Best RV Parks & Resorts near Colusa, CA

If I could give zero stars, I would. Thousand Trails Lake Minden is very rundown. Immediately upon arrival at this so-called "resort," you can see the neglect from the outset. Their main sign is faded and sunburned, looking like it’s from 1970. The roads are riddled with potholes, none of which are paved. It’s clear the maintenance of this property has been ignored for years.

The "resort" advertises full hookups, but the reality is they have about 20 full hookup sites that can’t accommodate RVs over 35 feet. My 40-foot RV doesn’t fit, so I’m forced to drive around the lake to the non-hookup section, which only has water and power. To dump your tanks, you have to make trips to the dump station—hardly convenient for a place claiming to be a resort.

I paid $10,000 for a lifetime membership that allows me to stay at Thousand Trails properties for 21 days at a time. My mistake was not visiting any of their locations before making this purchase. I strongly urge anyone considering a Thousand Trails membership to visit several of their properties first—it will likely change your mind. Lake Minden is no better than other Thousand Trails locations, and in fact, I’d rank it among the worst.

As a full-time RVer, I’m stuck here for the 21-day maximum, and once that’s up, I’m forced to relocate two hours away to their next nearest property, Ponderosa. I’ll review that location when I arrive, but I don’t have high expectations.

What’s most frustrating is the blatant contradiction between their claims and reality. They require age-appropriate RVs for members, yet I’m parked next to a 20-year-old RV with a blue tarp on the roof. The facility is so poorly maintained it’s a stretch to even call it a campground, let alone a resort.

My regret for buying a Thousand Trails lifetime membership is astronomical. If I knew then what I know now, I would never have spent a dime. Thousand Trails should be ashamed to call themselves a resort. Lake Minden, like many of their properties, is nothing more than a run-down trailer park.

Long drive on a narrow bumpy levy road to find a full time trailer park. NOT A RV RESORT!

Friendly staff. Super clean and well kept property from the grounds to the toilets.
Pull through and full hook up.

A bit out in middle of no where! But once inside park it’s really nice if you can get a full hook up spot.... those are limited! Has pool and breakfast on weekends. They rent pontoons and paddle boats.... has a beach area too! Watch out for meat bees... need a screen room to eat outside... they come out of nowhere😬

Cute but older and I mean really old RV camp on what's called a creek. I was told I could pick any Lakefront campsite but this is not the lake! They have a nice small pool and showers are included in the cost and there are full hookups available. Three Yurts available for rent. They offer kayak rentals and have plenty of boat ramps for guests but I didn't want to go into this nasty water, And I brought my own inflatable kayak. Decent for the price if you can't find anything on the lake itself but not what it is cut out to be.

Will update review after I stay. Owners were very nice while booking. I called to confirm availability as sometimes sites online don’t match what’s really available. She told me everything I would need to know. And made sure to take my name so she could see it as soon as it came in. It’s a RV park , campsite, restaurant and bar on the river. Update : Loved this place. Is exactly as described. It’s a lovely meadow next to an RV park. Perfect little trail that lead right to a beach on the river !!!

Overall the campsite was great and well maintained. The sites are mostly level but RV parking is *tight*. While the space was long enough for our 35 ft trailer and truck the pad was narrow and there are a lot of rocks to maneuver around. We were barely able to open our slide and drop the stairs due to the amount of large rocks on each side of the pad - it took a bit of maneuvering but we managed.

Lake access is nonexistent from the campground but is a 2-3 minute drive to the dock. We do not have a boat but brought out paddleboards and kayaks to explore. The ramp access is often crowded and there is little to no beach area around the boat ramp. The water level is really low but warm and overall very nice once you can access the water. 

We ended up leaving a day early from our trip for various reasons but overall a nice place to camp.

I have stayed here several times as a waypoint on my travels between California to Washington.  It is a nice safe quiet park that has many pull through spaces for RVs spending the night.  I have used their website to reserve a space and then pick up the paperwork outside the door of their office.  so far I haven’t met any of the owners or staff but all the hook ups work and I believe they have Wi-Fi as well. 

Green & leafy campground right on the Sacramento River! Full hookups (30 amp), with very clean bathhouse and a community lodge available during the day and also picnic and grill area. There's also a fish cleaning station and a seasonal fishing dock and water access to a small beach for dipping your toes in. If you like to walk, there's access to the wildlife refuge and the county river park, both next door. Lovely and Serene!

If you are looking for a small campground with full hookups, on the lake, close to Table Mountain and Feather Falls, this is for you. We picked this campground for its location, but got so much more. The campsites aren’t huge or very level, but the fact that it has full hookups for $45/night, is small, and on the lake made up for that fact. We don’t have small children, but think it would be a great place since there wasn’t a lot of traffic driving through the campground. A couple of downsides were that the water in the lake was very low and the showers are token operated. Tokens can be purchased from a machine outside the shower house, but it only takes bills (no coins), so have your ones and fives ready. Table mountain was in n full bloom in April and we enjoyed Kayaking on Thermaliro Forbay. Feather Falls was closed due to fire damage.

The Aurora RV Park & Marina is a work in progress. I can see what they want to make this campground into, but the reality of what it’s currently status is makes it difficult to stay there. I did get to try a couple of the different blends of Nature’s Coffee Kettle while I was there. Unfortunately I did have to cut my trip short as there was a mandatory evacuation order put into place due to wild fires.

Campground Review

First off this park is designed for RV use, but the owners have converted a few spaces for tent camping. During my visit I stayed in a tent. I booked the site through booking.com and paid $22.00 a night.

The Good

Each site has its own water sipget and two electrical outlets that work well. There was plenty of space at the site to setup two 4-person tents. The site is at the North end of Clearlake and you have some pretty spectacular views all day long. There is a beautiful public BBQ sitting area right next to the private beach. You can use the canoes, kayaks, or paddle boat all free of charge and they provide life jackets. There park does provide WiFi at no additional cost and it worked reasonably well. The mangers there are very friendly and approachable. They checked on me multiple times to make sure everything was okay.

The Bad

At the time of my visit the campground was undergoing renovations. The office area where the bathrooms/showers, laundry room, and community lounge were all at some stage of construction. THe bathrooms were clean, but only one shower and toilet worked. There was no mirror in the bathroom during my stay. I could not for the life of me get the shower to spray warm water at all so I had a week of cold showers, which wasn’t too bad given how hot it was. I did report this to the mangers, but the issue never got resolved. For tent camping the site were too close together and no picnic table was provided at the space I was at. If I had booked through AirB&B I would have been in a different area that had a picnic table.

Product Review

As a Ranger for The Dyrt, I get to test products in the field. At The Aurora RV Park & Marina, I tested two different blends of Nature’s Coffee Kettle. I tried the Colombian and Sumatra blend. Overall I would give this product a 4 out a 5 stars.

What I liked about camping with the Nature’s Coffee Kettle:

• Portable and easy to pack. It takes almost no space at all as it is completely flat when empty.
• Easy to make. Boil water and pour into the kettle and wait. That’s it!
• Easy to clean. Once you’ve had your coffee take out the coffee pod and dispose of it. Rinse out the kettle and your done.
• The kettle is reusable! You can re-order new pods and keep using the kettle
• Many different things you can brew. Currently they have variety of coffee blends and tea blends. They also have Hot Chocolate, but that comes in its own kettle.
• Some of the best coffee I have had while camping. The coffee was really good! Way batter than my normal percolated stuff.

THings to be aware of

• You have to be really careful when pouting the boiling water into the kettle. It is easy to still some of that water on yourself (I did this).
• The pouch is not insulated so if you want to drink hot/warm coffee you got to drink quickly.

Good Points: Pull through sites. Nice dog walking/ park area, cheap laundry, pool looked good, right on a river, close'ish to shopping that you may need, we got a PW(power/ water) site that was$20 cheaper a night than full hookup. Only stayed two nights while traveling through and there is a RV dump there, so easy enough. Showers and toilets were very nice. Not so good, but not too bad. Yes, we did end up by the Maverick Truck Stop side of the park, but the noise was not too bad. Expensive$$$ Is it just California? Yep, everything is very expensive in old CA. Bottom line: Check the prices. If staying for a night or two on your travels probably OK. Looking for a place to winter over- Not here.