Park Review- Lake of the Springs RV Resort (Oregon House, CA)

Thousand Trails  
​(Click here for an article I wrote about Thousand Trails.)
Address:  14152 French Town Road, Oregon House, CA 95962
Phone:   (530) 692-1852
Website:  rvonthego.com/california/lake-of-the-springs-rv-resort/
# of sites:  556
​Full hookup price:  From $64 per night
Open:  5/15 to 12/31
Rating:   2 out of 5 stars
​Warnings:  Very few sites have sewer hookups, nearly zero cell reception

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Make no mistake, this is a California campground, not Oregon as its town name implies.  The Lake of the Springs RV Resort is in the foothills of the Sierra Mountains on the fringe of the Sacramento Valley.  It is a very large resort, as the number of sites indicates, and is on a private small lake.

Pros:
This is the one of only two Thousand Trails resorts in the region and is closer to larger towns.  It is set up in several sections, from the private lake on up the hill to a section with some cell phone reception.  There is a boat ramp, beaches (including a pet beach), swimming fishing and many water sports available (post COVID), as well as panning for gold and the usual entertainment amenities (pool, tennis, shuffleboard, etc.).

The sites are spacious enough and give a fair amount of privacy between them.  As a mature park, there are a substantial number of full-grown trees scattered among the sites in every section except the one that has cell signal up top.  With out booster we were able to get Internet in the D section, though we had to stand next to our indoor antenna to make or get phone calls.  There are also deer and a substantial amount of wild birds and hummingbirds throughout the resort.

Proximity to lakes, rivers and the Sacramento Valley is a plus.  Lassen Volcanic National Park is less than three hours away, as is Sacramento, Reno and Lake Tahoe.  In addition, this is right in the middle of an agricultural nirvana.  You'll find fresh fruit, produce and fresh-baked pies along any road-side stand most of the year, outside of winter.

Cons:
Only about 20% of the camping sites in this resort have sewer hookups and none have 50 amp service, meaning we had to juggle our appliances and A/C.  It's first-come-first-serve for arrivals and we were very fortunate to snag the last full-hookup site that was available.  Many of the best sites are in the section immediately next to the lake, but almost all of those sites are taken by seasonal residents.

Only two of the sections are within convenient walking distance to the lake, pet beach and clubhouse. Our section was more than a half-mile away.  Almost none the sites we looked at were level, with both forward/back and left/right angles remarkably steep for parking.  The primary road from the main gate to the clubhouse has been freshly repaved, but most of the sections have old asphalt paths that are cracking and rough, and most sites are filled with loose gravel.  I had to have my truck in 4-wheel drive to make sure I could park in and leave the entrance of our site safely.

There is an amazing lack of cellular signal in the region, including for Verizon, which was hit-or-miss, and Sprint, which was nonexistent for miles around.  Even with out booster, both the cell service and Internet were faint and slow.

To call Oregon House a town would be stretching the point.  The closest supermarket or box store was 30-45 miles away, depending on whether you wanted a full-sized market.  The post office is relatively close by but since the park won't accept US mail, you'll need to know whether a package is coming mail or UPS to give the correct address or General Delivery. 

We had our share of frustrations in this park and, for our full-time purposes, I've rated it two out of five stars.  I would not have a problem recommending it to weekend warriors with kids, since they would not need the sewer hook-up for a short stay and there will be plenty of family activities available once the pandemic is over.

Click here for an article I wrote about Thousand Trails.

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