Oregon to California | Review of Thousand Trails Lake Minden Resort

After a couple of nights and a down day at Mr. Bigfoot RV Park in Mendon, Oregon, (find out more about it and our journey there in the last blog California or Bust) it was time to continue our journey south and cross into California.

We had another roughly 300 mile journey, and only part of it was interstate. Crossing over the state line, we were treated to some beautiful views of Mt. Shasta along the way. As the constant passenger princess, I also tried sitting in the back seat to make sure I didn’t get sick, just in case the Highway 120 switchbacks on our next travel day meant I’d need to get away from the roadside edge. We were happy to arrive at our campground late afternoon, where we had another 2 nights planned for a down day to rest and get some school and work done.

We stayed at Thousand Trails Lake Minden, in Nicolaus, California since it was in our membership. That morning, we got a text with our site number and that our map in check in info would be at the after hours board. Usually we get a call or text asking about arrival time and giving us a head’s up on how late someone would be there or need to know info for getting into the park, so didn’t think much of it. That is, until we got there.

From the direction of Interstate 5, it was a hard left turn into the park and, even arriving at around 430, the office was already closed. No biggie, we grabbed the packet from the after hours check-in and saw our spot. The thing is, the route wasn’t marked, and it wasn’t clear on how to get into it. We slowly made the long trek to the back section around the lake, stopped and got a feel for the area and figured out roads, then planned a route to the spot. Our site was full of trash and dog poop and an electrical box that wasn’t the worst we’d seen, but we made sure to check it carefully.

At this point, we had not had a good first impression on the location, and it seemed to fit a trend at the parks for the year of being short-staffed and letting things get a bit run down. But, it was just for a rest day, so we tried not to worry about it. The bath house was nice, as was the lake and it was a quiet area with really nice people around us. There were several activities, but no signs or ways to know where to get the horseshoes or sports gear, so we didn’t worry about it.

We got a lot of work and school done on our day off, and BJ did a maintenance check on the truck, including replacing brake pads on the front since the old ones were getting a little worn. With steep mountain grade roads on our next travel day into Yosemite, we did NOT want to chance it.

We never did see any of the campground employees, and the office was closed when we left mid-morning on a Friday, so the best we could do was to let them know through the check-out survey they sent us. I’ll be curious to see if they respond to us–some do, but some don’t.

In spite of a few questionable experiences, we still love our Thousand Trails membership and what it affords us as full-time travelers, especially when we are just looking for a place to rest for the night and don’t want to worry about being run off!

Join us in the next blog for travels into Yosemite and the stretch of road we’ve been preparing for since we found out about it the week before–New Priest Road along Highway 120!

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!

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