Russian River Thousand Trails

Yes, an oak tree collapsed onto the front of our motorhome during an El Niño storm. The campground is beautiful, no sewer hook ups though.

This is a gorgeous part of California and wine country. The coast is a day trip away. Since the weather was less than desirable we did not recreate in the river.

If a big storm is coming try not to stay here and if you do stay away from the trees. The day after the tree fell on us another tree fell near the main office. We had to make a claim to our insurance for repairs, TT called it an act of God.

Watch our videos to see more.
Coming: https://youtu.be/y1Aws5dB-40
The tree: https://youtu.be/831sJkBRS2k
Leaving and review: https://youtu.be/8Hs8xzaeaJc

The Russian River is a great place to play, swim, or float. I've been coming here for years so when I joined TT and found out that I could stay for free I was super excited. Unfortunately the TT Russian River resort is in Cloverdale, which is not quite as lovely and quirky as some of the other towns the river flows through (Guernville, Healdsburg, Geyersville) and getting to the actual river is a bit of a hike.

Thousand Trails doesn't assign campsites so when you get to the resort you have to drive around and try to find an open site that suits you. This resort is quite hilly and has a lot of obviously permanent residents so we found the process a little awkward.

The sites seem to be mostly level, even though the resort is set in some big rolling hills. Water and electric are available at every site, and a honey wagon will come through twice per week for an extra fee ($25 in July 2016).

The restrooms and showers were clean but the plumbing was pretty slow. Watch out for the yellow jacket nests in the ground outside of the restrooms.

The road to access the river is open to cars, but not open to RVs. Once you've hiked down you will find a lovely beach area and a nice place for swimming The current is very mild here so even small children are typically okay. If you drive a mile or so up the road (outside of the resort) you can put in your tube or kayak and float down to the resort beach, a trip that takes about 90 minutes and has just enough white water to be exciting.

This resort is close to wine country, Cloverdale is a cute little town with music in the park in the summer and some beautiful art installations throughout the town. Wine country is very close by.

Every single person I met that works at this Thousand Trails resort was extremely helpful and friendly. That alone is worth 5 stars!

This campground was a bit of disappointment. The area is undeniably beautiful and it's a short drive to the wineries. The roads and sites in here are very narrow. We warned to not even attempt to take our Class A into an entire loop because it was so steep. After walking the road and seeing all the scrape marks I can see why they warned us.

No sewer connections. No pool or spa but you can float the river in the summer.

Would we camp here again? Maybe.

We are TT members and we are fully aware of how TT works, that they don't assign a spot (you pick one yourself when you get there) and that they tend to be old.

We were looking forward to staying in wine country and seeing the area, though we were out of season, about a month early. We booked our nights on the TT website and headed down there from Klamath Falls, CA.

We arrived later in the afternoon / evening then we normally do and upon entering the ranger at the check in shack mentioned one space he recommends for us and that we would have to come in backwards on the loop to get there. He didn't say anything else about the campground then that (not the fact that it was old, had small spaces and we lightly wouldn't fit).

We went around one loop and the road was in horrible shape, cracked and pitching up from roots in places, etc. and barely wide enough for a full size rig. Most of the spaces were way to short and had very little outdoor space anyways. We didn't like the space he recommend at all, it was tucked up tight to a cabin and had no outdoor space, not even enough to park the truck.

I did find one space, halfway up a very steep hill that was long enough for our rig (35 ft trailer) and had a nice outdoor space. But it was angled the wrong way, I would have to drive up hill past it, go around the upper loop and come down. The upper loop was in horrible shape and was super small, and the apex of the loop was on a hill. I swear that as the truck was coming down the backside of the hill the trailer was still going up the other side, and we scraped some tree branches from an overgrown tree on the inside of the turn. Rigs our size didn't belong up there, but there were no signs warning of that.

Finally I was coming down the steep hill that the site I wanted was on the side of and lined up to back in. Unfortunately the hill is VERY steep and our trailer is VERY heavy (16k lbs). My truck is old ('01) and just didn't have the juice to push that much weight uphill while in reverse. We finally abandoned the spot and decided to leave the park.

I stopped by the restrooms on the way out to use them and they were dirty.

If you are camping for the weekend in a small MH, or with a small trailer (under 25ft in length) this would be a fun campground to visit. It is on the Russian River and is a beautiful setting. But if you have a larger trailer I wouldn't attempt it, and don't count on TT to give you a heads up, even though you have to put your rig length into their site when you book.

[Actual attempted stay was 02/27/16]

This place is nestled on the side of the Russian River with many lots that don't have a lot of flat spaces for picnicking and outdoor sitting. Some lots are difficult to back your trailer in and not a lot of space to park your tow vehicle. Roadways are narrow and some moderate hills and inclines. No WIFI at the spaces but the clubhouse has it. Verizon LET coverage is decent. Overall...meh

We stayed here September 2018. Most kids are back in school, we were there for the weekend. The river at this time is at a low point. It was fun to explore with our dog. There isn’t WIFI in the actual camping spots but you can get it in the clubhouse or on the clubhouse patio. The staff was very friendly. I wish they had a hot tub or pool, but it’s an old school Park. I imagine when the weather is hot and the river raging it’s a great place to cool off. You cannot have a campfire, many parts of California have this rule. The shower was nice. The pressure and temperature was just right. The bathrooms were always clean. I actually wondered if anyone used them because the seats were up as if just cleaned. It was a good time to unwind. We had a light rain. The park was quiet. I enjoyed the time being disconnected with my spouse. We have a class B so any spot fits for us and we even pushed that by parking sideways because we can and that allowed us the view we wanted.

We stayed for two weeks as part of our Thousand Trails camping pass. I can't believe how fast two weeks blew by! This is typical of California oak woodlands. The town of Cloverdale is close by and as of this writing, only accessible via US 101 because of issues on Geyser's road. It adds a couple of miles to the trip from the campground, but no big deal.

The staff here is very friendly and the park is nice and quiet at night. They texted us directions and kept in contact with us as it got late in the day and it looked like we might need late arrival. I can say we were very happy with the service here. We would definitely stay here again. We used it as a jumping off point to explore the coast and the Sonoma wine country. Vineyards everywhere!

Here are links to a couple videos I made while here.
https://youtu.be/xdsxlbExkP4
https://youtu.be/nICgmJg7gfM

We loved our stay at this TT in Cloverdale! Our site was on a hill that gave us a nice size front yard for the kids and dogs to hang. Bathrooms were clean and the showers were hot! Kids enjoyed the playground and riding their bikes throughout the park. Russian River is just a short walk from camp and is beautiful! We stayed here during Easter weekend and we can’t thank the staff for putting together an amazing Easter weekend itinerary! From an egg hunt to Easter breakfast and everything in between! - they truly did such a great job! Big heads up - this park is under new management (about a year) and from conversations I had with other visitors has changed so much! We highly recommend this campground!

We work in NoCal and are part of the TT network so stay here a lot. We are very new to the RV life as we just bought our first camper in August 2019. We have a 40ft Class A. We have made some mistakes that have resulted in damage but this was not the CG fault. It was due to our inexperience driving something this huge. The campground is very hilly and there are some pretty tight turns. We tried to make a turn that was too tight for a 40ft. Class A and ended up dragging the front ?bumper on the curb which cracked it. Now, we always arrive during the day so we get good visibility and we think we can avoid these mishaps going forward. Again, it was not this CG fault in any way, just something to be cautious about. The staff has been very supportive and accommodating. The setting is so beautiful. The Russian River is just a short walk from the CG and one of the main reasons we love this place is we can take our dogs down to the river to run and play. There is a rocky beach at the river. It is surrounded by mountains/hills and kind of protected so taking the dogs down there is great fun and we can use a chuck it to throw balls for them to run. There is a dump station although they've recently had some trouble with it so that it is not always available. But they compensate with a truck service during the week. The park is clean and quiet. We haven't had any trouble getting satellite reception except when it's raining hard with lots of clouds. They have outside internet service available for a charge and offer different levels of speed depending on your needs. I do encrypted video chats as part of my work and have had good results. On the road leading to the entrance(about 1/3 mile away), there are some folks boon docking along the side of the road. This has not been an issue as far as accessing the park and mainly just an issue for the town of Cloverdale. They keep it pretty orderly and don't seem to bother anyone. Overall, we have been very happy with this place and encourage you to give it a try. Don't be afraid of the terrain, just go slow and watch carefully!

One of my favorite TT campgrounds. I was lucky enough to be caught here during the stay-in-place orders, and really glad this was where I stayed.

The grounds are beautiful with access to the river and a huge off-lease area for your dogs. Birds of all kinds greet you in the morning. It is small and hilly, and that’s fine with me.

Best staff at any TT campground, they are hard working, kind, and keep the place in good shape. It makes me upset that TT pays hard working adults minimum wage. They deserve a living wage.

Cellular data is difficult here, but there is WiFi available from Jabba if you need it.

Negatives are some road noise from 101 and distance to shops. There is a very small store and chuck wagon. I’d love it if TT would make deals with food trucks like the Bend park.