roadtripper17974

I stayed in one of their huge parking lots while visiting the San Diego area. The RV lot area is a bit away from the casino and they do have a shuttle that comes by the RV area periodically, but I walked to the casino. The casino itself it really nice and fairly new and pretty big. I enjoyed walking through it. There is a nice looking restaurant where you can have breakfast in the casino. Across the street from the casino is a very nice and fancy outlet outdoor mall. I walked though it and really enjoyed my walk. I walked there before the stores opened and it was just really peaceful. They had speakers hiding in the bushes with nature sounds. There was an ice skating rink that was closed for summer time. I had a quiet nights sleep. It's a good place for a quick overnight stay. It's a bit off the freeway.

There is a Buffet but I didn't try it. It's a bit pricey ($29 weekdays, $40 weekends). It does look good though and will try it next time I am in the area.

I stayed here a few years ago. I liked it a lot. The night sky was amazing. You are up in the mountains and there are some great views after a short walk. They hold night sky viewing events here periodically. It's a rather rustic type campground. There are vault toilets. The roads are dirt but are maintained pretty well. The sites are all dirt sites. You're in a dryer area here so the trees are the mesquite types. You can do some great hikes around the campground. The Bristlecone Ancient Forest site in nearby. Definitely, go for a hike there. You can see live trees that were going strong when Jesus walked the earth. I was inspired by the Bristlecones there that gave me a sense that humans are not the end-all and be-all of this world. These trees have seen a lot in their very very long lives. You can get a lot of solitude here. I am looking forward to another visit soon.

If you need great bathrooms, paved sites with hookups and lots of services, then this is not going to be a good place for you. If you are looking for views, solitude, great dark sky viewing and fun and inspiring hikes then this is a wonderful place. It's a little bit of ruffing it but well worth the effort.

It's a $5 requested donation site and I feel it was well worth the donation! There are tables and fire pits rings.

When we lived in California we used to come here a lot. We now visit when we are passing through the area.

The pools are cement but they are nicely built. There are two pools. One is a swimming pool and one is a large soaking poll that can hold 40+ people. The great thing about the pools are that you can soak and enjoy some great mountain views.

There are shower rooms at the pools.

The camping is a bit of a ways (a long walk) from the pools. The campground is really nice with lots of great tall pine trees. There are nice fire pits and tables. No hookups. We always have a pleasant time.

There is some fantastic hiking if you head up the valley with neat little waterfalls. It's a really pleasant place well worth a visit.

There is a pretty good restaurant and a small general store down the road 8 miles or so at Markleevile.

It get's crowded on summer weekends. There is a limit on how many people they let in the pools and on big weekends you will see lines waiting to get in the pools.

I parked overnight in the very large parking lot. There were a few other RVs. It was quiet and I had no problems. The casino was so smokey it was insane. I have never been in such a smokey casino. I couldn't take it so I tried to stay out of it. I don't remember any buffet (I am a fan of casino buffets). There is a nice gas station and convenience store. There is also, on the east side, a large truck stop. I took a walk around the place and enjoyed watching the huge wind turbine spinning. I'm droping Cleanliness lower because of smoke. The air inside the casino is not clean. I would return, but I would avoid going into the casino and use the convenience store instead.

A lot of RVs park here at this casino for multiple days. It was OK. I enjoy eating at Casino Buffets but this casino does not have one. It does have a nice deli / grill where I got a salad to go and that was nice. The parking lot is big and you can do a lot of walking around. There is also a desert area to the west where you can walk a long way with your dog if you wanted. The casino is just up the road from the border crossing to Algodones, Mexico. Lots of folks like to go and park near the board and walk into Algodones to do some cheap shopping and to have dental work done. Prescription drugs are cheap and available in Algodones, so I am told. I don't recall how well Cell worked but I am pretty sure I was able to call home on Verizon.

Just south of the casino lots are open desert areas where lots of RVs where parked and that might be more private.

We drove up Forest Road 665 and discovered a large gravel pit. You can boondock here for free. It has a large fairly flat area and there are some existing fire pits. The road up has some uphills and some curves but should be doable by most vehicles. We did it in a 2wd van.

If it rains a lot then this road might become impossible to drive until it dries out.

One corner of the gravel pit is used as an impromptu shooting range so folks might enter the area to practice shooting. That's not pleasant.

Not sure about cell reception but I seem to recall we had weak verizon 4G signal.

There are other boondock spots much lower on this road coming up.

We enjoyed out stay overnight and would return.