps up, 400-600 ms ping
• Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

• Garbage dumpsters
• Near national parks
• Package delivery to manager’s site (didn’t use)

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Closest RV park to Kings Canyon NP

The nightly rate is a bit much for what it is, but you’re really paying for the location. If you have a big rig, there isn’t anything closer to the entrance of Kings Canyon NP. You could get closer to the Sequoia NP entrance, but not by much. It was easy to identify the overnight sites and find one that worked for us. We’d printed the email confirmation, so all we had to do was attach it to the post, and we were good to go. The biggest drawback was that we had our second ant infestation ever while staying here. Little bitey red ants found their way inside by way of the Starlink cable and the water hose, so that was fun. We camped at Sequoia RV Park in a Motorhome.

Campground map:

An interactive map:

Our site:

We used our Starlink dish:

The utilities were at the back on the passenger side, so three sewer pipes were needed:

There were biting ants that invaded our coach via the water hose (and later other routes):

In three years of this RV lifestyle, this is only the second time we’ve had ants invade, both in the last month.

The site number sign with a receipt clipped to it; when we arrived we just picked a site and attached the receipt (that we had previously printed out); no human interaction required:

Sunrise:

Hills and road conditions sign outside the entrance:

Entrance sign:

Mailboxes and outgoing mail by the entrance:

Office:

Bathrooms:

Other sites; a mix of overnight sites and seasonal/annual sites:

“No fishing, swimming, boating”… yeah, not going to be a problem:

We stayed at Turtle Beach RV Resort in Manteca, California. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A Thousand Trails park, so free for us. Calling it a “resort” is a bit of a stretch, though.

Dates:

• Check in: 2024-09-13
• Check out: 2024-09-16
• 3 nights

Weather:

• Sunny
• High temps 80-92°F, lows 54-58°F
• Some wind, gusts to 31 MPH

Noise:

• No road noise
• Nearby train horn noise
• A bunch of neighbor noise (kids and TV)

Site:

• #C-16, back-in, gravel
• Needed to disconnect toad, parked in front of coach
• Somewhat level site; high on passenger side; used hydraulic leveling
• Gravel driveway about 45 feet long by 8 feet wide
• About 20 feet to neighbor on passenger side
• About 15 feet to neighbor on driver side
• Picnic table
• Some tall trees
• Not very clean site; small bits of trash

Utilities:

• 50 amp power, conveniently located
• 47 PSI water, conveniently located
• Good sewer connection, very conveniently located (less than one 10-foot pipe needed)
• Some sites aren’t full-hook-up, so we were glad to get one

Internet (in usage priority order):

• AT&T: 370-460 Mbps down, 2-9 Mbps up, 40 ms ping
• Verizon: 25 Mbps down, 25 Mbps up, 70 ms ping
• T-Mobile: unreliable service
• Starlink: not used
• Campground Wi-Fi: none

Amenities:

• Garbage dumpsters

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Smaller campground amidst booming suburbs

This is a standard, older Thousand Trails, which is paying the price for deferred maintenance. The sites were fairly basic and rustic, and we were lucky to snag one of the few 50A sites for our short stay. A no-frills park combined with an access road that is not big rig-friendly makes for interesting times. The road is narrow and winding, with lots of trees right up to the edge of the road and growing low over it. That’s after you pass through a gauntlet of new suburban development with every other road closed and detours everywhere. Frequent train horns all day and night keep it from being very restful once you’re there. We camped at Turtle Beach RV Resort in a Motorhome.

Campground map:

An interactive map:

Our site:

Utilities:

Other sites:

Annual sites:

Tent area:

Large unused area:

Walthall Slough:

We stayed at Red Bluff KOA Journey in Red Bluff, California. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A nice campground, except for the road and train noise.

Dates:

• Check in: 2024-09-08
• Check out: 2024-09-13
• 5 nights

Weather:

• Sunny
• High temps 84-98°F, lows 57-61°F
• Some wind, gusts to 32 MPH

Noise:

• Nearby freeway noise
• Regular train horn noise
• Occasional boat noise
• Some gunshots the first night
• Negligible neighbor noise

Site:

• #113, long pull-through, concrete
• Didn’t need to disconnect toad, parked behind coach
• Fairly level site; a little high in the back; used hydraulic leveling
• Concrete driveway about 95 feet long by 16 feet wide
• 15 feet to neighbor on passenger side
• No neighbor on driver side
• Picnic table
• Tall trees
• Somewhat clean site; a few small bits of trash
• Invasive ants

Utilities:

• 50 amp power, a little inconveniently located (two pedestals, but both inconvenient)
• 70 PSI water, inconveniently located (two faucets, equally inconvenient)
• Good sewer connection, inconveniently located (2.5 10-foot pipes needed; two connections, both inconvenient)

Internet (in usage priority order):

• T-Mobile: 65 Mbps down, 20 Mbps up, 35 ms ping
• AT&T: 65-80 Mbps down, 15-22 Mbps up, 65 ms ping
• Verizon: 3-6 Mbps down, 7-18 Mbps up, 95 ms ping
• Starlink: not used
• Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

• Garbage pickup from site (and dumpster near our site)
• Pool
• Fresh baked sourdough bread in camp store
• Walking distance to Shari’s and other restaurants
• Package delivery to office

Our review on Campground Reviews:

A bit expensive but convenient

This campground is very convenient along I-5, and we’d probably stay here again for a one-night stop, but for a longer stay, the noise from the interstate is a bit irritating. We had a nice, long pull-through site with plenty of room. The major downside was that we faced our first-ever ant infestation while staying here. They marched up our water hose, into the wet bay, and then into the living area. However, a bait station in the wet bay and a spritz of pyrethrin along the hose deterred them. We camped at Red Bluff KOA Journey in a Motorhome.

Tip for Other Campers: It’s a nice day trip to Lassen Volcanic National Park….

Campground map:

An interactive map:

Our site (which we picked out when booking) was on an edge, with nobody on our driver side (which I prefer):

This site used to be two back-ins, so has two utility pedestals, one at each end. Which is equally inconvenient if parking in the middle of the site. When I first connected the sewer, I used the hookup at the back, which needed three 10-foot pipes plus two 2-foot pipes:

I later switched to the one at the front, which let me remove one of the 10-foot pipes:

Though having the pipe in front of the cargo doors is less preferred, since it gets in the way. Notice also that I used the elbow extenders on both connections, as the sewer ports were too recessed.

While here, we had an invasion of ants; amazingly, the first time we’ve had that:

A fancy entrance:

When checking in, we picked up some sourdough bread that they were selling in the office:

Dog wash:

Pool and clubhouse:

Games area:

Dog park:

Bathrooms:

Group fire pit:

Tent area overlooking the river:

River and freeway view:

Fountains:

Other sites:

Freeway view:

L-shaped sites:

We wouldn’t mind staying here again for a short time, but would probably look elsewhere to avoid the freeway and train noise.

We stayed at Thousand Trails Crescent Bar in Quincy, Washington. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A Thousand Trails campground overlooking the Columbia River.

Dates:

• Check in: 2024-08-02
• Check out: 2024-08-03
• 1 night
• We had booked two nights, but decided to leave after one, since it was so hot, and we just wanted to get home

Weather:

• Partly cloudy
• High temp 102°F, low 71°F
• Little wind, gusts to 17 MPH

Noise:

• No road noise
• No train horn noise
• Little neighbor noise

Site:

• #81, back-in, sandy gravel
• Needed to disconnect toad
• Fairly level site; a little high at the back; used air leveling, since only one night
• Sandy gravel driveway about 55 feet long by 12 feet wide
• 15 feet to neighbors on both sides
• Picnic table
• Fire pit
• A tall tree
• Somewhat clean site (some paper trash)

Utilities:

• 50 amp power, somewhat conveniently located
• 55 PSI water, conveniently located
• Good sewer connection, very conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

• T-Mobile: 15 Mbps down, 5-12 Mbps up, 108 ms ping
• AT&T: 230 Mbps down, 28 Mbps up, 160 ms ping
• Verizon: 12-18 Mbps down, 3 Mbps up, 45 ms ping
• Starlink: not used
• Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

• Garbage dumpsters
• Pool

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Typical older TT, but killer views

This park is typical of an older Thousand Trails park and needs some TLC. As usual, it’s first come, first served, which is not our favorite. We were lucky to find a 50A site that was 1) in working condition, 2) large enough for our 40′ motorhome, and 3) had a peek of the Gorge. All the best sites with views of the Gorge seem to be taken up by seasonals, but it was nice to see what we could between them. All the short-term sites are a bit run down, with sparse landscaping. We camped at Thousand Trails Crescent Bar in a Motorhome.

Campground map:

An interactive map:

Our site:

Utilities:

There’s a clip for the tag, but it’s broken, so they’ve replaced it with shoelaces, rather than replacing the clip; really says something about Thousand Trails maintenance:

Other sites:

Gorge view:

Sunset:

A campground in a nice location, though the access road is rather steep. But we’d be happy to stay here again.

We stayed at Jim & Mary’s RV Park in Missoula, Montana. (Campground Reviews listing.)

That name may ring a bell, as this is actually our third stay here; our first time with a trailer on our Yellowstone trip, and in our coach the following year.

Dates:

• Check in: 2024-08-01
• Check out: 2024-08-02
• 1 night

Weather:

• Sunny
• High temp 93°F, low 61°F
• Little wind, gusts to 11 MPH

Noise:

• Some road noise
• Nearby train horn noise
• No significant neighbor noise

Site:

• #A8, pull-through, gravel
• Didn’t need to disconnect toad, and didn’t, since only one night
• Perfectly level site; used air leveling, since only one night
• Gravel driveway about 72 feet long by 15 feet wide
• 20 feet to neighbors on both sides
• Picnic table
• One small tree
• Clean site

Utilities:

• 50 amp power, somewhat inconveniently located
• 65 PSI water, somewhat inconveniently located
• Didn’t connect sewer until departure; good sewer connection, a little inconveniently located (2 10-foot pipes needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

• Campground Wi-Fi: 33-37 Mbps down, 3-13 Mbps up, 10 ms ping
• Verizon: 13-18 Mbps down, 12 Mbps up, 55 ms ping
• AT&T: 55 Mbps down, 1 Mbps up, 150 ms ping
• T-Mobile: 4-5 Mbps down, 1 Mbps up, 60 ms ping, unreliable
• Starlink: not used

Amenities:

• Garbage dumpsters
• Gardens

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Third time, still a charm

This was the third time we’ve stayed here, as it’s convenient along I-90. We’d be happy to drive further afield because it’s so lovely; the landscaping brightens things up after a long day of travel. Our site was on the exit row, so it was easy to get in and out. It was also perfectly level, and the utilities all worked well, but they were a little far back with our tow vehicle attached. We camped at Jim & Mary’s RV Park in a Motorhome.

Campground map:

An interactive map:

Our site:

Utilities:

Other sites:

See our previous visit for more photos. We still like this RV park, and will likely stay here yet again in the future.