Thousand Trails Pio Pico

I can’t believe how badly this park has deteriorated. On our last stay we saw so many weeds and potholes. The hot tubs seem to be broken all the time. Showers and bathrooms were filthy and rundown. Resort? How shameful. But worse than that are the rangers. They used to welcome us like we were members, paying customers. Not sure why they have such a hard time understanding that we pay their salaries. WE ARE THE CUSTOMERS. We were treated like we were unwanted guests. A new ranger named Christian is a cocky, arrogant kid. He clearly doesn’t want to work there and has no concept of customer service. We immediately asked for his manager and he didn’t care about how rude we were treated. The manager (Israel) only cared about flirting and gawking at another ranger who worked up in the activity center. There’s a married couple who work there selling memberships and he  told me the management is terrible and the park is going down the tubes. He told me much of their staff is unhappy about how they are treated and many have quit. I asked why they don’t get new management and he said even his boss said the women managers are untouchable. He told me secretly that he was quitting too. I guess that’s why he unloaded on them. He told me about the sexual assaults in the park from illegal Mexicans coming across the border. He told me about the 4 convicted pedophiles living in the park and showed me Megan’s Law. It’s all true. You can see them walking around and their addresses listed on their profile on Megan’s Law is the RV Park. He told me about all the drugs on the north side of the park and that one ranger was dating a member there and violently assaulted her and she turned out to be a prostitute. He said the company and manger knew he was a meth addict and yet kept him there and swept it under the carpet. He also told me that the 3rd in charge(Jesus) had to go to counseling because he keeps sexually harassing the other staff and members and he is still doing it. He apparently is harassing the girl who works in the store now. And yet they still protect him and hide it. Seriously? You want us to pay to stay here? Until they start firing these incompetent and rude employees we won’t be coming back.

I’m new to RV’s, and the lifestyle. I’ve been planning on full time RV living for the last 10 months. Pio Pico is the 1st RV park I’ve stayed at. I was enjoying my quite solitude, when my closest neighbor told me, one of the workers has tested positive for Covid-19, so I hauled ass out of there. Luckily, I didn’t have any human contact whatsoever with anyone there during my stay. I have bronchial asthma, so I wasn’t taking any chances.
Too bad, because it felt remote, quiet, and was only a nice 7 mile drive from grocery stores, retail stores, food, gas, etc., if you needed anything. 30 amp, and water at site. Dumping area with two stations. Nice paths to hike, or walk your dog. Laundry was open, but only facility I used was the dump station. I didn’t get any TV reception, but others did. I didn’t have a powered antenna, but I do now. The internet was slow and iffy. They said they were working on it. I got to see a few shows on Netflix, Hulu, YouTube... No cell service at all, but I did get a little with my WeBoost. I wasn’t expecting much with mountains all around. I would have given another star, but keeping something like a worker testing positive for covid-19 from customers is not a good business idea. I’d probably give them another try though, since it had the seclusion I was looking for.

We will not return here. We live in our travel trailer/camper. Good things first: bathrooms are clean. The grounds crew and store personnel are helpful and friendly. Plenty of dumpsters. Reasonably close to the things we wanted to do/see in San Diego. Good number of shaded spots, if you can get into one. Bad things: we were under the impression that the entire campground had full hook ups. Only the south side has full sewer, water, and electric hook ups. To get a spot on the south side, you have to go through a complicated first come first serve/wait for people to leave/list/lottery/nonsense. Our check in was more of a hassle than a breeze. It was not mentioned that not every RV spot on the north side had water and electric. The sites are not well marked. It looked like picnic tables were moved so other campers would not be close. We couldn't tell how far we were on or off our site. Buildings are dilapidated. Camping areas are not maintained. There was a lot of litter that could have been raked up and disposed of. The North side of the campground is neglected. There was no obvious signage that the washers and dryers did not except debit/credit cards. There was only one place in the grounds were you could get a preloaded laundry card, and it was broken. The ladies at the check in station were very clear that a serviceman was called and they were getting a new contract. But that didn't help get the laundry clean. Several of the washers and dryers were out of service. It's a 10 mile drive to Chula Vista for services. It was made clear before our stay that there was little to no cell service. However, Lake Whitney, Texas Thousand Trails provided free wifi for all in their lodge. That is not the case at Pio Pico. This is the third Thousand Trails campground we have stayed at, and we're considering leaving before our full seven days are up.

If you have ever felt like your kids and family where not going to be safe and you knew you were not going to be able to sleep at night. This is how I felt at Thousand Trails Pio Pico. Don’t let the Pictures fool you; Yes, the South side of the camp is a great place to be, I’m Sure. With all the amenities and security of the staff being there. Its possible you will feel safe. But you are not allowed to setup on the south side when you arrive. You have to go to the northside, well from what I can see the northside section H is where most people head to because of this; but, my family and I, where forced into section G, which looked like a rundown trailer park where trailer and RV’s go to die. If you’re going to stay at Pio Pico you better have a toilet, shower, and be selfsustained aboard your rig. This we were not. We Picked a spot next to the bathroom and next to a nicer looking rig in section G. After setting up our Popup Trailer my son needed to use the restroom. This is where we found out the condition of the restrooms in Trailer Park section G. The showers had not heads, handles, or curtains to take a shower; if one was brave enough to do it in section G, in the first place. Though the bathroom looked clean and where stocked with paper and hand towels, the walls looked old and falling apart. Likewise, the sink looked as if a mechanic washed his oily and grease hands in it every day and cleaning it was not going to be enough. I have spent my whole youth and tricenarian“Ruffing it” via backpacking, dry camping, and Tent camping. So not taking a shower is not the worst thing in the world. But when the other people around you look like they live their full time and some even looked a little shady. While some are doing drugs, because we could smell it, and come out of there campers spun out and half naked. It takes ruffing it and turns it into a borderline safety issue. As dawn came and we decided that it was not a smart idea to stay here. We started breaking down all of our stuff and packing up the trailer, because it was either head home or find a new camp ground. While in the middle of packing up we over heard the people in the trailer next to us saying“I’m not going to buy that for you, they have it you should have stolen it while you had the chance.” We pulled out of there and we lucked out as we got reservations for another RV park. As a member of TT and spent my whole childhood with TT, I am appalled that this TT Park has come to this low of standards. As a child we went here a few times and never had anything close to this lack of management. I would not recommend this for anyone whom has children or whom may leave you rig unattended for the day or longer. If it is better in section H I hope they can make changes to the camp grounds to fix and improve section G. My family will not be returning. And I hope no one runs into this at TT.

I was looking for a place to camp that wasn't too far from San Diego and offered some hiking in the desert landscape. The grounds are quite large - there's 2 pools and rec centers.

One rec center is designed more for kids with a pool table, air hockey, shuffleboard, and games. The other, more main center has TV, shuffleboard, ping pong, and a built in cafe. You can also rent out sports equipment from the main center, including golf putters for the mini golf course, baseball bats and balls for the diamond, and a few lawn games. There is WiFi access from this building and it appears they even do movie nights plus a few more community-related events, which is nice considering most people who stay here appeared to be doing so long term and having those options keeps the boredom at bay.

Heck, someone even built a track for RC cars to race on, and there is a laundry center as well. Showers were nice and warm, and not coin operated - a rarity given the water droughts around CA.

Since you're in the desert, having pools to cool off in was something I appreciated the longer I was in the heat. I did a hike in the area (TAKE LOTS OF WATER AND WATCH FOR RATTLESNAKES) and a dip in the pool was a great way to finish it off.

I gave this place 4 out of 5 for the following:

The price tag. $41 for a tent site it too much, even for private campgrounds. I presume this is because even the most primitive sites still offer electric hook ups, and $40ish is usually what you pay for those features - I just wish for a place that offers 500+ spots that some should be available without the hookups and for a lower price.

The other reason is because some of the amenities need upkeep. It's great to be able to offer things like mini golf and to have the land for a baseball diamond, but both were well overdue for maintenance.