Not a Good Experience at Timothy Lake North – A Thousand Trails Campground

On our travels through New England, we needed a place to stay to catch up on work and chores for a couple of days, and found Thousand Trails Timothy Lake North in our path. While there are both North and South options available, when we called customer service to help since reservations weren’t working online, they offered us North first, so we took it since we were only looking for a couple of nights.

Having been Thousand Trails members for a few years and visiting many, we had an idea of what to expect, especially arriving in the first couple of weeks of opening for the season. Even with those realistic expectations keeping us in check, we were sorely disappointed–more with the experience, than the location or campground itself.

We had gotten the confirmation email the week prior, but it didn’t have details filled in, even having “guest name” instead of our name on it. We had heard from several other TTs before that the emails don’t have any real information, it will all be at the campground when we arrive, so we didn’t worry about it.

We arrived mid-afternoon on a Sunday, knowing the office may be closed, but we’d find an information packet in the after hours check-in, as we had in all the other Thousand Trails we had stayed in. However, when we arrived, the placed looked as though it had been closed for years, someone staying there was leaving as we arrived and gave us a quick intro, telling us they hardly ever saw anyone that worked there at this campground. We told him we were only staying a couple of days and needed a parking spot, so weren’t too worried about it.

We checked the guard shack at the gate since there was nothing at the office and found no packet, no info, no one working–and not even a number to call.

Frustrated and wondering if we should figure out how to turn around and go to the South park to find someone, one of the employees showed up for another issue someone called about. She didn’t seem to know we were checking in that day and was surprised, but called someone at South for our site. We got no other information, map, etc.

We maneuvered to the site they assigned us, but we couldn’t fit within the spot and the road with how the rig behind us was sitting, so he told us we could try another spot since we weren’t there long.

We tried another spot and found the box not grounded, or the one next to it. We ended up going between two rigs, diagonal from where we were assigned, thinking that if they planned for us to be there, maybe that box would be fine, and it was.

After getting set up and calming a bit, the same employee we spoke to called a bit later to tell us bathhouse closed. It wasn’t an issue since we are self-contained, but was just another negative.

This park has the potential to be a great location, and from reading the online reviews, it once was. There were friendly people–both those staying there and the employee we talked to, and it was a quiet park. Sadly, it is just very run down and no one here to help those that are staying there. The pool was drained empty and being worked on, the office and clubhouse also closed, along with the bathhouse. The basketball courts and playground were in good condition, but the mini-golf course was neglected and I didn’t see anyplace for the equipment. While there, we also watched contractors try to get in with no luck.

If you are going to stay at the Timothy Lake Campgrounds, skip North and stay at South. We drove through there and it has all the things opening and working, and people there. You are welcome to use their facilities as a guest of North, but it’s a few minutes drive away, so not convenient.

Some other positives we found were that many had level grass and/or gravel pads, lots of trees, and the ball court and playground were nice. We found that both Starlink and Verizon cellular worked here, as well. Roads not bad going in, even with our large rig on the mountain roads, and stores about 10 minutes away in town. In the peacefulness, there is a lot of wildlife and we saw several deer while there.

Our final advice if you are staying at either campground, but especially Nor–call ahead before arriving, just to be sure they know you are coming.

This has been a rare negative experience for our Thousand Trails stays, and wasn’t terrible in the grand scheme of things, but definitely made us feel unappreciated as guests. Every campground will be a different experience and most are good!

Find out more about the Thousand Trails Timothy Lake North Campground here.

If you’re not a Thousand Trails member, but are interested, use our referral sign up, linked here, and we will get your information to Sharon and Warren Lewis, our specialists, to help you find a membership that works for your budget and camping style!