Description

The Paradise Shores RV Park is a small, well-maintained, privately owned park on the scenic shores of Bridgeport Reservoir. Nestled in sagebrush and grass-covered hills, the park has a breathtaking view of the eastern Sierra Nevada mountain range. Not far from historic Bodie ghost town and surreal Mono Lake, Paradise Shores is a great base from which to explore the area.

Location

Paradise Shores RV Park
2399 CA-182
Bridgeport, CA 93517
Phone: (760) 932-7735
Latitude: 38.288408 N, Longitude: -119.215682 W, Elevation: 6,500 ft (1981.2 m)

Details

We stayed at the Paradise Shores RV Park for one week in mid-October, 2016. This is an older park originally built to handle smaller RVs. The park has sites that will accommodate up to 42 ft rigs with 30 amp service. The park was busy during our stay, but generally peaceful and quiet. We had a 30 amp full hookup back-in site and enjoyed our stay here. A young husband & wife team own and operate the park – we found the couple very personable, friendly and helpful during our stay.

See our related travel post: Glorious Fall Color on U.S. 395

Update – Late May, 2019

We stayed here again for four-nights in late May, 2019. We were impressed by the many improvements made to the campground, including: fresh gravel and neater sites; many nice landscaping touches; very nice flagstone lounge areas with fire-pits; and a vintage trailer as the new park office.

We were pleasantly surprised by a late season storm on the last night of our stay. We woke to a winter wonderland – lovely – fortunately the snow on the park lanes and roads melted quickly for our travel day.

Cost

Our seven night stay cost about $39/night, including Mono County 12% TOT Tax. There were no extra vehicle or pet fees.

Amenities On Site or Nearby

The campground has basic amenities, including full hookups with 30 amp service, propane, restrooms and showers, laundry room, outdoors social fire ring and social deck/lounge area. The park offers full hookup 30 amp RV sites, dry tent and small RV sites, and rental trailers. The park has a small camp store with fishing & camping supplies, tourist info and books about local recreation and activities. Few amenities are available close to the park – a market, gas stations, restaurants, and sporting goods are available in Bridgeport. A wider range of shopping and services are available in Carson City, Nevada (85 miles), or Bishop, California (92 miles).

(From Judy – see comments below): I suggest to go to town and walk around to visit the many old shops, good places to eat, a museum, hotels, gas station, courthouse, old jail buildings, church, post office, auto parts store and bank. Closest large stores for food shopping is Vons in Mammoth or Walmart in Nevada. Owners and staff very friendly and have lots of information to share about the area to visit and RV maintenance.

Ratings (1-5)

Accessibility – 4/5

The campground is easily accessible from Highway CA-182, but the park entrance drives are narrow and are on a slope. Exercise caution when turning back on the highway as there is limited visibility. Once past the paved entrance area, the park lanes are well-maintained gravel. The road through the park will accommodate large rigs. The campground facilities have some provisions for Universal access.

Facilities/Amenities – 3/5

As noted, the campground offers basic amenities, including full or partial-hookups, restrooms and showers, and laundry room. The grounds and facilities are clean and well maintained. The park offers full hookup 30 amp RV sites, dry tent and small RV sites, and rental trailers.

Site quality – 3/5

RV sites have full hookups with water, septic and 30/20 amp electric service. Most sites in the park are back-in but there are a few pull-thru sites. Dry tent and small RV sites are also available. Sites are gravel with a picnic table and little separation between sites. There are some trees in the campground, but most sites are not shaded. Our least favorite aspect of the site is the placement of hookups at far corner of site, as well as proximity of sewer with in-ground water hookups.

Scenic Value – 5/5

Set on the shores of the Bridgeport Reservoir, nestled in grass and sage-covered hills and with sweeping views of the Sierra Nevada mountains, the campground is quite scenic.

Location/Isolation – 4/5

As noted, the campground is set along a lovely lake shore with mountain views. The park feels quite isolated since it is several miles outside of Bridgeport and busy Highway US-395. Highway CA-182 has little traffic to dispel the peace and quiet. The RV sites are, however, quite close together, with little separation between sites. For us, this is the biggest detraction of the park – this is a personal preference, it is still a nice park we wouldn’t mind visiting again.

Paws Friendliness – 4/5

The campground is pet friendly and has several cleanup-bags stations, but no enclosed pet run. The campground is small for walking your pet, but there is easy access to the lake shore for much longer walks. There are many places in the surrounding area where you could take your pet off leash. Depending on season, lake levels could be quite low and the lake shores muddy. Water in the lake tends to be alkaline – your pet may not enjoy the smell or feel of the water, nor should they drink the lake water. The park has a nice pet wash station to hose down a muddy mutt.

Overall Rating – 4/5

This is a nice basic campground which we can recommend. We would certainly stay here on another trip.

Additional info

Internet access

We received a weak to moderate 4G Verizon signal at this campground. We deployed our cellular antenna and booster to improve MiFi hot spot internet access. The campground offers free WiFi, but we did not try this service.

Water Quality

The water at this campground tested moderately hard– we did added our water softener to the water filtration stack.

Nearby attractions

There are many things to see and do in the area around the park.  Here are some suggestions:

• Historic buildings & vintage neon signs in Bridgeport
• Sonora Pass
• Twin Lakes, Lundy Lake, Green Creek
• Mono Lake
• Tioga Pass & Tuolumne Meadows
• Travertine & Buckeye Hot Springs
• Historic Bodie ghost town
• Historic ghost mine ruins – Masonic and Chemung Mines
• Hiking, fishing, hunting, rock climbing, horseback riding and OHV

Photos

Here are just a few photos of the campground, as well as some of the area attractions. Most of the campground photos were lost when I damaged my cell phone. For more campground photos, see the photo gallery on the park website.

Photos – Updated 2019