Wilderness Lakes

Run! Don’t stay here. Golden Village Palms in Hemet is nearby and lovely.

Very friendly staff, sites along the canals are mostly gravel & spacious, good water, sewer & electric, WiFi was VERY slow & had to pay for it! More long term/​permanent residence than we cared to see, mainly because their sites are trashy looking. Staying 2 weeks & enjoying our stay. Would come back. BTW dairies in area are no longer operating… no more flies as others have reported.

Stayed here during the day to visit my son. There are absolutely no flies. They had a cabin next to the playground and just loved it. Their 1 ½ year old would wake up excited every day to look out the window and see the ducks and kids playing at the play area. We used the adult pool which was so quiet and nice. Many activities — mini golf, etc. pickle ball which is like a tiny tennis court, horseshoes, fishng, Lots of fun for kids. Very clean and well maintained. It is so close and we had never heard of it. A great deal if you have Thousand Trails membrship.

Super camp ! the ranger’s team is extremely welcoming… And do his best to organise many activities even in winter and shade on summer. We highly recommend :-) !!!

This place was fabulous! I literally just got back from a 2-​night stay, during a PACKED holiday weekend!
The good:
Where do I begin… the place is huge, and it has everything: pool tables, mini-​golf, NICE heated pools, a friendly staff, very clean restrooms, showers, a well-​stocked General Store, activities and more! There was always something to do, or you could sit around and do nothing. Like I said, the place was PACKED, but yet it was actually incredibly quiet. Most of the campers were quite friendly, which I expected. It was a great experience, and I would go back again and again!
The not-​so-​good:
This is not the fault of the staff, but there were many people who did NOT pick up after their pets. Also, the restrooms ran out of toilet paper (it could have been restocked before I had to use the facility again.) And lastly, I would have liked to have seen the staff be more aggressive with insisting on people following the rules and behaving in a kind, respectful manner. Example: during the karaōke night, so many people in the audience were rude and obnoxious when others were trying to sing. It was obnoxious, I felt badly for the singers, and so I left. And I had really been looking forward to karaōke night! So that was a bummer.
My bottom line: if you’re looking for a great place in the wilderness but close enough to the city, this is the real deal. Great place to take the kids! Bring their bikes, the place is HUGE!
Yes, there was a fair amount of trashy people there, but it’s a public place. I think it would help if the entire property was fenced in (because some people seemed homeless and/​or a tad out of place), but honestly, they didn’t bother me. I wasn’t exactly expecting a weekend of A-​Listers when I signed up to go camping anyway.
And oh yeah, I saw one fly. ONE. For those who claimed this place was infested with flies, they must have BO or a stinky camper and that’s why the flies flocked to them.
If you’re looking for a fun little getaway, check this place out! Like I said, I’ll be back! (That is, if my FWCs (friends with campers) invite me back lol.)

Our experience here was good. A little disappointed that the sites are all gravel and not level. The restrooms were clean but dated. The pools are nice. Mini golf was under repair. The game room was ok. Country store had the basics. Staff was friendly. I saw there were two laundry rooms.
There are lots of Canadian Geese roaming around this time of year.

I had to find a place for my judge to stay that was close to our ranch. Since, we don’t have a nice or even a ok motel/​hotel I got the idea to put her up at the wilderness. The staff was great, showed me around the camp grounds and let me look inside all the different kinds of cabins. Needless to say that my judge said she had a quiet restful sleep and would love to stay there again. PS our cows are all gone:(our local dairies have no more cows. But the chicken ranch is still there. I think I miss the cow smell. About the flies, we will just have to see if it makes a difference after the first freeze of the year having the cow gone. Think it ran me $ 110 for the night. It was well worth it to have a mile down the road.

We stayed at this place in June 2014 for 7 nights. And decided to never return. We saw what was so obvious to us, drug dealers and drug addicts in the park at night. I wouldn’t even allow my teenage kids to ride through the park during the day time. So for a place that has security it was surprising to see this. They had a decent line up of things to do. We decided to not go fishing as the water was a mucky green and had an odor to it. There was flies as it is in the middle of farm country, however we have recently learned the dairy farm is gone.
Positives: Nice wide sites! The showers and laundry were very clean! And the Country store always had the few things we forgot.
Don’t know if we would ever go back!

I read the reviews and I was really worried about the flies. well all I can say this place was clean NO flies whatsoever very kid friendly. the staff was very nice and helpful. We stayed in cabin 177, and this was real nice clean and cozy.

Definitely the worst campground in california. Flies, crackheads, rude staff, dairy farm next door, duck swamps throughout campground.

New 50 amp sites available. Very pretty in photos but in person too many flies. Been coming here for at least 12 years now and the flies are getting worse. It must be the green water in the channels. The dairy farm is now closed and even when open the flies were only bad on side of park bordering the dairy. Now flies everywhere. The water fowl are fun. Bring bread to feed them. My daughter named a couple of the geese. The park is now open to anyone and more trash left on ground. I found beer bottles on ground left from people fishing. A lot of the «campers» are not friendly like at most RV parks. I use a small electric cart, a little golf cart type vehicle, to drive around park. One rude car driver honked at me for driving slow. The speed limit is 5mph but that guy passed me and drove at least 10−15mph.

We stayed with two trailers, four adults and two kids, Friday through Sunday. We were in the newly hooked up sites right up against the canals towards the back. We tried fishing all weekend with no luck. But overall, our experience was good, clean and family friendly. The staff was available for questions and provided a lot of activity throughout the time. The sites do not have fire pits, but if you bring one that is covered, you’re welcome to have a fire of your own.

The amenities are good but I couldn’t get past the flies. They were horrible. I know that there was a dairy farm next to it and just recently sold all the cows but all the flies are now at the campground. We couldn’t sit outside till dusk and then we had to worry about the red ants, especially with the kids. Not going back. :(

Dates of our Stay: June 19 – 22 2014, June 27 – 29 2014 our weekend getaway place & July 28 for a week 2014
Memberships: Thousand Trails, Encore
Security: Yes, guard at the front gate
Amenities: Picnic Table, Charcoal grill, Family Pool & Adult Pool, Store, Laundry, Tennis/​Pickle ball, Horse Shoe area, Shuffle board, Mini Golf, Train Rides, Playground, Restaurant, Basketball, picnic/​BBQ area, Nature Center with fire ring, Fitness Center (must have the code to use), Clubhouse, Staff led activities, Long term area, Annual sites, RV washing area, Fishing $ 10 day per person, RV Storage $ 70 a month
Cellular Coverage: Wifi for $ 10.00 –one device at a time
Shade: Yes, mature trees on most sites
Site Pad: dirt
Handicapped Sites: Yes
Water: Yes
Electric: Yes, 30 amps & 50 amps
Sewer: Yes
Campfire: Cover required & 6inch off ground
Back In: Yes
Pet Friendly: Yes
The Staff: Excellent very high on the friendly meter :)
My Thoughts: We live near the campground so this is perfect for a weekend getaway without using too much gas. The staff & campers are friendly. The pool and spa are great. Also, I enjoy the birds & ducks here.
Some things to do at Wilderness Lakes Preserve:
Swim
Horseshoes
Walking-​best time early morning or evening
Birdwatching
Fishing– Catfish
Golfing within 10 miles of campground
Photography
Staff led activities like candy bar bingo & dancing mostly during the weekend
Restaurant serves breakfast, lunch & dinner

Wilderness Lakes is the worst campground I have ever been to. This Memorial day weekend 5÷23÷2014 I tried to camp, arrived at 11:15 PM too tired to notice the number of bugs so I went to bed as soon as we were setup. The next day I went to take the dog for a walk. To my surprise when I opened the door hundreds of fly’s flew in the motor home. I look up and 50yards away was a huge cattle ranch and composting piles. Be advised stay away from this place.

We stayed for three days here the last weekend in January and it was awesome. We stayed in a storage spot — site #5 (so electric only) and were stoked to be all by ourselves right on the canal. Like other reviews I was surprised by how crowded the campground was. But we were happy with our space.
Activites: Although we didn’t catch any fish, my boys had a great time trying. We played Candy Bar Bingo and loved riding the train for only a twenty-​five cents each. We watched a horse-​shoe tournament and enjoyed the game room. If you go on a Saturday night don’t miss Karaōke, it’s hilarious. We missed out on miniature golf and didn’t bring our swim suits for the heated pool, but there’s always next time.
The people (the staff and other campers) were all so friendly and cool. We felt right at home. We’ll be coming back for sure.

We came for a week rented a cabin very nice and clean sleeps 6 people. (Kitchen living room/​dinning table, a room with bunk beds in the hallway and fold out couch.) It came with pots and pans and everything you can need to cook. Please bring your own pans if you are thinking of cooking. The pans they have are very cheap and food sticks even with Pam and oil! It sat right in front on the man made River. The cabin has a small deck with a propane BBQ. We BBQ every night the kids loved it. The kids and us enjoyed playing baseball, basketball, miniature golf, pool tables, swimming pool, play room, horse shoe. You can rent many of the items for free at the family lodge. We brought our own baseball gear. Tons of flies! Thats he only negative. Everyone was very nice and helpful.

We have been looking for a local place to be able to enjoy during a last minute camping planning, so we thought this would be a good place. We arrived early afternoon Friday. Pulling in I was surprised to find that the campground was packed. I was hoping to get a spot next to the canal to allow my boys to fish at any time. We were not that fortunate because there are A LOT of extended stay campers. I was surprised to find many high priced RVs. It seemed to be a very popular place.
Upon finding a spot far away from the canals, I was very surprised to see how small our campsite was. We only have a 25 foot trailer, but it seemed to barely fit. Also, it feels like your neighbors are right on top of you. All the spots are complete dirt, no grass anywhere. It also seemed like there was no investment in landscape maintenance for the trees.
I am a very low maintenance guy, so I just thought we would make the best of it, so I started unloading. After setting up we headed to the pool. The pool was a decent size as well as having two jacuzzis. However, the deck and coping looked very warn over. The pool definitely needed a face lift.
Besides the pool, my boys enjoyed the playground as well as the weekend train they have rolling through there.
Fishing was a joke. Like I said before, there is no grass anywhere so you are fishing on the dirt. I called a few days before and the guy told me they just stocked the «lake» with catfish, so I really looking forward to catching something. Turns out I doubt they actually did recently stock it. I was even asking others and watching others and by Saturday night, all of them said they didn’t even get a nibble.
Overall, I would not recommend this place unless you were absolutely desperate to go camping. None of the staff were very friendly, and none of the campers were that friendly as well. Usually we get to meet a few new people and have a good time talking, but everyone just seemed to themselves. Oh well.
Don’t waste your money or time.

This was my first time here. I is a nice setting, people were super friendly. It had a well stocked store even smokes and beer. LOL It has 2 nice pools one adult and one family. Overall it was well worth the drive. I beats a lot of the camp grounds I have been to in the Inland Empire. Yes they do try to get you to sign up for the membership but if you camp a lot like we do then it is well worth it in the long run. Plus they do have a bunch of different places around the country. Overall I really enjoyed staying here. Especially the fact I could back right up to the canals and fish right behind my RV. No more than 10 feet from my back door.

My parents being TT’s members, we’ve visited this place a few times since I’ve been a kid. Most recently, we just came back yesterday from ‘camping’ (read: renting a garden home) for the long weekend.
Key things to note: you are not in the wilderness, it is not a lake, but a man-​made /​maintained water streams /​rivers /​what-​have-​you. The cow farm doesn’t smell that bad, even with high winds.
Close to the freeway, just 90 minutes from home, 20 minutes from the casinos, 15 minutes from shopping and 30 minutes from a catholic church. Oh, and if need be, maybe some 10 – 12 minutes from the Murietta Loma Linda Medical Center.
Facility center is clean and seems barely used — was great for us to get in our daily workouts while we were there. Store is well stocked and has the LA Times — my dad’s mandatory necessity. Ducks and geese were all around with their babies and hungry for food (we have gotten ambushed by geese before; that was not fun). Plenty of daily activities for adults, kids and families.
Security guard needs to check his attitude — BIG TIME. Not friendly by any means. That really brings this four/​five star rating to a three. How can you be so rude EVERY SINGLE DAY?!
Other than that, while it is not the ‘prettiest’ TT/​NACO grounds, in terms of convenience, this really hits the spot.