Some Campground Reviews-the trip south

[4X4Dodger]

I have stayed in a number of RV parks and Campgrounds on my way south from Minot ND to Baja. Here are some short reviews of some of them.

Rapid City city park RV CG: very nice with it's won river and nearby bicycle path full of tall trees and grass. Sites can be a bit small but are good and level. Easy to deal with friendly folks at the office.

Osens RV Park Livingston MT. I would not stay here again unless it was the only choice. The park owners/managers have this surface friendliness backed by a creepy intrusiveness that is very off-putting. The sites are OK, the bathrooms good. If you are in a million dollar motorhome you apparently can break all the rules they spend so much time discussing at check-in (like having an open fire) but if you are in a humble travel trailer watch out...dont light up that charcoal BBQ.

Beaver Creek National Forest Campground (about 20 miles north west of West Yellowstone) This is a great campground with plenty of room in 3 loops. Lots of big trees and hiking possibilities. Nearby Quake Lake where eagles are to be seen in abundance.

Phoenix: Destiny Phoenix RV park in Goodyear AZ. This was a nice park with all of the amenities. Designed mostly for long term snowbirds. There were scattered orange trees and plantings and some shade trees. Everything worked and the bathrooms are clean. It's a good place to spend a week or so.

Desert Trails RV Park in Tucson. I like Tucson and I liked Desert trails. It is a bit Cliqueish. But there are abundant cactus gardens and the sites are good. Many are very close together however and choosing one that is right for you is essential. Pericles the owner manager was a joy. He spent most of the check in making sure we knew how to get around to what we might need or want in Tucson. He was a pillar of patience with difficult customers (as we witnessed on one memorable occasion) He was much more concerned that you enjoy your stay than he was about reading you a long list of rules and the riot act if you disobeyed one or two. This park was an old Waterpark/RV park at one time. It has a funky charm I liked. A great library and plenty of bathrooms and washers dryers. I liked this park and would stay again.

Desert Trails RV park and Golf Course El Centro Calif. (not associated with the one in Tucson) This park was dominated by its golf course which of course is the main draw for many who live here. This is really more like a trailer park in the old sense built around the golf course. But instead of nice double-wides and other Mobile homes the trailers are towables and fifth wheels. If you stay here for just a night or two you are assigned a spot, not well marked, in a large gravel lot, you are separated from the rest of the park and it's denizens. For what you are getting it's rather high priced. But the bathrooms and laundry are good and clean and it is close to every imaginable kind of store. It makes a good base to stay before heading into Baja. One note: their propane was cheaper at the park than at the big propane dealer up the highway.

Please do not ask me to re post these to RVPark reviews site. I have no intention of doing so. Once is enough for me. Just hoping to give a little insight from my perspective about a few selected parks I stayed in on the way south.

[Campfire_Time]

Interesting perspective. Thanks for sharing a bit more detail. And for the record I didn't ask you to post anywhere else. I only expressed my disappointment that you would not do so.

[4X4Dodger]

SDcampowneroperator wrote:
Rapid City does not have a city owned RV Park as OP described. What the OP described is privately owned and operated Lake Park Camp @ 2850 chapel lane, Rapid City, SD 57702

No Sorry this was my typo and brain misfiring I meant to write SPEARFISH, SD. Not Rapid City and I did not mean to write anything about any RC RV park.

Thanks for catching that.

[SDcampowneroper]

Rapid City does not have a city owned RV Park as OP described. What the OP described is privately owned and operated Lake Park Camp @ 2850 chapel lane, Rapid City, SD 57702

[magnusfide]

4X4Dodger wrote:

magnusfide wrote:
Thank you for the info. Would you consider posting them at TripAdvisor.com? It's much more user friendly. :w

User freindly is not my concern I have been using computers at work and at home since well before there was anything known as Windows. My concerns are a bit more serious.

Having been the owner of a small boutique hotel in a SE Asian Beach resort I can tell you that I know Trip Advisor all to well and will NOT have anything to do with them.

I watched as my reviews for my hotel were gamed by my competitors and reviews by people I had to throw out for breaking the law and some who were mad because they couldnt smoke. I watched as one hotel owners manager ripped the competition with fake reviews on TA while gaming her own reviews...always being sure to mention the how wonderful the manager was. No there has been too much written by travel experts like Arthur Frommer and others about Trip Advisors gaming and the uselessness of their reviews.

Now if you wonder how I know this competitor did this. My best friend was the computer fixit guy in town and when they brought this managers computer in for a problem he did a printout of the entire history file showing step by step how this woman had gotten fake email addresses then immediately gone to the TA site and wrote a review. She did this multiple times. (mine was not the only hotel in town she wrote about under different names/emails) We had the proof. I even sent the proof to TA and had a conversation on the phone with it's founder and president Stephen Kaufer...They did nothing to remove the fake reviews. They simply do not want to acknowledge that a large part of their reviews are gamed by owners and competitors.

As for RV Park Reviews I have no feelings one way or another but ALL Mob review sites are gamed by those that have a financial interest in assuring a good review of their property. (the unscrupulous ones) and despite what many think, there is no way for a site admin to detect this gaming.

Having been an owner, I am very careful to be honest and factual and balanced in my statements about anyone's business. I know that an honest review can help and is appreciated by an honest and open-minded owner.

Since this is not a traditional Mob review site and it is generally read by more people I will continue to post any review I have here.

Thanks for all your comments...(even if you didnt honor my wish to not ask me to post to RV Park Reviews) 🙂

Thank you for that input on mob review sites. It's something we don't always hear about.

[4X4Dodger]

magnusfide wrote:
Thank you for the info. Would you consider posting them at TripAdvisor.com? It's much more user friendly. :w

User freindly is not my concern I have been using computers at work and at home since well before there was anything known as Windows. My concerns are a bit more serious.

Having been the owner of a small boutique hotel in a SE Asian Beach resort I can tell you that I know Trip Advisor all to well and will NOT have anything to do with them.

I watched as my reviews for my hotel were gamed by my competitors and reviews by people I had to throw out for breaking the law and some who were mad because they couldnt smoke. I watched as one hotel owners manager ripped the competition with fake reviews on TA while gaming her own reviews...always being sure to mention the how wonderful the manager was. No there has been too much written by travel experts like Arthur Frommer and others about Trip Advisors gaming and the uselessness of their reviews.

Now if you wonder how I know this competitor did this. My best friend was the computer fixit guy in town and when they brought this managers computer in for a problem he did a printout of the entire history file showing step by step how this woman had gotten fake email addresses then immediately gone to the TA site and wrote a review. She did this multiple times. (mine was not the only hotel in town she wrote about under different names/emails) We had the proof. I even sent the proof to TA and had a conversation on the phone with it's founder and president Stephen Kaufer...They did nothing to remove the fake reviews. They simply do not want to acknowledge that a large part of their reviews are gamed by owners and competitors.

As for RV Park Reviews I have no feelings one way or another but ALL Mob review sites are gamed by those that have a financial interest in assuring a good review of their property. (the unscrupulous ones) and despite what many think, there is no way for a site admin to detect this gaming.

Having been an owner, I am very careful to be honest and factual and balanced in my statements about anyone's business. I know that an honest review can help and is appreciated by an honest and open-minded owner.

Since this is not a traditional Mob review site and it is generally read by more people I will continue to post any review I have here.

Thanks for all your comments...(even if you didnt honor my wish to not ask me to post to RV Park Reviews) 🙂

[TyroneandGladys]

Thanks for the info

[Roadpilot]

When I am planning a trip - any trip - I go to RVParkreviews, to decide where to stop and stay. I love this web site. I'm on it daily, but it's not a review site. You can't put in a stop and find the ratings of all campgrounds around it.

When I'm traveling, but not in the RV, I go to Tripadvisor.

[sch911]

4X4Dodger wrote:


Please do not ask me to re post these to RVPark reviews site. I have no intention of doing so. Once is enough for me. Just hoping to give a little insight from my perspective about a few selected parks I stayed in on the way south.

Too bad. Since that site is where the majority of us would go for a review. This site is really not a review site per say but more for discussions.

Why not???

[magnusfide]

Thank you for the info. Would you consider posting them at TripAdvisor.com? It's much more user friendly. :w

[Campfire_Time]

4X4Dodger wrote:


Please do not ask me to re post these to RVPark reviews site. I have no intention of doing so. Once is enough for me. Just hoping to give a little insight from my perspective about a few selected parks I stayed in on the way south.

Shame you won't do that. Your reviews look pretty balanced and realistic, hence valuable to the rving community. Unfortunately they get buried on forums like this.