Best Glamping near Jackson, CA

We stayed here for the night prior to a Hetch Hetchy backpacking trip. We arrived in the dark. We had reserved a site with a small two person tent already set up for us. It was a bit hard to find in the dark, but the camping area is fenced in under an oak grove so eventually we found the stump with our name on it next to the tent. In the future, I think I’ll just bring my own tent and deal with the small hassle of setting it up—the tent provided was fine, but definitely would not have been a good choice if there had been rain. And you could tell it is essentially set up 24/7—some tiny insects living inside etc. The campsites themselves were sufficiently spacious and the host has nice fire pits with fire wood provided for each site, plus picnic tables. Basic portapotties plus some running water for bathrooms. Fellow campers were an interesting mix of folks from all over, though I wish the owner had quiet hours posted and communicated—our immediate tent neighbors sat out chatting and laughing until nearly 1am which was annoying. The coyotes and owls at night were lovely.

I wanted somewhere not too far to go and stay when my 5-6 year-old had 5 days off from school. This was perfect in so many ways.

Positives

- Amenities! I love how everything was themed, from the street names to the signs. Two nice playgrounds, ball courts, pool and hot tub. Watching your kids play red light/green light on the jumping pillow put a smile on every parent's face.

- Seasonal programming (weekends only). For October, we did an outdoor movie, magic pumpkins, costume contest, trick or treating, hay ride, and haunted house. My daughter loved everything except the haunted house, which she said was "too scary!"

- Clean, comfortable facilities. Lots of ways to stay. We car camped and found the hook ups really easy to use. Water, drain, 3 types of electricity, picnic table and firepit at every site. We used their bathrooms and showers and was impressed by how clean they were. Most of the time we had them completely to ourselves and they were even climate controlled.

- Restaurant. I cooked breakfast and lunch most days at the campsite, but for dinner we splashed out at the kid-friendly Waterfront Grille. Friendly staff, good food (lobster and prime rib, yum!), amazing views of the sunset.

Negatives

- Water park was closed. Call ahead to see if it is open when you want to go. I heard that it is never open because of some issue with permits or drought. If so, the promotional video is misleading and I almost deducted a star for this.

- Expensive. For camping, it is expensive, but think of it more as a theme park/resort, than true camping. We saved on the cabin and RV, and spent on the optional activities and the fancy meals.

Bottom line, I would totally go back and stay as long as I could. I hear it is super crowded in the summer, but it would be worth it if the water park is open.

Overall a great place to camp. Good access to the river from many of the sites and in general the river is kid-friendly (during summer). Spots vary in size wildly so larger RV's might not be a good idea. On average I'd say 30' is a max. Pit toilets are serviceable but not the best. The OHV crowd can kind of make a mess of this campground in summer (Loud music after quiet hours, riding ATV's into and out of campground despite rules against it... etc) If I had to pick a best time of year I'd say fall or spring (Open-June 1st)

Best place for groceries near by is Pioneer, CA and if you're looking for someone to cook you breakfast try Cook's Station. Cell reception is ok on AT&T

These were quite decent campgrounds, kind of close together but decent sized sites. We were lucky to have a spot at the dead center of the top of the mountain looking out at the lake (site 13) with a big shade tree. Since we got there on a Saturday night, we were surprised to see that the campsite directly to our left and directly to our right were empty. By Sunday night, every campsite within sight was vacated so we had a lot of freedom to do what we wanted without having to worry about disturbing other people. Deer are fearless & majestic, several “packs” walked through our campsite all throughout Sunday night when everyone else was gone. They walked up to us to smell our campfire & our food (we were making s’mores). There’s a campfire spot, a water source, a picnic table, & a grill set up at each site (for the most part), with trashes nearby. 

The Lake was nice! We went swimming in the swimming area and there were a surprising amount of people there via Covid. We went in the little shop briefly but from what I could tell they had a lot of useful things campers may need varying from firewood, ice, snacks. fast food, alcohol, & camping/fishing supplies. You can have 2 cars at your campsite but we only had one, the second would be an additional charge. You can bring pets but also for a charge. If you have campsites like 1-20 you’ll have to walk clear across the campgrounds to get to the water or make a quick drive down with your party. We just drove which was better for us after having swam. 

Only complaint is the porta-potties. We went from Saturday to Monday & by the end of Sunday there was no more toilet paper, high-piled waste, & when I called to try to inform them to restock the toilet paper no one answered. I brought my own toilet paper so that wasn’t the worst situation but definitely bring some just in case! Master that sumo squat to hover over that thing!