Had a great time here this weekend. Only took 2 hours and 15 minutes to get here, the 2.5 mile dirt road was not nearly as bad as others reviewing would have me believe. Have a Subaru forester — not a huge clearance vehicle and was just fine. We got here Friday about 2:30pm — first ones here. It was overcast and perfect temperature. Very dry. Gorgeous river. Sites 1, 2, 3 leave a bit to be desired — small and/or on top of each other, 5 is small but pretty and overlooks a big parking area used for day rafter parking. We chose 4 — open, big and with a large live oak for shade. All sites were«on» the river. Bathrooms were very clean and the sites were too, with the exception of an enormous amount of cigarette butts. My friend’s back was a bit hurt, so we didn’t do a bunch of hiking — and I’m glad for that because Saturday was 80+ and very dry. Walked about 1.5 miles up the dirt road looking for the«waterfall» — we saw some runoff from the hills into the water — perhaps that was it. Regardless, it was a nice walk and very pretty. Odd about this campsite: both nights we had visitors who came after dark and left before morning. The first was just a couple who stayed for a few hours in site 5 — and didn’t bother us. The second night, we had visitors at the site right next to us. They arrived at 8pm, two very small crying children in tow. They opened and closed their vehicle doors about a gazillion times, set up a tent, used their car headlights at their«lamp» and started blaring rap music. Uh uh! Friend marched over and very kindly asked them to lower the music. They did. Then they proceeded to burn brush as their firewood and when we got up at 7am, they had cleared out, leaving a bunch of trash at their site. Odd. The park service representative was über nice and came every day — we never did see the ranger. We loved this place and would definitely come back to do some trail hiking when feeling more physically able.
Alex L.
Classificação do local: 4 Vallejo, CA
Camped here the weekend before July 4th to avoid the crowds. The site is pretty limited but the bathrooms are clean and well kept, surprisingly no foul smell which kept the girls happy during the weekend. First off get here early thursday for a weekend spot. Campsite 4 is the biggest and best site which allows for big groups(we had 14 adults/2 toddlers and got 2 sites, but was able to put everyone on one site). The rangers are all friendly and very accomidating to all the guest. I highly recommend bringing a pop-up shade since it’s gets extremely hot here during the summer and the sand literally burned my feet. The river is pretty calm during the morning so swimming across is fairly easy but once the afternoon tide rises, it’s best to stay near the banks of the river to avoid the strong current. There are lots of trails which mostly follow the river. River rafting companies come all morning and afternoon long picking up passengers as there is a pick up point just a few yards from the campsite. Our group had a great time and will highly recommend these primitive sites to anyone wanting to enjoy the beautiful Middle Fork of the American River. Parking is very limited so when camping with a large group, visiting the other sites of the ASRV was difficult but the campsite provided all the activities needed to keep a large group occupied. Fishing, hiking, swimming, mountain biking are all available and the views are pretty spectacular. The road isn’t too bad, long as the vehicle isn’t lowered or have low profile tires they’re fine. Past the campsite, the road becomes a little more off-road which required a minimum 6in clearance. Otherwise we had an amazing time. The only reason I didn’t give a 5 star rating is the lack of shade available on the campsites and the parking, otherwise it’s an awesome place to get away and take some friends and family to visit.
Michelle H.
Classificação do local: 4 Fair Oaks, CA
I’ve never camped here, but I was here today for a couple hours just checking the place out. I tried to come here a few years ago in a Toyota Camry and couldn’t make it — today we came in a lifted F-250, but we did pass a few sedans coming back up the hill. It took us about 15 minutes to get from the road to the campsite. We did use the 4wd on the way back up, but there were several cars at the site. What I’m trying to say is that the access road to get in is much improved. There were signs saying the campground would be closed for a few days for the Western States Trail run, which for whatever reason I thought was pretty cool. They have real bathrooms and porta-potties, plenty of parking and your campsite is only steps from the river. It was about 10 degrees cooler at the campground than it was at the main road. It is a very pretty campground. I have AT&T and didn’t have service at the campground, but there were others there that did. We were able to listen to the radio all the way down and there were some hippies that had it playing quietly at their car. I was surprised at how many campers and other passers-by there were on a Thursday afternoon/evening. Everyone seemed cool though. I’ll add this spot to places to camp sometime this summer.
Amber D.
Classificação do local: 2 Petaluma, CA
Warning! The road down here is extremely treacherous! There are no warning signs at the top of the 3 mile narrow road down a gigantic cliff letting you know this. Possible tire poppage or a swift kick to your car’s belly highly possible!!! I have to be fair. We chose this spot while looking for a nice place to relax and swim in the water. What we got was quite a bit different. The best description for the weather here is a deep ravine oven, with sand so hot you could fry an egg(it would get sandy), and water the temperature of the arctic seas. Seriously, we barely made it running in flip flops from the lower parking lot down to the water, burning our feet the whole way. When we finally made it down to the water and jumped in, were were met with the burning, itching feeling of numbness instantly. Ouchy! This place is probably the perfect spot for rafting or boating, especially if you’re driving down in a 4 wheel drive SUV that can take a beating. But other than that… I’m just thankful that we didn’t decide to camp here(we stayed at Mineral Bar State Recreation campsite, which has much warmer water and much cooler temperatures for some reason). Not that this place isn’t beautiful, because it really is(high cliffed walls of trees bourdering a serene looking river), but because we drove in at dusk and I’m sure my car would still be sitting there t-boned on some dagger-like protruding boulder.
