Best Glamping near Upper Lake, CA

Jake from the Dyrt here!  You can't ask for a more picturesque place to glamping, surrounded by the fields of the ranch & winery, while also within driving distance of San Francisco, this is a spot to check out!

Middle creek campground was as close as we could find to free camping in Upper Lake CA. At the time of our visit 90% of the Mendocino National Forest was closed as a result of fires the past year as well as landslides due to rains.this is normally a ohv area but since all trails are closed it is quiet and peaceful.you can hear the creek running along the camp, as well as the wild turkeys . There must be over 15 different species of birds as well. Each campsite has a picnic table , fire pit as well as a bbq grill. They do have vault toilets and running water. It was $8.00 a nite but offered a discount with a America the beautiful pass

On the positive side, the people that work there are very hospitable and friendly.  We had reserved 2 days.  But for $70 per day for 2 people (they charge by the person per day) there are not enough amenities and the grounds are not well kept.  Check in is not until 4pm.  First, there is no place to put garbage.  You have to take it with you.  Bathrooms are just blue porta-potties.  There is a map of the property, but almost no signs on the property, so it's hard to know where you are in relation to the map.  The campsites are numbered on the map, but not at the physical campsites.  Although the property is in the mountains and there is a reservoir for swimming and boating, (a big plus), there are tools and equipment in various stages of disrepair at several places on the facility that are not screened from view of the camping areas.  The RV hookup areas are too primitive compared to typical campsites.  (again, the price is too much for what you get)  There are canoes and kayaks available for use at the reservoir, (a very nice amenity) but various boating equipment litter the shores and spoil the views.  I was told this facility caters mainly to group events, like weddings and there are nice glamping tents available.   But it looked like they just didn't pick up after the last party.  We left after one day.

My husband and I stayed here for Christmas, and loved our little yurt. It was very clean, and the bed was actually pretty comfy. It came with a cot as well. The bathrooms were super clean and also really nice. I was impressed. There were hardly any other people staying there at the same time, so we pretty much had the campground to ourselves.

It was pretty chilly at night in December, and the yurts don't really stay warm, but maybe slightly warmer than if staying in a tent.

My only complaint is noise from the road. It runs right by the campground, and pretty audible even inside the yurt. I recommend ear plugs.

Great spot for cheap and restful accommodation while Visiting wine country. Yurts, and campsites, pull thru and rv sites. Not super cheap cuz you are in California but way more affordable than any hotel and 5 minutes from Calistoga, thru vineyard lined lanes. Lots of hikes for a hike level. Mosquitos started coming out but tolerable. Nice trickling river and peaceful pondering spots. Great bathrooms but bring lots of quarters for showers, helpful staff! Rico you are the best for giving me firewood!

Nice state park north of Napa, the few car tent sites are nicely situated near a creek. Good space between sites. Easy and fun camping.

Yurts and cabins available. Close to road so a little noisy. Great for a less expensive stay. Saves money for wine tastings...

Traditional campground, yurts and a seasonal pool make this a fun place to go with the kids. Camp sites are on the smaller side. Take a walk to check out the Pioneer Cemetery and nearby mill. St. Clement Vineyards is a fun stop on the way out of town and is kid-friendly.

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.

We just stayed here for 2 nights, great location very close to Calistoga and not to far from Saint Helena! Next time i would love to try out a cabin or yurt. Cons are lots of poison oak and lots and lots of wasps! Bring a trap and be prepared to constantly tell the kids to stay away from the bushes. Great creek near by (we spent most of our time stacking rocks) and great hiking trails i believe it’s a 5 mile loop up ritchy creek. Very cool to see hundreds of frogs everywhere at night. Overall had a great time. Pool was awesome, staff was friendly, facilities were clean! Wood was overpriced but hey that’s the Napa Valley for you!

Great place to stay at when visiting the Napa wine valley that is halfway between St Helena and Calistoga, two nice tourist towns. There are nice hiking trails in the park though they are closed currently (Dec 2020) due to the fire in the area. There was no damage to the campground even though the fire burned into the grounds. The weekends usually are full, it clears out Sunday evening so during the weekdays it is really nice. Staff are really nice. Be careful of the poison oak, it is prevalent there as it is so anywhere in Northern California.

The Mendocino redwoods RV resort just outside of Willits on CA-20 to Fort Bragg, California, was 3 years ago a KOA resort. The overall facility is still in fairly good shape but you can see the results of the pandemic and a little bit lack of effort on maintaining various things with inside the facility. Not to get me wrong, it's still a very nice resort but the new affiliation that they've decided to go with needs to step it up a little bit otherwise it will go into disrepair and short order. After traveling recently to a very high-end KOA resort, I can assess and compare between the two locations very quickly. I think it is a very wonderful location with a lot of wonderful things to do and activities within an hour's drive of it, I just wish they would do a little bit more to start bring it up to the level that it once was.

I've camped here more times than I can count.  I remember camping here during several wine-soaked weekends with large groups of friends, back in my younger days.  We rode our bikes through the Napa valley, stopping at multiple wineries along the way.  Then, after a day of riding and wine tasting, we retired back to our campsites for an evening of grilling and drinking of local wines (of which there are many, many excellent choices). I've only tent camped here; I've not brought my Airstream because I don't think there are spots that are large enough for it.  However, I do recall seeing trailers and RV's here in the past, so it can accomodate rigs of smaller sizes.

There's nothing dramatically beautiful about this park, but if you like California country living - oaks, madrone, rolling hills, and lots of sunshine - than you'll enjoy it here.  It's a short drive from the San Francisco Bay Area, and is quite literally in the Napa valley, on its northern end, near Calistoga.  You'll easily be able to get to all the restaurants and wineries in the valley. You won't be disappointed with a couple of nights camping at Bothe-Napa.

One important note: I have not been here since the fires that have ravaged Napa and Sonoma every year since 2017.  There has been at least one fire that burned very near this park, causing it to close temporarily.  I don't know how bad the impact to the park has been, as I've not seen it first hand.  As I write this in summer 2021, the campground is open, so hopefully the fire and smoke damage was minimal.   As I've mentioned in many of my other posts, the sad reality of the ongoing drought in California is that summer camping is not the experience it used to be.  It's still fun, but I would argue winter or early spring is now the best time to visit places like Bothe-Napa.  The creeks will be flowing, you'll be allowed to have a campfire, and the vegetation will be greener and lusher.

Per my rating system, I give this 4 stars as it's not a place you'd plan a trip to from out of state, but it is a place you should consider visiting as part of a larger trip to Napa/Sonoma.  For locals, this is a top tier spot.

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.