The simple act of entering this campground requires a difficult near 180 degree u-turn on a downward slope. Our 28 foot class A RV with tow car barely made it. Upon arrival at the guard station, my wife and I informed a ranger named Kevin that we needed a full hookup site. He kindly drove us around in his cart so that we could see a...moreThe simple act of entering this campground requires a difficult near 180 degree u-turn on a downward slope. Our 28 foot class A RV with tow car barely made it. Upon arrival at the guard station, my wife and I informed a ranger named Kevin that we needed a full hookup site. He kindly drove us around in his cart so that we could see all of the available B section sites. Now that is great service! We ended up in site B45 and it was a snug fit for our RV. The B section roads are curvy with several hills to negotiate. Trailers and smaller vehicles won't have any issues but any RVs over 30 feet should go over to the A section. These sites are larger but most of them are water and electric only. This campground sits at 4,100 feet above sea level so it can get quite chilly at night. It is very quiet so quality sleep is not an issue. Beautiful views of the surrounding hills and there is a hiking trail up near the water tower. I left several voicemails for staff members and all of them were returned promptly. The great service continues! Free lodge wifi was slow and we did not try the optional paid wifi. My AT&T phone had 4 bars and the hotspot worked great. Garbage cans are plentiful and recycling bins are even available. Very cool! The B section laundry facilities opened up during our stay. Prices were a bit high at $2.25 to wash and $1.75 to dry, but the machines were in great condition. We filled up on propane on the way out and it was only $3.29 per gallon. Campground store and pool were closed due to Covid.

We enjoyed our stay at this TT campground. Staff was wonderful, giving us a golf cart tour of available sites and best approach to our chosen site. If you have a big rig, you will be limited. Abundance of trees which makes it feel a bit more private, but sites are small. Very convenient access to the state park and tons of hiking opp...moreWe enjoyed our stay at this TT campground. Staff was wonderful, giving us a golf cart tour of available sites and best approach to our chosen site. If you have a big rig, you will be limited. Abundance of trees which makes it feel a bit more private, but sites are small. Very convenient access to the state park and tons of hiking opportunities. Due to COVID during our stay (December 2020) amenities were not available.Will definitely return to this campground.

This is one of the smallest Thousand Trail parks I've been to. It's an older park in a rustic setting in the hills on the outskirts of San Diego County. There's a bunch of sites undergoing electrical upgrades (in Thousand Trails lingo "undergoing" means a year later and there's still little to no work being done), which leaves the numb...moreThis is one of the smallest Thousand Trail parks I've been to. It's an older park in a rustic setting in the hills on the outskirts of San Diego County. There's a bunch of sites undergoing electrical upgrades (in Thousand Trails lingo "undergoing" means a year later and there's still little to no work being done), which leaves the number of active/available sites to only a few dozen or so, and most of those are 30A and do not have sewer hookups. However they do offer a honey wagon service for $25. There's quite a few tent sites spread throughout although virtually none of them are in use. Maybe the tent sites are more popular in the summer.The roads are hilly and tight and crumbling in some areas. As other reviewers have stated this place isn't very big rig friendly, although it's doable if you can find a site to accommodate you. If you have a big rig I would call the ranger on the morning before you arrive and ask if they can save you a spot.They currently accept packages with no fees. At the time of this writing many Thousand Trails have begun implementing a per-package fee, so your experience may be different.Because of the remote location and relatively small size this place is very quiet, making it a good "get away from it all" place. Central San Diego is a 45 minute drive, the beach is closer to an hour, but for basic needs you can get to the nearest town of Alpine in under 15 minutes. No WiFi is offered but for being way out in the hills I was really surprised at just how strong Verizon and AT&T are.Last time I was in San Diego I opted for one of the expensive RV parks in town. But I also paid over $1000 for a month's stay. And other than the location there was nothing special about it, like camping in a crammed parking lot. So if you don't mind being a little remote and you're a TT member you can save a ton of cash and still have access to all that San Diego offers.

This Thousand Trails Campground is relatively small and while it can accommodate some big rigs, the narrow campground roads, predominantly rolling topography, and abundance of trees makes maneuvering a challenge. The town known for its apple pies, Julian, is a 30 minute drive north on CA Route 79. We absolutely loved the apple pie. ...moreThis Thousand Trails Campground is relatively small and while it can accommodate some big rigs, the narrow campground roads, predominantly rolling topography, and abundance of trees makes maneuvering a challenge. The town known for its apple pies, Julian, is a 30 minute drive north on CA Route 79. We absolutely loved the apple pie. The Anza-Borrego Desert State Park is an easy day trip, and the Cuyamaca Rancho State Park is located just north of the campground. AT&T cellular service was 5G and clocked in at 185 Mbps download speed and 43.3 Mbps upload speed. Verizon cellular service clocked in at 27.63 Mbps download speed and 39.00 Mbps upload speed.

First, I want to say that this is a really nice location out in the middle of no-where. In fact it might be one of the nicest remote locations we've been to in a really long time. If you're 36' or less, you shouldn't have any issues.However, I'm rather annoyed by TT for the simple fact that they do not adequately explain length ...moreFirst, I want to say that this is a really nice location out in the middle of no-where. In fact it might be one of the nicest remote locations we've been to in a really long time. If you're 36' or less, you shouldn't have any issues.However, I'm rather annoyed by TT for the simple fact that they do not adequately explain length issues here. Yes, they mention going up to the turnaround and coming back, but the ranger insists that 36' is the longest recommended length. While there are sites that take longer than 36', like site 29 and 50, there are not many. There are more in Loop A than just two, but those were the only two open, when we pulled in, that had a chance of handling our 43 foot fifth wheel. Loop B is closed for the next few weeks, so the few long sites there are inaccessible. Finally, make sure you don't come in with an inadequate engine because a few of the hills are quite steep and several of the back in sites need extra power to get up onto the pads.Site 50 is looks like it is only accessible from the direction opposite normal flow. At site 29, the seemingly obvious thing to do is to take a hard left into the incredibly long (over 100 foot) site directly across the road. Unfortunately when you then try to back in your big rig, you discover that you're digging into the pavement with your rear end into road. Luckily my wife caught that (it's obvious others did not as there are huge gouges in the pavement), and we very carefully backed out the way we came. The safe way is to go up the hill and back it in slow and turn really tight. The angle was pretty sharp but the road and site were more than wide enough to allow the maneuver for us. After a couple of small in-and-out adjustments, we were settled. I strongly suggest that big fifth wheels have a sliding hitch so that you can make 90+ degree turns when backing in... this is just a good idea for so many campgrounds.Loop B is closed right now for electrical upgrade, so a lot of the available big rig sites are unavailable. We were VERY lucky that we got in early as there were only two open sites that could possibly handle our rig. Two large class A's came in right after us and that would have probably forced us to look for a different campground. Again, we were lucky we got there early.There is a sign just before the last 3 miles with a prohibition against trailers over 40 feet (thanks for the warning) and is OMFG curvy with no guard rails and sharp drop offs. The face of the cliff wall is not cut back like most roads so I was sneaking around corners well over the center line to make sure I cleared them. Those 3 miles seem like 10 even when you're without the trailer and there was a surprising amount of traffic. It's like Needles Highway without the tunnels. I would NOT want to drive on that road on a foggy night or during a snow storm (yes, they have them). Our rig is officially 41' 9" but the bikes sticking off the back make it 43' in total, and I was really wishing I could tuck the back in a bit during those last 3 miles.Once there, the road past the bath house in loop A seems ridiculously narrow and the corner stupidly tight to the point that I'm surprised it doesn't have RV damage. The campground is hilly, but I've seen much worse. At least there seems to have been some real effort made to level the sites and the utilities are not decrepit. The water pressure is only 20 pounds so make sure you have your low pressure shower head attached or else fill your freshwater tank and use your internal pump to take a shower. The bathhouse is not bad so that's a reasonable alternative.We could only get a 30 amp site, but since it's nearly 4000 feet up, the weather isn't as warm as in San Diego, and their LP fill hours are 8:30 am to 4:00 pm, so it's not a critical issue. We lost power in the campground a couple times for a few minutes during our stay, but everything was stable, otherwise. I suspect that had to do with the electrical work in loop B.Finally, the poster on the bath house about mountain lions does remind one that you're in a rustic campground and not a tourist site. I'm glad to be in one of the interior sites as we have small dogs. I do doubt very greatly that the campground sees many large predators, but we decided to not spend much time outside late at night.Now for the good news. The cell reception is great, the bandwidth is beautiful, and they just refurbished the hot tub! There aren't a tone of OTA channels, but there are enough for us. The bath house nearest us is old but clean and my surge protector says everything is wired correctly (you'd be surprised how many places have problems). While the nearby stores tend to hit you in the wallet, it's only 30 minutes to the nearest urban like area with normal (for California) prices. Some of the fuel prices between here and the beach the lowest we've seen in California. The PetSmart along 8 has a Banfield and PetHotel so that's helpful for those times you need them. BTW, the dog beach next to the San Diego River outlet is amazing. Do go there if you have pups.The staff is friendly and helpful (the ranger that warned us about the length issues also happily drove me around to scope out likely sites and made suggestions for the stay). There is lots of privacy due to the layout of the sites. Package delivery is free and the rangers stay on top of what's waiting for you, which is really nice.If you're over 36', you need to get in early and be a little bit lucky. I'm t old more than a few big rigs end up with less than ideal situations. This is one place that should seriously consider assigning sites by rig length or else put up and enforce a 36 foot size limit.One last thing, since you're in the middle of nowhere, the place is quiet... almost too quiet ;) The occasional jet from El Centro (blue angels) or one of military planes based in San Diego don't really mar the scene. I'd also swear I saw a pair of Japanese Zeros, but they were just a bit far away to make sure.In all, with a smaller RV or a bit of luck finding a bigger site, this is a really nice place to get away from the crowds and relax for a while.

The park is in quite a bit of disrepair. About half of the campsites don't work in the pool and hot tub have been under renovation for quite a while. It's a beautiful park and the staff are great but it really needs to get fixed up and return to what I assume was its former glory. There is absolutely no coverage unless you have AT&T or...moreThe park is in quite a bit of disrepair. About half of the campsites don't work in the pool and hot tub have been under renovation for quite a while. It's a beautiful park and the staff are great but it really needs to get fixed up and return to what I assume was its former glory. There is absolutely no coverage unless you have AT&T or Verizon but if you have AT&T you will get about 140 Mb a second Internet! The AT&T/Horizon Towers directly across the street. It's somewhat out of the way as the nearest little town is 15 minutes away and the nearest midsize town is 35 minutes away. The roads are very steep and a good deal of the campsites can't be backed into by a larger RV. It's nice and quiet and really beautiful if you can find a good space where you can back in.