Thousand Trails Lake of the Springs Review

Hi Friends,

We wanted to share a quick review of the Thousand Trails preserve called Lake of the Springs, that we visited in May for our anniversary.

Lake of the Springs

We are learning about reviews of rv parks and campgrounds the more we camp and make camping plans. At first we were excited about going to Lake of the Springs for a week to celebrate 32 years of life together. The closer we came to the date, the more we worried that just maybe we had made a wrong move. After first hearing how great it was, we started reading about how run down it is and that it was less than an ideal place to camp.

Well we had a wonderful time and are happy to report back that Lake of the Springs is a beautiful place, well run and well cared for. We joined Thousand Trails and are looking forward to returning to Lake of the Springs and also to try other Thousand Trails preserves in the area.

Lake of the Springs

When we arrived it was pretty warm, about 95 degrees the first day. Our spot was in section G, a very nice loop in a grove of trees that provided a canopy keeping the temperatures down about 10 degrees or so. Sites in this section were mostly water and electric only, but that turned out to be just fine for us.
There are plenty of restroom/shower facilities available in the different loops to more than make up for not having the sewer hook up. Plus there are sewer dumps (free) as you exit the park. They also have a honey wagon service that can come by a couple days a week for a small fee. You sign up for the honey wagon at the general store.

Kayaking on Lake Mildred

We found the showers and restrooms to be clean and very well maintained.  The people that keep the restroom/shower facilities clean need to be paid much more than they make. On more than one occasion we saw where folks had made messes that were just not acceptable in any situation. Oh well some people just don't have any respect for things that don't belong to them.

We used most of the fun facilities that were offered. We tried our hand at pickelball,  rented kayaks twice and played horseshoes. We even played a little basketball. We still could have tried shuffleboard but ran short on time.  Walking around the preserve is easy with nice walkways and a posted 5 mph speed limit that is very strictly enforced.  We really were worn out by the end of our stay.

Lake of the Springs Map

Evenings it was refreshing to relax around the campsite to talk with friends and bbq. Our campsite had a picnic table and bbq to use. Then we capped of a great day with smores. The nights were amazingly dark. We don't live in a very light polluted area at home, but man was it dark at night. What a treat.

As far as where to stay ... there are so many choices. If you have to have cell phone and satellite
service, section "I" is your best bet. It has fewer trees but makes up for that by having beautiful valley views.
Section "X" is for Thousand Trails members and is an all hook up area near the pool. It was nice up behind the general store. We noticed some park models and yurts up there to rent as well.
"D" loop had pretty views of the valley but seemed to be pretty full of
seasonal or annual sites. Nice units and well cared for more like a community of annual rv'ers that live at the preserve.

From what we could tell "B" loop was mostly big rigs. Some pull thru sites in there and  bit more sun than the other sections. Probably pretty good satellite reception here too as we saw plenty of dishes scattered around.

Lake of the Springs Map

Loop "A" looked nice, more in the trees again. These spots looked busy on the weekend but empty as could be during the week. There were some deer that seemed to hang out down in "A" just about every time we past buy. Section "H" was still closed so we didn't get to check it out. It looked to be higher on the hill so it may have been more of a sunny spot.
When we were doing our planning, we could not find a park map anywhere, so we have scanned the park map and included it here.

We need to add that there is a great little general store on the property that has soft serve ice cream (yum) and just about anything you will need during the weekend. That is also where you borrow the basketballs and other sports equipment. They have a really nice club house that serves meals on the weekends and holds special events during the week. We didn't go in but it looked very nice from the outside.

If we missed anything please drop us a note and we will be glad to answer any questions you might have. Lake of the Springs really turned out to be a beautiful and fun place to camp and we are planning our return in a couple months.

Happy Camping,

Don & Bremda

Our Oroville Adventure

Hi Friends,

What a trip!

With Summer turning into Fall, and our camping adventures quickly running out of days to explore before Winter hibernation, we headed West to the annual family reunion.  This year the family was gathering in Magalia, California in the Northern part of the state. We searched all the usual sites for a nice place to park our trailer for the weekend and decided we would stay in Oroville.

Space #37

As this was our first stay longer than just one night in the camper, we were really looking forward to spending the weekend relaxing and enjoying all that our little trailer had to offer. Actually it was 4 days and 3 nights by the Feather River at the River Reflections RV Resort and Campground. We really picked the perfect rv park for this trip. The River Reflections RV Park was beautiful and very park like. Lots of trees and grass and the wonderful Feather River made all the hopes we had for a perfect trip come true. Even a neat little fire pit was provided so we could make s'mores and toast marshmallows.

The first evening we walked the 100' or so down to the river to get the stress reduction weekend under way.  Right away we were taken by the huge salmon swimming right next to the shore. They were beautiful and we totally enjoyed sitting and watching them swim right next to where we were standing. The rv park is beautifully cared for and is nature at it's best. We wondered and chatted and then came back to the shore to watch the sunset that evening. Beautiful!

On Saturday we joined the rest of the clan in Magalia for the family festivities. After a slow start on our part,  and a full day of family fun, we made it back to the campground just after sunset. Oh well we still managed to make some s'mores and roasted marshmallows and got to spend some time connecting with some good conversation.
Brenda makes an awesome campfire and there is something completely magical about conversations around a good warm fire.

On Sunday we decided to explore some fun spots around Paradise. I lived around Paradise until about

1970, so it was like going back home again. I was really surprised at the amount of local lore and streets that I still held in my memory. Navigation was a breeze and we enjoyed the adventure. We made it to Noble Orchards, a family owned apple orchard that has been in Paradise since 1929. It was really cool and we bought some fresh off the tree apples and some apple butter, yum!
Then we drove over to Billie Park and explored a bit. I wanted to take in the view of the canyon I remembered from childhood. I can still clearly remember Grandma taking us on a short walk to see the beautiful canyon. It is commonly called the Little Grand Canyon because of it's size and beauty. It was a little testing of Brenda's fears as all over the park were posted signs warning of a mountain lion in the area. We didn't see any but Brenda was on the lookout just in case.

We stopped at Foster Freeze on the way out of town. Again this was a place I remember eating at when I was a kid and it still pretty much is the same place, with a couple changes. It was delicious and fun to spend a few minutes here before we left town.
I did manage to find a place to buy a Paradise t-shirt before we left. We stopped at the Golden Nugget Museum to see if they had any for sale or if they could recommend a store to buy shirts and other goodies.  This is a small town and it deserves one of those small town/World stories. I started chatting with the nice folks at the museum and well one thing led to another and... As it turns out the one guy that was working at the museum once worked as postman in our little valley here in Nevada. He knew all the folks that we see most all the time and wanted to know how they were doing and how Washoe Valley looked now. He left the valley to retire in Paradise, and where I had left Paradise to live in Washoe Valley it made for a nice conversation. It is really a small World.
Brenda made a nice dinner on Sunday night, and again we finished the day with a sunset and s'mores.

Monday was time for us to head back to Nevada. Brenda decided that we should take highway 70 back as she really didn't remember going that way during the day before. It was a wonderful colorful trip. Thanks to the Fall leaves popping all over the Feather River canyon, it was both beautiful and refreshing to travel down this road again.

All in all our first multi day adventure was a huge success and we are looking forward to more travels that will both refresh our spirits and take the stress of life away.

See you in the campground...

Don