Campground Review - Susanville RV Resort - Susanville, CA

Description

The Susanville RV Park is in a lovely area of Northern California near Lassen Volcanic National Park, an area with many opportunities for outdoors recreation. This large privately owned park is big rig RV friendly. The park is quiet and nicely landscaped, lending to a peaceful atmosphere. The crossroads siting of Susanville makes the park a convenient stopover on a long trip through the region.

Location

Susanville RV Park
3075 Johnstonville Rd
Susanville, CA 96130
Park: (530) 251-4757
Latitude: 40.408542 N, Longitude: -120.631135 W, Elevation: ~4,186 ft

Details

We stayed at the Susanville RV Park for four nights in late September as a short break in our route south. This is a quiet park set in a residential area and bordered by a grassy meadow. For our stay we had a 50 amp full hookup pull-thru site. The park was not very busy during our stay. Our stay at this park soured due to a negative interaction with park management – more about this, below – we do not plan to return to the park.

Cost

Our four night stay here cost about $40/night. This resort did not charge an extra vehicle fee.

Amenities On Site or Nearby

The campground has basic resort amenities including full hookup sites 50/30/20 amp electric, basic cable TV, free WiFi, RV dump station, propane, restrooms and showers, laundry room, exercise room, and office phone/fax/copy services. Grocery stores, gas stations, restaurants, a Wal-Mart, and other shopping and services are available close to the park, while a wider range of shopping and services are available in Reno, Nevada (85 miles).

Ratings (1-5)

Accessibility – 4/5

The campground is easily accessible from Highway CA-36 via residential side street, Johnstonville Rd. The turn on Johnstonville Rd is easy to miss. Also note that there is a large dip at the entrance to the park – take things slow as to not rock your rig excessively. Roads in the park are asphalt, wide, and well-maintained. The campground facilities have provisions for Universal access. The park has both pull-thru, and back-in sites. Sites are generous in size and can accommodate large rigs.

Facilities/Amenities – 4/5

The campground has basic resort amenities, including full hookup sites 50/30/20 amp electric, basic cable TV, free WiFi, RV dump station, propane, restrooms and showers, laundry room, exercise room, and office phone/fax/copy services. The grounds and facilities appear clean and well maintained. The park also has long-term stay sites.

Site quality – 4/5

Sites are spacious, reasonably well-separated, concrete slab and grass with a picnic table. The park has both pull-thru and back-in RV sites. The park offers full hookup sites with 50/30/20 amp electric service. Most sites have a tree to give some shade. The main detraction to site quality is that many of the site concrete slabs are badly broken, uneven, and are in need of replacement.

Scenic Value – 3/5

The park is in a quiet residential area that is not particularly scenic. The park is nicely landscaped with many trees which add to a peaceful atmosphere. There is a nice view of grassy meadows and hills behind the park, with some chance of wildlife viewing.

Location/Isolation – 4/5

This is a peaceful and quiet park. The park is just off of a quiet residential street and far enough away from busy Highway CA-36 to receive little road noise. Large grassy meadows provide a welcome buffer behind the park, adding to the isolation.

Paws Friendliness – 4/5

The campground is pet friendly and has four separately fenced pet runs with cleanup bags. The campground is large enough to take a good walk with your pet.

(Bonus) The Human Factor – Management – 1/5

As is often the case, the Human Factor can play a huge role in how enjoyable a visit is. In our experience with the many parks we have visited, we either have no interaction with management or a very positive interaction – management has generally been very friendly, helpful, and proactive in addressing any reasonable complaint. Unfortunately, we had a very negative experience with park management here.

Briefly, a few hours after we set up camp, an older rig two sites down ruptured a hose while dumping their holding tank and spilled smelly brown sludge all over themselves and their site. Over the next few days, ourselves and other campers repeatedly complained to the manager and requested cleanup/sanitation of the contaminated site and the nearby restroom & shower facility, with little result.

We found the manager was defensive, argumentative, and combative, with empty assurances and conflicting statements. Given this experience, we do not plan to return to the park while it is under current management.

Overall Rating – 1/5

On the surface this is a lovely campground which could use some maintenance, but which we would normally recommend. However, given our negative experience with park manager, we do not endorse the park. The park has lost our trust and our business.

Additional info

Internet access

We received a strong 4G Verizon signal at this campground. We did not need to deploy our cellular antenna and booster to improve MiFi hot spot internet access. The campground had free WiFi, but we did not make use of the service.