We stayed at Thousand Trails Palm Springs RV Resort, which is actually in Palm Desert, California… though is on the Desert Palms side of I-10. Lots of palm-y places. (Campground Reviews listing.)
We are Thousand Trails members, so this stay was free for us (ignoring the large membership cost!). We were going to stay longer, but the Cummins visit lopped a couple of nights off the start — fortunately it’s very easy to update our reservation with Thousand Trails.
Dates:
- Check in: 2022-03-02
- Check out: 2022-03-06
- 4 nights
Weather:
- Sunny, a little drizzle
- High temps ranging between 67 and 85°F, lows around 47-55°F
- A few days with some wind
Noise:
- Negligible road noise, being towards the back of the park
- Some kids and dogs, but generally quiet neighbors
Site:
- #333, back in, diagonal, sand, had to disconnect toad
- Asphalt toad parking, though too close to RV space, so had to park diagonally
- Medium-sized, about 55 feet long by 25 feet wide
- Full hookups:
- 50 amp power in back-left corner, so needed full length of cable
- 50 PSI water, again in back-left corner, so hose only just reached it
- Good sewer connection, well positioned right below wet bay (though not well aligned with trees)
- Picnic table on cement pad (would have preferred not, as could have moved it and parked truck there)
Internet:
- Campground Wi-Fi: none (some by clubhouses, not used)
- T-Mobile: 1-5 Mbps down, 1-5 Mbps up, 40-140 ms ping
- AT&T: 3-5 Mbps down, 3 Mbps up, 40-140 ms ping
- Verizon: 1-5 Mbps down, 4-8 Mbps up, 40-50 ms ping
Amenities:
- Garbage and recycling dumpsters
- Mail room
- Heated pool; hot tub
- Rec rooms, laundry, playground, and other stuff we didn’t use
- Various outdoor games
Here’s the review Jenn wrote on Campground Reviews:
Nice oasis in Palm Springs
I feel like you either accept the eccentricities of this resort and love it, or you just have certain expectations and can’t deal with a curveball (or a curved palm tree, in this case) and hate it. First, the potential negatives: Yes, the palm trees in the middle of the back-in sites are annoying. You either need to have a small trailer (in which case, it’s rude to take a 50A site when a 30A would do), or you have an excellent spotter to help get you situated. Either way, you can forget about getting perfectly parallel inside the suggested site boundaries. Next, the utility pedestal is on the opposite corner from usual, so you need to make sure you have really long power and water connections, or you should bring extenders. The sewer hookup, on the other hand, is super close. Pro tip: If you don’t need to run more than one A/C unit and are skittish about back-in sites, head left to the large 30A pull-through sites. If you want a 50A connection or feel confident in your backing skills, learn to love your mirrors and your spotter and head right to the 50A back-in sites.
And now for the positives: The resort is conveniently located to anything you could want to do in the Coachella Valley/Palm Springs area. The sites are level, and the amenities are excellent. The pool and spa were warm and inviting after a long day on the road, and the Pickle Ball courts were very popular. The palm trees that made it so annoying to get into your site are really quite lovely once you’re situated. And the staff are just amazing. Check-in was so friendly and efficient, it just made the whole experience. Every staff member was pleasant and helpful.
As for the sand? It’s the desert. Deal with it. We’ve stayed in several resorts in the area and there is nowhere you can escape the sand when the winds pick up. If you don’t want to have to dust and sweep/vacuum every couple of days, may I suggest that the desert should not be your destination? We camped at Palm Springs RV Resort in a Motorhome.
Park info cover:
Here’s the park map:
As Jenn mentioned in her review, and you can see on that map, about half of the park are 30 amp pull-through sites, and half are 50 amp back-in sites.
It’s also worth noting that Thousand Trails parks work a bit differently than most: there aren’t assigned sites, you just roam around and pick any empty one you like (so long as it doesn’t have a long-term reservation). Which can be nice, in that you can pick a site you like, but can also be frustrating, having to hunt for one. The rangers know which sites are vacant, so it’d be more convenient if they provided a map with those highlighted, to help narrow the search. That’d be extra logistical hassles, of course, and it really isn’t too hard to search, if we’re able to do so in our truck.
Here’s a Google Maps satellite view of the park, obviously captured in the summer when the park is closed (it opens on September 15, and closes on May 15, to avoid the worst of the hot months):
For comparison, an Apple Maps satellite view when the park is open (with our approximate location circled):
Yes, there are a lot of palm trees! 805, apparently. I read somewhere that it is actually still an active date farm, so probably not much hope that they’ll remove some trees to make access easier.
When checking in, they provided pull-through and back-in instructions, something we haven’t had elsewhere, showing that they know it’s a bit confusing:
A screenshot of the weather during our stay:
Our site, #333:
That tree next to the coach looks pretty close, eh? Yeah, real close, just an inch or two of clearance:
The sewer was convieniently located, as seen above, but the water and power were just about as far away as they could be; both our water hose and power cord were fully unwound:
Better seen in a wide-angle shot:
Here’s the site next to us, after the occupant left. Looks fairly spacious?
Until you realize that the palm tree is pretty much in the middle of the site; here I’ve drawn red lines indicating the site boundaries:
You can see that the fifth wheel to the left is over the boundary; they have to be, to be able to squeeze into the site, as does anyone going into this site.
Another angle of the site; that is the sewer connection next to the red stick, which marks the edge of the site:
You can see wheel tracks indicating how often people go over it:
Anyway, let’s tour the park, starting from the entrance:
A tip for people staying here; there’s an untoading area behind the pool area, where one can disconnect the tow vehicle and go scout for a site:
Heated swimming pool and spa pool; we enjoyed both, very refreshing after a drive:
A message board near the entrance alerts people of mail:
A package pick up notice:
The mail room:
The rec room seemed popular:
Laundry facilities (we have a washer and dryer in our coach, so never use such facilities, but nice to have for people who do):
Dog park and playground (we also don’t care about those, other than a place for kids to play away from us!):
Pickleball courts:
Horseshoes:
Rental cabins:
Other RV sites:
We considered this site when searching for one, but were glad we kept looking; the one we decided on was nicer:
A view of our site from the next lane over:
It was warm enough to sit outside in the evening:
Stars:
We were on Hoot Owl lane:
Finally, a trio of Tiffins; our Allegro Bus, a Phaeton, and a Wayfarer class C:
We had concerns about staying here, since we read several reviews saying how tight it was with all the palm trees, and while we don’t disagree with that, we enjoyed our stay here, and will likely be back in the future.
