Ponderosa Resort

This was our first visit to Ponderosa. We are Thousand Trails members and didn't pay a nightly fee. Camped in section D in mid February with two other couples. Campsites were nice and roomy but only had water and electric. No bathroom in our section which also had a tent area. Seems a bit inconvenient especially for tent campers. Spent a lot of time exploring the area and visiting a few breweries. Planning to come back in warmer weather and try the river for some rafting.
No AT&T service in the park or surrounding area.

This place is awful. From the start it was bad. When I first arrived, a young man who could have been my son sashayed by me like he was on the prowl. What?

The site was full of dog feces. I complained to the front desk and was told that "was an owner issue." Translation: Owners must clean up their sites. If not, the next owner must clean up the site or sit in the filth. Even asking to borrow a shovel to remove the feces seemed to be asking too much of the maintenance staff.

Those 140 spaces are all jammed together in a small location surrounded by cliffs. Everybody and their brother brings big dogs, and some of them are on leashes.

There is no cell reception. Wifi is okay mostly right up at the clubhouse.

There is a nightclub or some place where live music is played nearby, so there can be music until late at night that is loud. Remarkably, it is pretty quiet there otherwise.

One night, I went to the bathroom and returned to find a man and a very large greyhound right beside my campsite (located on the edge of everything). As I approached my truck, he said his dog didn't like people he did not know.

The final straw was when three men with two dogs began to harass my cat and I. One of the men kept letting his dog get near my cat and then pull the dog back by his leash. They were making no effort to try to avoid my cat. It was also clear their intent was intimidation.

It seems the three men are regulars. I called the police and was so frightened (after complaining about the dogs, the weird "Romeo," and the filth and getting nowhere). The staff told me that they normally evict people who call the police without warning them. They did nothing to the men and told me that my cat was "enticing" the dogs. They said she would either have to be on a leash or in the truck at all times. On a leash would have left her as mincemeat for all of the dogs. It was too hot there to leave her in the truck and cruel.

We left, and I will never return to such a sick place. Women and families should stay away. This is a cheap (by virtue of the Thousand Trail pass) thug haven where everyone is jammed together.

This used to be one of the best camping areas in the Coloma valley. They have since went to a membership only resort. This resort is first come first serve and the sites are no longer well maintained. You will have to deal will live in residents. Many of these residents live here year round. They move from spot to spot to gain a better spot to live.

This is not the resort it used to be.... It is a shame and very run down. Access is not easy. Hope this helps... good luck and hopefully they improve this resort.

Used my TT membership to stay here 21 days. Most memorable is the amount of dust kicked up daily. First I was up on the hill near the highway. Was an OK site I guess but marginal satellite signal due to trees. CG does have a handful of FHU site but good luck snagging one of them as they are small and seems taken by seasonal/annuals. Honey wagon is $25. The river spots here are pretty much where you want to be. I was there during June and the snow melt was still pretty high so the river and rapids were good. Later in my stay the dam up river clearly limited the flow and the river probably went down by 4 feet. Up on the hill was able to snag a signal on ATT (barely) with a MIMO antenna. Down by the river was much more difficult for cell internet but I was able to Again even by the river satellite was difficult based on trees.
Checkin was uneventful although they could not help and say if they had any FHU sites, river sites or somewhere good for satellite - so driving around I was able to determine myself.
After 7 days without sewer I decided to move to a river spot (on a Monday after a couple spots opened up) and in the process visited the dump station. A note about the dump station. It is on a hill leaning down. So, to really empty your tanks you need to use your levelers. To get level my front tires were off the ground a few inches.
Nearby is the state park where gold was first found. A nice day. The pizza place across the street was also nice and convenient as was the bakery/coffee shop (albeit that closes early at like 430). Shopping for food is a good 30+ minutes away. Expect curvy very thin mountain roads and crazy California resident to want to go faster than the speed limit.

I guess we prefer dry camping in campgrounds because this whole crammed together with the view of another RV out our front window wasn't our cup of tea.

But the beach on the American River was fun for the kiddos and the free hot showers were certainly welcomed. Staff are friendly, water and electric hookups worked. No sewer hookups for the majority of their sites. It's hot, so black tank smell is all over the place. The clubhouse has free internet and no one is in there, so a decent place to work. Also the cafe (Sierra Rizing) across the street has great baked goods and free WiFi.

Super easy check-in and we lucked into finding back-in full hookup site #B5. Great tree shade and relatively level. Our only minor complaint was that the sewer hookup was really far away so I had to use 2 hoses. This park is located on the south fork of the American river, which makes it great for river rafting. We met 2 guides during our 1 week stay so it is definitely big business in the area. Section H sites are next to the river. They are full hookup 50 amp and cost an extra $5.00 per day. Good luck finding one though as they are quite popular. We ordered a priority mail package and it arrived with no issues. Pool is small and it is overrun with loud children at all hours. Staff members Ron and Jeannette were really kind and helpful. Jeannette went out of her way to tell us about local places of interest. Bathrooms and showers are located inside small mobile home-looking structures. They were new and very clean. Sadly we couldn't program any over-the-air TV channels. My AT&T phone had 2 bars and my wife's Verizon phone had 3 bars. Paid for 1 day of campground wifi and it was blazingly fast. All types of recycling are available.

Very dirty and sandy. Crammed sites with no privacy. Difficult to manuever around. Worst campsite ever and we have traveled for months across the US. Stay away from this terrible site.

Sarah & Stormy!!! These Ladies were Amazing! Thank You! We had true American River/Gold Country experience. We stayed in cabin #1.
The previous reviews are not close to accurate.
When one camps, it is a laid-back atmosphere the staff always had a smile on their face and a willingness to help more. We stayed for a week and it was so much fun! We found little waterfalls, Trails, blackberries, calm water, rapid water, & super cool people. The state park was nearby. It was a really cool experience. The visitors center there is mindblowingly cooool!! I feel like it is a Hidden Gem the gift shop nearby was probably one of the coolest gift shops I ever saw also and very affordable I love the blacksmith whom you learn about a railroad ring its cute!!! The rings cost a dollar in the gift shop.
I would say beware of the $10 per kid gold panning.
This Ponderosa TT park offers free gold pans to check out (state park gift shop nearby has free life jacket borrowing, 6$ gold pans, 1$glass vials).. a lot of people bring something to float on and tie it off, a lot of other people enjoy the White Water rafting. The water is higher in the afternoon. My biggest con was the cabin was not wired with the proper wattage. If you want to use the microwave you are not allowed to use the air conditioner which is difficult preparing dinner for five little boys while it's 103 outside. They should really take a look at that!! I have not had this issue at other Thousand Trails cabins.

I saved the best for last the two employees name Stormy and Sarah, the staff were Beyond accommodating friendly and just generally really great humans!! They made us feel like we were their favorite. We cannot wait to come back again we left this campsite feeling like we made some new best friends, great family memories, and a breath of fresh air away from all the noise of the city.