Pio Pico Thousand Trails

We are big fans of Southern California and love to stay at Pio Pico. Thousand Trails can be a hit or miss. This one can be a bit behind on the maintenance and it looks like it was an amazing top notch park in it's prime, but the staff has been very helpful and kind and we have made some great friends while staying here. The pools are fun to swim at. The adult pool is in better condition than the family pool but like I said both are fun. We had a lot of rain come through and we were trapped in the park for a few days. We just enjoyed spending time with friends, and the time in the park. If you want to get a feel for the park and see some of the flooding you can see it here https://youtu.be/iuAHLMkBqTU

We found this was a really good park to get close to San Diego if you have a Thousand Trails membership since so many parks in the city are very expensive. We were able to get to most places to the city in 30-45 minutes and we think it was worth the distance for the savings.

The park is about half 30amp power and water and half full hookups with some 30 and some 50 amp power and spots are first come first served. We came during a busy time and ended up on the North side without sewer but just 2 days later we did the "crossover" program and were able to move to the South side and got sewer. We were lucky and got 50amp power and our in-laws staying there got 30amp power.

The staff here was always very friendly to me when we needed to modify reservations, move spots, use a phone late at night, etc. If you have visitors come and visit you, it costs $10 per car per day, so just be prepared for that.

Wifi service worked surprisingly well. It is a paid service except in the Activity Center where there is a little free. Even at that, staying for 2 weeks, we got the higher speed service for just $49 and we think that was okay. NO CELL PHONE SERVICE in the majority of the park. We tested that with ATT and Verizon. Be prepared if you are coming out, that may happen. If you have a newer phone, it may work on "wi-fi calling" which was okay for a little bit of use.

We would definitely stay here again, even at the full price retail sites because of the price beat for other parks in the area. East Chula Vista is not very far away and they have good shops and restaurants.

We stayed a night here because we bungled up our reservations at another place. It was a holiday weekend so we were thrilled that they had an opening. The agent on the phone told me that we had a full hookup site. When we arrived, the front gate advised me that there were no full hookups available and we had to go to the overflow area across the street. It was just for one night so we didn't worry about it.

They don't assign you a site. You pay and go find one that is open and then let the front gate know. Kind of a messy check-in process. The sites across the street are very crowded and a huge portion of them had water or electrical problems. We pulled into one that wasn't flagged as bad but a helpful neighbor told us that the power was broken and several people had tried it that day. We finally found a site near the entrance that was open.

There are a lot of people who are staying here for extended periods and it shows. The sites are cluttered and the entire place isn't too clean. The bathrooms left a lot to be desired. There was a lot of in-an-out traffic, but that could be attributed, partially anyway, to it being a holiday weekend.

There are kids everywhere and a lot of the parents (this weekend at least) weren't watching them. Literally, they would run into the street with no regard for passing vehicles.

For the price, I expected a bit more. The staff were all very nice but the park definitely needs a lot of attention. It has a lot of potential if some time and money were put back into it.

There is zero cell service - not even with a booster. I paid $3 for a night of wifi. It worked okay but you could tell it was saturated.

All in all, we'd stay here again, though, if nothing else were available.

We stayed here after crossing the border from Tecate, Mexico. It was very close and nice stop over. We stayed in the south section with full hookups. The north section without sewer didn't look as nice. We liked the rolling hills. Cell phone coverage was bad but we got decent coverage behind the adult pool.

I loved the quiet feel to this park, granted, it gets a little noisy on the weekend, but the people are nice, pools are great. I had no trouble getting a full hookup site, and though I had to wait a couple days to get one. Biggest complaint is very little service. BUT I have great news for ATT subscribers: 2-3 bars 4G at the youth center! Had no trouble streaming video and uploading to YouTube.

Free WiFi at the main lodge is a joke. I didn’t buy paid WiFi access, but everyone I asked said it was no better than the free, so buyer beware.

We arrived with a reservation from Thousand Trail only to be told that everyone has to go to the overflow first. They would put our name on the list for the main campground and at 11:30 the next day we could meet at the entrance to see what sites are available. We would then go look at the site and pick one, if someone else picked that spot also and they were higher on the list they would get it. We could then try again the next day. It was so frustrating that our next door neighbor finally left after three attempts. We wanted to visit the surrounding area so 11:30 was right in the middle of the day so we had a hard time making it. Oh and if you missed a day, you had to go them and sign up again and your placed on the bottom of the list. The person at the main entrance apologized over and over many times about this policy. The overflow has water and 30 amp power. Also there are so many permanent residence and their lots are a mess, one was running a business and had several work trucks. Its shame that Thousand Trails never does inspections to keep these campground reasonably nice. We have W/D but without sewer we couldn't use it. But the campground laundry facilities are run by a separate company and they charge $2 just to get their credit card which only take $5 and above, so you end up having money left on the card so they make out like bandits. We will not be going back.

We are Thousand Trails members and this park is a black spot of the network. We arrived and found that our "reservation" did not get us into the park. We were put in their overflow across the street. These sites have no sewer and you are basically on a gravel lot. The overflow is mostly full time residents and not the classy kind. Wifi was expensive. Cell service did not exist even with our booster. We cancelled the rest of our stay and headed elsewhere.

This is actually quite a beautiful park with terrible ratings for one major reason. Everyone who comes to this park regardless of the type of reservation that you have gets put in the overflow section. The overflow section is not terrible but it's pretty bleak with no hot tub, pool or any other form of amenity. There are showers and bathrooms but it's basically a parking lot. Everyone has to stay in the overflow section and then gets put on the list to be transferred to the main Park. The main part is rather nice with two huge pool sections with a total of three pools and two hot tubs. Internet is okay in the main part if you have AT&T but if you're in the overflow section you will get absolutely no coverage of any kind. I have a 25 foot tower with the weBoost on it and still couldn't get coverage in the overflow section. My advice is show up a day early and expected to take a day or two to get to the nice part of the park. Once you're in the nice part of the part you'll be happy. For the price the location is fantastic and if you ride a motorcycle you'll love the switchbacks.

As a TT member we come to Pio Pico a lot because we have two grandkids nearby. This park makes it affordable for us to come visit long term. We do 3 weeks in, 1 week out and repeat for as long as we wish to stay in this area. Sites can vary drastically. There are not a lot of 50 AMP sites. Electric could really use updating throughout! The staff/rangers have always been nice, but would be good if they enforced more rules. So far this visit it seems like people are finally driving slower throughout the park. Not sure how some sites can have a large 5th wheel or trailer + 4 or 5 more cars for multiple days. Unfortunately, the adult pool is NO LONGER an adult pool. There is no set aside adult time either. Kids are allowed in both main pools & all hot tubs! We have met some great people here. Pio Pico could really use a couple nice pickleball courts on the main south side. We are accustomed to the crossover procedures, but luckily when we arrived two weeks ago, they were doing crossover, and were able to drive in and get a great spot that was available. There are a lot of "regulars" who use this park 2 or 3 wks in and one out all year long. Longterm leased or monthly sites on the north side have always seemed a bit more sketchy with some very run down rvs. Noise from within the park has never been issue for us. Border Patrol helicopters can sometimes be annoying, as can the crotch rockets that fly down Otay Lakes Rd during the summer. Drive carefully along Otay Lakes Rd as there are many cyclists on the road and it is quite curvy. People are impatient and pass even though there is a double yellow line!

If you have ever felt like your kids and family where not going to be safe and you knew you were not going to be able to sleep at night. This is how I felt at Thousand Trails Pio Pico. Don’t let the Pictures fool you; Yes, the South side of the camp is a great place to be, I’m Sure. With all the amenities and security of the staff being there. Its possible you will feel safe. But you are not allowed to setup on the south side when you arrive. You have to go to the northside, well from what I can see the northside section H is where most people head to because of this; but, my family and I, where forced into section G, which looked like a rundown trailer park where trailer and RV’s go to die.
If you’re going to stay at Pio Pico you better have a toilet, shower, and be selfsustained aboard your rig. This we were not. We Picked a spot next to the bathroom and next to a nicer looking rig in section G. After setting up our Popup Trailer my son needed to use the restroom. This is where we found out the condition of the restrooms in Trailer Park section G. The showers had not heads, handles, or curtains to take a shower; if one was brave enough to do it in section G, in the first place. Though the bathroom looked clean and where stocked with paper and hand towels, the walls looked old and falling apart. Likewise, the sink looked as if a mechanic washed his oily and grease hands in it every day and cleaning it was not going to be enough.
I have spent my whole youth and tricenarian “Ruffing it” via backpacking, dry camping, and Tent camping. So not taking a shower is not the worst thing in the world. But when the other people around you look like they live their full time and some even looked a little shady. While some are doing drugs, because we could smell it, and come out of there campers spun out and half naked. It takes ruffing it and turns it into a borderline safety issue. As dawn came and we decided that it was not a smart idea to stay here. We started breaking down all of our stuff and packing up the trailer, because it was either head home or find a new camp ground. While in the middle of packing up we over heard the people in the trailer next to us saying “I’m not going to buy that for you, they have it you should have stolen it while you had the chance.” We pulled out of there and we lucked out as we got reservations for another RV park.
As a member of TT and spent my whole childhood with TT, I am appalled that this TT Park has come to this low of standards. As a child we went here a few times and never had anything close to this lack of management. I would not recommend this for anyone whom has children or whom may leave you rig unattended for the day or longer. If it is better in section H I hope they can make changes to the camp grounds to fix and improve section G. My family will not be returning. And I hope no one runs into this at TT.