Best Cabin Camping near Sawyers Bar, CA

The Trinity River Adventure Inn cabins are a group of three cabins located on the bank of the Trinity River. The closest town for supplies is Weaverville, about a 15 min drive west. The towns of Lewiston and Douglas City are closer, but hit and miss on when things are open and what they offer. All three cabins can be rented individually, and I am sure if you group needed the space, you could rent all three at the same time. The other cabins were occupied during our stay, but that wasn't an issue. Each cabin is different, there is a large A frame cabin for larger groups, a smaller fisherman's cabin closest to the river for one or two people, and a mid size cabin for groups of 3-4. The A frame and the mid size cabin both have patios to bbq (grills provided) and hang out on, full kitchens, and very comfortable living room and bedrooms. Everything is provided, from cooking utensils to bedding/towels. Just bring food/drink. There is even satellite tv and wifi. Firewood is provided for the wood burning stoves. There is a large grassy area that slopes down to the river for people staying in all three cabins to use. There is easy access to fishing right out the backdoor of the cabins, and you could put in and take out kayaks if the water level is high enough. Boat launching facilities are located a few miles away. It is a fantastic location central to Trinity Lake, Lewiston Lake, Whiskeytown reservoir, and the beautiful Trinity Alps, with plenty of boating, swimming, water skiing, hiking, backpacking adventures within 30-60 minutes.

Ripple Creek Cabins are located about an hour north of Weaverville, along the upper Trinity River. Each cabin is self contained and comes with cooking utensils, linens, towels, and full kitchens. There is also a picnic table and BBQ provided for each cabin. The property sits on the bank on the Trinity River, with easy river access for swimming and fishing. There is also a large grassy area for all to use that has bocce ball and horseshoes. There is easy access to the Trinity Alps Wilderness for hikers of all levels, as well as access to Trinity Lake about 20 minutes south for all that the lake has to offer. The cabins are pet friendly and wifi is available. There is no phone service or television. Each cabin has a wood burning stove, shower and toilet, but otherwise are a bit spartan compared to some cabins. But with all the easy access to outdoor activities, all you need is a place to cook, clean up, and sleep. Great to rent for couples, families, or large groups. It is a bit of a drive to Weaverville, so be sure you have all your supplies you need. The small towns of Coffee Creek and Trinity Center are closer, but may not have everything you need. Each town does have a couple of great places to eat during the Summer, specifically Trailhead Pizza in Trinity Center.

This was our first fire lookout, but will not be our last! The drive up to the lookout was tough at times along well-used, but not really well maintained, logging roads. We had a high-clearance all-wheel drive Subaru Crosstrek and while the all-wheel drive didn't seem super necessary, the high clearance certainly was. The trip to the top took about 45 minutes from Hwy. 5, so be sure you have what you need when you head up there.

Along the drive up we did see a bear along the side of the road, but other than a few deer and lots of birds and squirrels, not much other wildlife.

The lookout is great and has two twin or double beds, a table, and a couple of cabinets for storing items. There are no kitchen facilities at this lookout. There is a picnic table and fire ring located on the ground next to the lookout. I don't recall if the table was chained down, but we brought chairs to sit by the fire and enjoy the spectacular views of Castle Crags and Mt. Shasta. There are pit toilets located just a few steps off the road that leads in to the lookout.

Although you do feel like you are way off the beaten path when you are there, do put your gear away each night and day and lock the door to the lookout and you car as day hikers do come up to the lookout, which is a little weird. Not many when we were there, but a few and we were glad that we locked up our gear as to not tempt anyone.

The hiking around the lookout isn't fantastic as you are mostly limited to logging roads, but we hiked around a fair amount nonetheless. It would be a great spot to bring mountain bikes, not sure about the legality of dirt bikes on the logging roads.

The beds were about as bad as you'd expect a bed in a fire lookout to be. We brought our inflatable air mattresses and slept in sleeping bags, but the beds were still really saggy. If you're extra picky about your bed or have back issues you may want to bring an air mattress or something to help stiffen up the bed.

Bring a spotting scope and/or a telescope as there are some wonderful views west to Castle Crags and north to Mt. Shasta. We couldn't see hikers on Mt. Shasta but did see many going up Castle Crags with our binoculars.

Overall it was a great space and also worked well with out dog. We set him up with a dog run when we were outside and then he slept in the fire lookout with us as night.

This will surely be a trip you remember if you stay here. Enjoy!

I highly recommend this location - what could be better than camping in the redwoods, with elk grazing in the meadow right next to your camp!

Sites were decent sized for our 2 tents, surrounded by trees and bushes offering some privacy so you don’t feel like you are right on top of your neighbors. Very clean bathrooms, decent showers, picnic tables, fire pits. You are expected to keep your site ‘crumb clean’ and will be provided with instruction about that.

The only downside is that it can get very damp at night – which made it seem a little colder and had a lot of tent condensation.

There are many wonderful hikes in the area – love it when you can get forest and ocean on the same trail! Normally I don’t like hearing other people’s campground music, but whoever was singing vespers it was beautiful. Slept peacefully to sounds of the creek running by our site.

The visitor center was good and gave us a lot of useful information. The ranger even came around to let us know of local events.

We stayed at the Railroad Park Resort near Dunsmuir, CA for 5 nights. It was fine, with a couple small issues.. The rest of the park might be wonderful - converted train cars and cabooses, cabins, and a small motel - but the rv portion sort of felt like the red-headed stepchild. I believe our fees were $280 for 5 nights. Full hook-ups, pull through site (many were back-in only) and zero privacy, although the rv park is in a pretty stand of very thinned trees at the far end of the RRP property. There is a teeny store with some basic supplies and snack foods, and ice and wood available for purchase, wifi advertised, as well as a swimming pool. The bathrooms are decent and include showers. We are a family that prefers a little more privacy away from the world, but this park was our only option as we didn't book until 3 weeks prior to our last minute trip to see family in Dunsmuir. Siskiyou County campgrounds are currently full to brimming, and people are lining up at 6am for the few fcfs sites at the FS campgrounds. Reservations are all booked out until the end of August at least.
We signed a list of rules when checking in to the RRPR, that include a strict "No marijuana use anywhere on RRP property", yet continually got wafting pot smoke from several other campsites. I complained once, and the young man at the store apologized and made a note about it. Also, the woman working in the store in the mornings and during the day was quite rude and snippy, and reiterated at least 4 times that campground guests were only to use the swimming pool down near the cabooses between 10am and 3pm - as if we weren't to meddle with their upscale guests in the train cars and cabins. It felt a bit awkward, but we did use the nice pool one day when we didn't go swimming in Lake Siskiyou.
Wifi was advertised and a log on with password provided, but we were unable to log on the entire time we were there.
There were many huge rv's including full sized busses that seemed to navigate the park just fine, and some tent sites around some of the edges.
All in all - it was not a fantastic experience, but was alright, and we met a few other wonderful campers which is always a neat experience.
Sorry - I didn't take any pictures, but there are some decent ones if Googled.