Best Glamping near McKinleyville, CA

We are traveling in a truck bed camper and got one of the last "Mesa" spots up on the hill. This was a nice area where the bigger RVs park, but because of that, there are no bathrooms, so it was a long walk to the new, very clean, bathrooms by the office. It was a VERY long walk to the one shower building, which is in reasonable shape.

There are a lot of campgrounds here, but this seems to be the furthest from the 101. Another CG had a nice view of the river but I would stay here again.

Ps, bring your own firewood... It is crazy expensive, wet, and had thick bark. I joked that it was a "smoke generator", not a fire pit.

We stayed here for half price with the Passport America discount - we paid $25 for a pull through E/ W site (normally$50), and refreshingly there were no taxes or fees added on to the price. We almost didn’t stay here, as on the Passport America site they state that they do not allow certain breeds of dogs, and we generally try to not support places that discriminate against certain breeds, even though our large dog is mixed breed dog who could pass for any number of breeds. But nobody mentioned anything about dogs when we arrived, and we saw no mention of it anywhere on their website or other signage, so we ended up staying. 

It’s one of those run down, but in a comfortable kind of way, places. There’s a cute tree house and cute cabins (tiny), as well as a tent-only area for $30. There’s also a dump station (free for campers), a laundry room, and free showers. The showers were run down but clean. We ended up not using the laundry- they are $2 each for washer and dryer (they take quarters, and there’s no change machine), with a sign saying that your clothes may stain due to the iron in the water, and that you need to shake out the sawdust from your clothes before washing them (I guess a lot of loggers stay here?). Also, the water jug we had filled with their water was full of rusty red residue at the bottom, ick. And that water is what we used to fill our onboard RV tank (and that’s with using a filter). The RV park seems to be mostly long-termers or seasonal campers, it was very quiet and devoid of people when we stayed here after a holiday weekend. 

Staff was very friendly and welcoming. We forgot to ask about wifi, but cell reception was good for Verizon and ATT. The park is nicely situated among the trees with an easy access from the highway, right near the entrance to the Avenue of the Giants. Would stay here again.

 I was so excited to be camping here. I wanted a campsite in Trinidad which would be central to all I wanted to do in the Redwoods. This campground seemed to check all my boxes, plus: CAMPING BY REDWOOD TREES!!! This was the clincher for me. There are a lot of redwood trees in the campground& in the sites.

 My husband wanted to give one star. I'm giving three. It wasn't completely awful. First, divide the campground in two. The Hwy 101 side& the Patrick Point Road side. You don't want the Hwy 101 side. It's noisy. VERY noisy. PPR side is the better bet. There's traffic noise, but not as bad. There's a rustic charm about the campground. It's obviously an established place, but I couldn't find out how old it was. Lots of annoying signs posted all over the place about quiet hours, check out time, speed limit, ect. They sell propane& there's a dump station. They have a camp store/gift shop at the office. The beach is very close, but there's no view of the ocean at this campground. This is one of the few places we camped at that we were allowed to have a campfire. 

The worst thing about the campsites on both sides is how close they are- VERY VERY close& narrow. Sites 2-11 are very tight. We had campsite 9. It would have been acceptable if we weren't camped next to site 10, which is the trashiest campsite I've parked next to. Ever. There were a couple of sheds, wooden pallets for a privacy fence& junk everywhere. Obviously a permanent site. The trailer has been there a LOOONG time. We were there for four nights. It sucked. Best site in the campground is site 20, which is a pull through. Don't get site 9 or 11. Sites 14-17 are right on top of the bathrooms& there's foot traffic there all the time. Also not very attractive& right on top of each other. If you rent a cabin, ask not to get Q. Right on top of the bathrooms. Lots of foot traffic. 

If I had a tent site I'd be in heaven. The tent sites are in a redwood setting. Very rustic& nice. Also spacious. There's cabins also that looked nice. 

There's one bath house in the 101 side. Men& women. The women's side had 3 sinks, 1 out of order. 3 toilets all working. 3 showers, 1 out of order. There's a group of three unisex bathroom/shower combos by the PPD side. All working. It looked clean, but my husband accidently dropped his towel on the floor& I had to wash it. Very dirty.

 Laundry had all machines working.

 It looked like most reviewers liked this place a lot. I think it had some charm, but didn't like how close the RV sites were. 

If you're there for a night or two it would probably be ok.

We stayed here on a Saturday night in mid August and had no problem getting a spot. We paid $28.50 (incl tax) with Passport America for full hookups, so expect to pay double that without the discount. They also offer Good Sam, AAA, and veteran discounts.

Showers were decent. Clean enough, water pressure and temperature were fine. There are only 2 washers and 2 dryers (at $1.50 for wash and $1 for dry) that worked well. The park offers wifi but signal is very weak/ unusable unless you use the wifi offered in the office/community room. There are a few basic (very basic) snack and food items for sale in the office. There is also a pool table available for use. 

Park has dumpsters but no recycle bins. 

Park is right on the Klamath River and is very peaceful and fairly quiet, other that hearing your neighbor’s TV in their RV because the sites are packed so tightly together. We were told by another long time resident that the place isn’t usually this packed and should quiet down at the end of summer. There are tent sites and a group camping area. We were told by the office staff that RVs are welcome to dry camp in the tent area, though we aren’t sure how that would work with fitting an RV in the tent area as the gate was tight. We asked if the RV would be able to dump and fill water and the staff person wasn’t sure and would have to check with owner. 

There is a fire pit set up on a little cozy deck on the water. Office staff was very friendly but park owners seemed not to be. It’s possible that they don’t take kindly to Passport America guests. While walking our dogs out on the main road, two dogs from two properties over came charging out at us, teeth bared, ready to fight. By some miracle our yells and screams were enough to get them to back off. The owner stood there, watching the commotion, and didn’t say a word to us when we were walking past her on our way back to our RV. Just seemed odd. We were also told by another long time resident that this park double booked sites for the July 4th weekend and had to turn people away when they showed up for their reservations. Just something to keep in mind for this place. 

Propane for sale here at $2.80/gal.  

Good cell reception with ATT and Verizon and weak TMobile.

We stayed for one night as we were passing thru from Oregon to Central California.

Pros

• No cell service
• In the trees, very secluded
• Flush potties.
• Nice swimming hole, the water was warm in mid June. This seems to be the primary attraction for this area. Most of the families were gathered along the shore and playing in the water.
• Hiking straight out of the camp ground. But, it is a very steep trail, so make sure you bring a walking stick(s) and wear proper gear. This is also a heavy bear area, so pack your bear spray.
• Best for tent or car camping.
• Nice fire pits, wood for sale at office
• Fantastic place for kids… so many families with young children.
• The camp host and other campers were really friendly.

Cons

• Close to the road, we heard vehicles all night. We were in a hard sided camper two rows away from the road and could hear them inside. It’s got to be really loud for people closer and in tents.
• Tight spots and everyone is packed closely together (Check out the video).
• No electric, site water, dumping, or showers.
• Not suited for most RVs and travel trailers, you need to be very small and fully self contained. Our 19’ A-Line barely fit into our spot. The sites are close together, short, with roots coming up in the road and parking areas, and sharp angled turns to get into your spot. A lot of spot have over hanging tree limbs. We made it in our spot because our camper is super low profile during travel mode. Would not have been able to fit under the tree limbs with a normal camper.
• Hwy 36 from the 101 is very curvy with lots of narrow areas and very few turn offs.
• Not a good place for dogs, very few areas they are allowed other than your camp site. Upon arriving we receive a yellow sheet letting us know why our dog was a problem for wildlife in this area and all the reasons we should not bring him with us next time.

Over all, I this campground would be a fun place for families, wanting to disconnect from technology for a weekend of tent camping.