Glamping near Forest Ranch, CA

Glamping Reviews near Forest Ranch, CA

107 Reviews of 22 Forest Ranch Campgrounds

• 

  Gina C.

  Traveler

  Jul. 26, 2019

  Lake Francis Resort

  Fun cabin rental

  Some of my family has camped here in the past at one of the tent sites. We decided this time around to reserve one of their cabins. We stayed at the Diamond P cabin which has the best view of the lake within this group of cabins. You can walk to the lake (it’s about 100 yards) from this location. Though it does fill up fast (by 11am it was pretty full). They have a large portable toilet there for use. We spent our time at the pool which is near the flushable toilets and the ice cream parlor, restaurant, and camp store. The pool goes from 3.5’ ft to 5’ back to 3.5’ ft.

  The cabin was great. Two bedrooms, each with twin bunk beds and a full bottom bunk and twin above. Small bathroom with shower, mini fridge, hot plates, microwave, and dishes. Dining table and futon in the living area. Nice wide front porch to sit on and enjoy the view, communal tables and bbq for all the cabins. This unit also had a swamp cooler to help manage the heat.

  Check in is 4pm and check out is 11am. There is also a small game room with a pool table, a baseball field, paddle boats, and kayaks to rent.

  The down side is how quickly the easiest access to the lake fills up. Everyone has to drive over from the tent RV site to access the water. There are other places you can drive and park to get to the water, but there it a drop off into the water from there vs a gradual walk in.

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• 

  Kurt T.

  Traveler

  Jun. 24, 2024

  Almanor

  North is open, South is closed for Summer 2024

  North is open, South is closed for Summer 2024.

  It took some digging on this information as the USFS website is wrong.  

  I camp here on the South campground at least once every year.  For the 2024 season, they CLOSED it at the last second.  

  The North campground is OPEN, but you cannot reserve it.  First Come First Served (FCFS).

  Boat ramp is at the North campground, but if you just have a paddleboard or kayak, you can just walk to the water by just waking down the road and launch at the edge of the lake.  

  There is a General Store within walking distance and restaurant/bar right on the lake too.  I highly advise reservations for dinner on the deck.

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• C

  Christian R.

  Guide

  Jun. 19, 2026

  Manzanita Lake Camping Cabins — Lassen Volcanic National Park

  Very Cozy

  We arrived very late our first night, but it was very easy to get into our cabin using the code that was emailed to us when we booked the reservation. Due to weird bookings, we had to book 2 different cabins so we got to experience 9 and 16, each of which had a heaters, which is nice for the cold nights. Despite the campground being nearly full, we got great sleep both nights and everything was quiet after 10PM. There are multiple water pumps, vaults, toilet bathrooms, and bear trash cans, each of which are maintained very well. The campground is also not too far from the museum and visitor center which have Wi-Fi. You also have a campground store that is walking distance fro the campground, but is unreasonably expensive. A bundle of firewood was somewhere around $14, and this is where the showers are which were like $5 per person. They also have gas pumps, but neither of them were in service. Aside from all this, sites themselves were amazing, and you are very close to the Manzanita Lake, which is bigger than I expected and seems to be very popular for fishing.

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• D

  Darin D.

  Legend

  Jun. 14, 2018

  Silver Bowl Campground

  Ranger Review: Midland Radio X-Talker Extreme Dual Pack at Silver Bowl Camp

  Silver Bowl campground is located in the Caribou Wilderness of Lassen National Forest outside of Lassen National Park. It is about 35 miles from Susanville and 30 miles from Chester. The last 6 miles of which will be on some pretty rough road, especially early in the season. There are cabins around Silver Lake and people tow boats up for the summer, so I'm sure as the season goes on the road gets easier. Chester is a great place to go for supplies, the Holiday food market has a everything you would need. Best to fill up on gas there too if you decide you want to explore the area.

  Campground Review: Even though the FS website https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/lassen/recarea/?recid=11368 said it was open, the campground was not yet open for the season on May 26. In big snow years, it may not open until July. The adjacent Rocky Knoll campground had a gate and was closed. There are private cabins encircling Silver Lake, which is a short walk from the Silver Bowl campground, which I assume is why it had no gate. The information board was blank, and there was no payment envelopes ($12 a night during the season). Off to a rocky start to our Memorial Day weekend, we decided to make a loop of the campsite anyway. There was one other person there, in a camper who was there to fish. We jumped out to see if the bathroom was open, and thankfully one of the vault toilets was open. We decided we would stay for the night, since we were already here. So glad we made that decision, as we ended up staying three nights and it turned out to be a fantastic campground with lots of things to do during the day. Most of the sites are enormous. Site 8, where we stayed, could have easily been a 40 person group site and not felt crowded. There is a well pump for drinking water, however the pump arm wasn't on the well since the campground was closed. The Susan river is nearby for water if you have a water filer (which we did). There is trout fishing in the lakes close by, the Caribou Trailhead is close to the camp, which leads you into the Caribou Wilderness for backpacking or day hikes, and there is a network of fire/logging roads that you can use to explore other parts of the Caribou Wilderness. Dispersed camping is also allowed in the area, so if you drive up and the campgrounds are full, you are free to find a place to camp. You would need a campfire permit to operate stoves or have fires if you are dispersed camping, so check with the local ranger district for that. I would highly recommend this campground. Bring a fishing pole, a kayak to put on the lake, a hammock to put up in the trees surrounding the campsites, hiking shoes, or just do nothing. You can't really go wrong at Silver Bowl campground. 5 stars all the way.

  Product Review: As a Ranger for The Dyrt, I get to test products from time to time. At Silver Bowl campground, I tested the Midland Radio X-Talker Extreme Dual Pack - https://midlandusa.com/product/x-talker-t77vp5/ - aside from a couple issues, which I will detail later, they worked great. The radios come self contained in a hard plastic carrying case, with all the accessories included. I will let the Midland website above go into more details and technical specs for anyone interested. On to the review.

  When hiking in remote areas without cell service, or wandering around lakes fishing, it is a good idea to have some type of communication in case an emergency arises, or you just want to keep in contact with others in your group. These radios do exactly that. I took one with me, and left the other in camp with my girlfriend, and was able to communicate with her easily. Before going, I had familiarized myself with the radios and there various abilities. There are 36 channels, security codes to keep communication private in high use areas, high/low power settings to extend batter life, an NOAA weather alert mode that scans 10 channels and provides weather alerts and updates for your area. The radios have very clear, crisp sound. I didn't get out of range once, probably about 3-4 miles apart at most on various hikes or while fishing. I charged them up before leaving and with light use on the high power setting over 3 days, the battery was still showing two bars. the included hands free headsets worked great. A wireless option would be nice, however that would increase the cost, and for ~ $100 retail, they offer great value. These would be great to use hunting, boating, off-roading, at festivals, etc. They served every purpose I needed them to on this trip, with two exceptions:

  • The NOAA channels didn't work at the campsite, which is likely a function of where we were located. They have worked every time I used them before, and since. The remote location made it so the radios couldn't receive the signal from the NOAA stations. But, being in a remote location in the mountains is the exact spot I would need the weather alerts the most. Around town or places with cell reception, most of us would just default to checking weather on our phones. That is a big downside in my eyes.
  • The advertised reception of 38 miles must only be able to be accomplished in a dead flat desert with no trees, or on open ocean. I tested them around town at various distances and without direct line of sight, the best I was able to get out of them was 10-12 miles. I know that trees, buildings, hills, valleys, all affect the line of sight and account for the lower numbers, but to me this is an under-promise/over-deliver situation where I would stay on the more conservative side of the mileage range and if people get more out of it, it is a pleasant surprise.

  Overall the range is a small nitpick and I won't downgrade them too bad for that, however the lack of access to the NOAA weather alert stations in remote areas is a big issue for me. I would give them 3.75 stars. They worked great, feel like they will hold up well over time, and come in a case that holds all the accessories needed, so all you have to do it toss them in the car and not worry about forgetting chargers, ear pieces, etc. They will be a fixture in our camping gear going forward.

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• P

  Petar M.

  Scout

  May. 18, 2021

  Gansner Bar Campground

  Nice place

  A sweet little campground located right on the Feather River. Clean facilities, fun fishing. Sites are spacious and include covered picnic bench and fire pit. NO HOOKUPS. Dumpsite 2 miles up the road.

• 

  James W.

  Guide

  Jul. 23, 2025

  The Parkway RV Resort & Campground

  Great Place to stop on I-5

  We needed a place to camp for the night, and Parkway was in the right location.  We booked through the Dyrt, but the campground's booking site was almost as easy.  We needed to move our reservation to one night earlier, and the camp staff graciously made it happen.  When we arrived, the sites were clean and orderly, and there was actually grass and level parking spots.  The full hookups worked great and it turned out to be just what we needed.  We also found a local panaderia for breakfast pastries that were delicious.  This was exactly what we needed.

• E

  Eric P.

  Scout

  Jun. 23, 2020

  Thousand Trails Lake of the Springs

  Glad to get out in 2020

  We were just happy to get out and camping. It’s definitely a place I’ll put on my list to camp at again, especially when they figure out their electrical issues. From what I could tell when driving around the majority of the sites were level; we had 4 spots and all were easy to back in.

  Some Pros - the market was well stocked; majority of the staff were very helpful; campsites on the outer rings had shrubbery for site separation and inner rings are great for groups; showers were close and they had hot water; kids loved fishing from the shore; quiet at night; deer had no problem hanging out with us as we had our meals.

  Some Cons - I’m not really a fan of “first come first serve”, it makes it hard when group camping; there wasn’t a single day when some campsite didn’t have electrical issues, in fact they turned a lot of their RV sites into Tent Sites because of electrical issues; no wood fires, propane is okay; at no fault to the site/staff, and all due to Covid precautions, there was no playground, boat rentals, etcetera.

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• 

  Sharon B.

  Scout

  Jul. 17, 2024

  Collins Lake Recreation Area

  Lakeside

  *pros: great little market, very nice staff, clean, great views *cons: rocky watch your step, especially at the beach and a long the shore. Recommend water shoes, although this may only help a little as the rocks are quite large and when can trip over them as much as step on them. they are not round river rocks, but pointy and painful to traverse. *my stay: I was only here for two nights and on the second morning some people pulled in and pitched a tent at 4:30 in the morning. They weren’t particularly loud, but they did curse and had their flashlight bright enough that it shone into my site and RV. Overall, it was still a very pleasant stay for the two nights.

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• 

  Gilad S.

  Traveler

  Sep. 27, 2022

  Plumas Pines Resort

  Great location for beginners

  As a beginner RV-er/camper this site was great. Great staff, easy to get to and find your spot, and convenient spots with decks and hookups. 

  The neighbors were also awesome, and helped us with questions and guidance.

  Lots of RV's but didn't feel crowded at all, as most of them were not there(seasonal spots).

  The marina and rental folks were super friendly, helpful and accommodating. we rented a boat for fishing, and the guys slowly explained and guided us (yes... first time fishing as well). 

  So much to do around - hiking, water sports, geo-caching, and stargazing (when you roam a bit outside the lights of the camp).

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