Long Ravine Campground

We recently stayed at Long Ravine and had the group site. Nice large area for a group of 75, we only had 35 but liked that extra space so we could keep the main camp away from parking our vehicles.
Pros:
— Quiet campground
— Clean restrooms
— Just 10 minutes off of HWY 80, not at all difficult to get to
— Close to town with major grocery store and gas stations
— Large group site designated to be for a group (not like most campgrounds that just gives you several sites put together and still have the mini fence lines as separators)
— Nice shade trees at the camping sites
— Beach was nice, little one’s loved the slide
— Nice large lake! Water temp was perfect and seemed to have a lot of water
Cons:
— As a group we were allowed 7 «free» cars, however would not include our boats as some of the 7. Paid more for the boat than if we paid for the car
— Each day we had to trailer our boat as they charged an additional $ 25 to dock it
— It is a long haul to the beach and docks if you plan on walking; better off driving if you are hauling things with you to spend an entire day out
— They allow regular cars to park in boating spots so those of us with trailers had to park back at our camp and have someone carpool the drivers back to the docks after we launched
— Group site is located just above the camp host site which was not thought out well! Each night we had someone from the front shack come tell us to keep it down because we were disturbing the camp host. They should have thought the location through, what do you expect when you have a site that can hold 75 people? It’s going to get loud! Asked the people below us if we were disturbing them and they said they could not hear us at all which surprised them
— Restrooms are clean, but they ran out of tokens at one point and said the check back at the front shack for more. Several hours later they were still out
— One stall in the woman’s restroom was out of order the entire weekend, was not always convenient when there were lines first thing in the AM or just before 10PM curfew
— No water is provided at tent sites which is the norm for most campgrounds but not at all convenient for a group site. We had to walk down the hill to the restroom each time we needed water for cleaning our dishes.
— They are horrible when it comes to answering their phones. We called multiples times a day for several days in a row, leaving messages and it still took them sometime an entire week to call us back.
— One family in our group wanted to extend their stay one night and asked at the front desk if the site was available which they stated it was, when asked if they could pay for an additional night they were told it would cost them $ 175. So even though no one was going to be on that spot for several days Long Ravine wanted to charge them $ 150 more than a regular tent site.
My review may have more cons than pros however we will definitely be back. Now we have experienced this place we know what to expect. For the most part it was a nice place. Once out on the water it didn’t matter the small issues we had back at camp. At camp we now know what we need to be better prepared for as far as our stay.

Big tree where our awning should be open. Almost midnight and crazy loud people. People smoking dope next to us. No water at our site. They even charged us an extra 20 bucks for bringing our car. Not sure we will ever be back.

Okay campground for a Trailer. We were in RV5, which I would never want again. The hookups are so far away from the trailer and they are uphill. Impossible to get all the grey and black water out of the tanks. And our table and fire pit were in the back, not in front of the trailer. RV 7 looked like a good spot. Maybe 6 or 4 would be okay also.

Pretty good camping spot. Had one of the group sites. No water access except for at the restrooms, which were a bit of a walk from our site, but we made due. Nice beach area, but very little shade, so bring umbrellas or a pop up. The site itself was nice and clean, staff were friendly and helpful, and I liked that they had flushing toilets. Shower is coin-​op, so bring quarters ($.50 for 3 minutes). As mentioned in some of the other reviews, there is tons of poison oak (it is camping after all), but as long as you stick to the paths and roads, you’ll be fine.

Pretty much, most of the comments in all these 3 Star or less reviews is right on target. So why my 5 Stars?
Because it’s CAMPING, people.
For $ 40, I drove less than an hour from a major city, and got an opportunity to spend time with my family outdoors, overnight, next to a lake, and share with them what camping is, was, and always will be, which is filled with some uncomfort, insects and animals, funny smells, noisy neighbors, slightly awkward restroom arrangements, and yes, even unlevel sleeping surfaces and murky lake water (as-​if!).
Our experience at Long Ravine was so perfect, that I almost didn’t want to put up the 5 Stars because I wanted to keep this amazing spot under wraps. But I’m sure a lot of employees worked hard to make it so awesome and deserve props, and maybe others can have the same great time we did after reading this, so here I go, hoisting up a well deserved 5 Stars for y’all.

I have been camping since i was a child …
This campground is designed for tent campers but the ammenties are just not there …
Annoyances — no place to wash dishes, no shelf in bathroom to hold stuff, pay showers and no change machine.
We went ⁶⁄₃₀ — 7/​2, but came home early. They advertise a store and deli. As a tent camper, these things are important to me while camping, especially in extreme heat. The store and deli were closed during the week. We ended up having to drive to Colfax in the morning to get ice for the boat and then in the evening to refresh. Dave at the Colfax Market is really nice … but i really didn’t go camping to develop a close relationship with him!
The other issue with leaving the park everytime we needed ice, is getting back in. The entrance was busy with day use people and we had to sit and wait for them to figure out how to pay … we had a pass, they need an express lane through … it would not have been annoying if i didn’t have to do it so often!
Bottom line … not going back. Too dirty, no way to get clean, lacking ammenties, Hwy 80 to close, they are not what they advertised to be … (campground with store and deli)

First time visitor. I loved the short drive to get here from Sac. The lake was nice (once you found parking) but overall I was not impressed. The bathroom close to us had one operational stall and the showers were broken. And our site did not have a BBQ as advertised.
The worst part was the other campers. I wish the only problems we had were the marijuana that was being smoked around us. I am hoping we just ended up in the ghetto section. The people across from us were so drunk by 6:30pm on Saturday that the girls were screaming at each other then crying.
The hilarity was when the «security patrol» came to tell us they could hear voices (at 10:30pm). Apparently we were talking too loud with our teens as we sat playing cards. Maybe if we were drunk and had our music blaring it would have been ok.
Security had told the people across from them to turn the music down which lasted for about 5 minutes. About 12 am people starting complaining to other campers about their music and the offenders decided to crank up the base so loud we couldn’t sleep.
At 8:30 the next morning two campsites came inches from a fist fight after screaming profanities for a few minutes (despite being screamed at that there were kids around). Apparently the rowdy drunk people broke something at the site next to them. Complete trash!
We will be back for a day trip but not where I want to bring my kids. Hope they clean up the guests!

Most disgusting toilet!!! I know it’s a campground but I have never been to one that the camp host do not clean nevertheless maintain one. The toilet floor was flooding of I Don’t know what!!! We stayed 2 nights on a friday & Saturday night & I would get up first thing in the morning hoping they had cleaned the toilets, but, Oh No! It was very disappointing.

The website show outdoor grill but actually it doesn’t have it.
Call ahead to make sure it is there.
Camp site is good but you can hear cars on the highway 80 at night since it is close.
You can do a lot of water activities in the lake, just a short walking distance down.
You can bring your own boat.
There were a lot of fishes, wish I brought my gear to do some fishing.
You have to walk through other camp site (RV campsite) to use the bathroom.
Bathroom is clean, standard toilet with flushing. You can put some coins in to use the shower.

I Went here for memorial day weekend. Opening weekend and we start to rake our campsite as there were leaves all over ankle deep. A staff member told us to stop raking as it was Indian land and they get upset for any changes that occur on their land. We got an area cleared enough to make our camping trip as fun and pleasant as possible. However, when I went to take a shower the Men’s restroom shower was COLD water, there was a used tampon in a cup sitting on the ground with human FECAL matter in it and a pair of dirty men’s underwear. I told maintenance about it and the guy had a disgusted look on his face. I went back to camp told wife, kids and mother in law about it and that is when they shared with me how disgusting the women’s restroom was as well. Trash and toilets not being cleaned, women’s monthly stuff still in garbage, running out of soap and not filling it back up. I called them and was in process of leaving a message when someone picked up the phone and asked what was going on and I explained to her. was informed that she would tell maintenance, but maintenance never did anything about it. I spent well over $ 200 for the camping alone, not including gas, food material to come up here and you cannot keep a clean restroom or provide hot showers!!! you have 1 bathroom for each sex to share that has about 3 toilets for use for campsites 1 – 28 really? ONE BATHROOM take some of the money that we pay and add on and make them bigger, provide the hot water and CLEAN the damn things. What do us campers pay for!!! More than likely will NOT be back unless I hear from someone that they have improved on EVERYTHING there. Looks like it will be Sly Park or find some other spot. Anyone have recommendations that I can take the family? DO NOT CAMP HERE ! ! ! !

We stayed at the Long Ravine Campgrounds this past weekend (July 13 – 15, 2012). We live in Sacramento, Ca so the drive was unexpectedly short. I knew Colfax wasn’t that far away, but the drive up was less than 45 minutes, which was a HUGE plus for us having a one year old we were taking camping for the first time.
I loved the scenery. I must say, it was pretty. We had three lakeside sites (LS 7, 8 and 9). We were right up against the wooden fence next to the lake. Our sites had the best view, although the highway is also in plain view. We woke up to a calm lake each morning and beautiful sunsets at night — the huge trees were quite pretty. The lake was clean (minus some littering by those idiots that litter). However, that being said, the sites at this location are not that big. Not sure how big the sites are up higher where they do NOT have lakeside views (which we would never book anyway because those sites are amongst parking lots — it was ugly). Although the lakeside sites are too small, and too close to each other, they were better choices then the other sites that are not considered lakeside, that’s for sure. We had three sites total amongst four couples and my one year old son (9 people total). There was definitely enough room for us all with the three sites, but if we had only booked two sites, it would’ve been too tight. The major issue we all had was that the other sites are seriously a few feet away (less than ten feet) so you feel like your neighbors, who you likely don’t know, are right on top of you. A huge NEGATIVE for us. Thankfully, our camping neighbors directly next to us were nice, not loud or obnoxious. Had they been, we would’ve been pissed. Right around the corner of the hill we were on, was a LARGE group of people camping together. They must have booked 5 – 7 sites and set up shop. They were kind of obnoxious and loud but were not as close as the other folks near us so it wasn’t that big of a problem. Another issue for us was that although we had nice lakeside sites, the sites we had, had NO shade. We knew that in advance so we packed plenty of canopies and were fine, but it would’ve been much nicer had we had some tree shade. Also, like many other reviewers, we did see poison oak at our camp site so I had to keep an even more cautious eye on my son or we would’ve been screwed. It’s kind of strange that management doesn’t do something to remove it. It’s right in your site! Another important point to bring up is IF you do camp here, MAKE SURE TO BRING YOUR RECEIPT THEY MAIL YOU! We paid extra money for an extra vehicle ($ 15) but when we got there, they tried to say we could only have one car per site (per the rules) even though we paid extra. That’s when we busted out our proof of payment and they let us in. Had we not brought that, we would’ve been out that $ 15 and a spot for our additional car.
Other than that, we had a good time. Our view was pretty. The water was clean, for the most part and we had a good time rafting/​floating around the lake — but we’re the kind of people that try to make the best of any situation. Most likely we won’t return. Not because we had a horrible time, but because there are so many other places for us to try before returning somewhere that was mediocre.
Recap:
Pros– good view (minus the highway), mostly clean water, ideal location (compared to the other sites).
Cons– sites are too small and close together (risk being too close to obnoxious, loud people), management doesn’t bother to remove poison oak growing in the actual sites, bathrooms are pretty dirty (which is fairly normal for campsites), and some litter in random areas.
PS: Long Ravine Campgrounds is NO longer privately owned. It is now owned by the Nevada Irrigation District (NID) — this is a GOOD thing! Give it a year or so and this place won’t be so out of order. I have a sneaking suspicion NID will start running this place like a state park — which we are ALL for. I bet that means less rowdiness as someone will actually enforce the rules (by patrolling), perhaps get rid of the poison oak and take these campgrounds more seriously.

If I could leave a minus star, I would. For starters, my friend phoned ahead of time to verify the fees. He was given one price over the phone, however upon arrival, the fees increased by about $ 160!!! Next, the place was completely packed, which was understandable and expected, seeing as how it was Labor Day weekend. But what was totally unexpected was the loud, obnoxious, rude, gangster thugs. Pot smoke at all hours of the morning/​day/​night, loud, offensive music until 3AM, drunken, aggressive thugs intimidating other guests (a woman at that. Ooohh, big, bad dudes!), skinheads trying to pick a racial fight with other campers, drunken «security» who were partying with other campers, etc. Also, it seems that this place draws all of the crappiest, meanest, foul-​mouthed «parents» in the country. But the absolute WORST part was: Saturday night, they turned off the showers. That in and of itself is fine, camping is camping. But the reason they did it was to conserve water. You see, their water supply is a huge tank, so when that runs dry, there is no running water for showers, toilets, hoses, etc. This made the bathrooms a disgusting health hazard. Poop on the walls, floors and all over the toilets. The maintenance guys brought 30 gallon GARBAGE CANS full of what appeared to be LAKE WATER to pour into the toilets for «flushing» (imagine no plumbing for a packed campground with a lot of drunk/​drugged out people puking, pooping and God knows what else in the bathrooms. I was told by another camper that the same thing had happened in July as well, so the management was well aware of the problem, didn’t care, didn’t do anything to prevent it from happening again, and is only interested in making a one time buck). This was not the only disgusting, appalling, infectious disaster about this campground either. At least 3 or 4 times per day (possibly more, as I did not spend my entire day at the campsite to see), the maintenance guys drove an open trailer hauling 2 big, transparent sewage holding tanks (presumably from the porta potty’s at the beach/​bar), which they drained, without any kind of sleeve or protection or leakage prevention, into a hole in the ground (to a septic?) right across the street from the potable water storage tank. The days were probably 85 degrees, no wind, and the smell was overwhelming, palpable and horrible. Raw sewage dump right in the midst of all the campsites. To top that beauty off, when the guys were finished and driving away, the tanks would leak raw sewage sludge behind them, leaving a trail of infectious E. coli and a host of other pathogens, bacteria and bio-​hazardous waste. Campers would then walk in it, sometimes barefoot, to and from the bathrooms. One night, the partiers were so rowdy, the sheriff was called. His response to a complaint of harassment/​intimidation and fear of retaliation was «you don’t come to Long Ravine for a good night’s sleep». The lake itself is small, comparatively speaking, but nice, the forest beautiful. However at this campground, access is difficult. If you drive over, parking is limited and if you’re lucky enough to find a spot, you have a nice, long walk to get to the small, crowded launch ramp, and «beach» (about 30 feet wide, rocky and littered). Wait time to launch was about 20 minutes or more.
If you have a boat and want to camp on a nice, big lake, go to McClure, Shasta, or Oroville. If you don’t have a boat, go to the Russian River. Casini Ranch is SUPER family friendly, fun, nice trees and full bushes which make for private campsites, is well maintained and managed. Went there last year on Labor Day weekend, they were full to capacity but our campsite was still private, it didn’t SEEM crowded, there were no raunchy, obnoxious, rude and intimidating partiers, security was phenomenal, and the staff VERY courteous and friendly. They featured a hoot-​nanny, enormous bonfire, and an outdoor movie. THEY want return business, Long Ravine couldn’t care less.
Save your money, protect yourself from disease, OG’s, the «people of Wal-​Mart, trailer trash «management», and go somewhere else…

WEEKEND FROM HELL!
[ Unilocal will not let me post my review because it is too long. Therefore, I have posted it to a blog that can be found here:
]
ONE STAR is too high for what we experienced at this campground.

This is an AWESOME campground… if I were a FLY! After a restful night beauty sleep in the sewage pond, I would buzz 20 yards over to my neighboring campers and for some free grubs/​crib to lay some eggs in.
Disgusting! If you would like to rinse that foul stench off, you’re gonna have to hike down 100 yards down to the «lake» only to work up a sweat from your hike back up the 45 degree embankment. «Oh, I can rinse off under the provided shower», you thought. The only problem is, they shut off the freakin water ’cause there was not enough for rest of the fellow campers. WTF! Needless to say, we had enough of the BS and cut our trip short. Kids were very disappointed. :(

Being that the campground is on Rollins Lake, I kinda expected more convenient access to the lake. Instead, we had to walk up/​down hilly trails and along roads in order to get to the shore. This is fine once or twice, but by the time you factor in additional trips to take the dog swimming, beer runs back to the campsite, etc. etc., it gets pretty tiring (especially while carrying a backpack full of beer!) On the first night we headed down to the shore and there was a terrible cover band playing… but with all the drunk folk (including some of my girls) dancing around, it made for a pretty good time!
The campsites were very large and mostly flat, which was nice as we were a fairly large group and had lots of tents to set up. The website states that they have flush toilets and showers, but EEEEW! I know it’s a campsite, but with one of the toilets overflowing all over the bathroom floor, no paper towels, and a lady in one stall that sounded like she was dying, I decided it was worth the risk of getting poison oak in inconvenient places and opted for the woods! Poison oak runs rampant throughout the campground, so beware!
We were pretty loud, playing music (including some of our favorite Lil Kim hits from high school, lol) and hanging out until almost 2 am, but nobody around us appeared to care :-)
Not disappointing, but Greenhorn’s campsites are closer to the water and the area is more picturesque… think we’ll try that next time!
Oh also, the electrical outlets by our site did not work – bummer :(
2.5 stars

Nice campground but very pricey!!!

With the anticipation of driving to a warmer spot than our usual Big Sur secret campsite in the woods… my friend spontaneously booked a spot here for the 7 of us. We were all stoked on getting some 85 degree weather instead of 60’s– 10 degrees does make that big of a difference with living in micro-​climate SF all summer long.
I had already read someones 1 star review but had hoped it wasn’t going to be as terrible as they said with the poison oak filled throughout the campsite (I am now deathly afraid of poison oak since my first encounter that lasted about a month, spreading on my legs and nose).
Things to note: if you enjoy being in the wilderness, which I think is the main goal of camping– do not come here. Regardless if car camping or backpack camping, there are much better spots than this place. Our $ 50 campsite was bare in the sense that there were minimal trees or any type of green. We could see everyone at their individual campsite and they can see us. What made my experience exceptionally more irritating were the neighbors who blasted their gangster rap until the am with their 10 kids and loud crackling voices that echoed in the empty space through out camp. The park ranger did in fact pay them a visit and warned them a few times from other nearby complaints but didn’t actually reprimand them at the end after her whole rant about how they should be scared of her and how she’s not scared of them due to her abusive childhood. TMI! Buzz kill!
Let’s be real. We’re a bunch of mid 20 year old’s who like to have fun as well, but when we all called it a night after copious amounts of whiskey ginger ales and rum and cokes– all we heard were 4×4 trucks on the freeway breaking heavily, RV generators, and loud vibrations of the bass from the obnoxious music playing over screeching voices.
The only plus to this weekend was driving 30 minutes out to Yuba River in Nevada city. Crisp clear water and pockets for cliff diving. Definitely worth a splash here, but next time the chances are if we renting a Motel 6 may be less ghetto than Long Ravine.

$ 15 parking and $ 75 per camp site. At night sometimes you have other campers who make so much noise that it disturbs other campers after midnight, rangers don’t do anything about it. The campsites are slanted over and water fountains are almost always broken.
Last year my car even got hit in the parking. A truck towing a trailer hit my car and ran away. Not easy to find parking on a busy day, life going jetski.
There is no reception with most phone providers here and no pay phone that I could see. At&t works but is touchy. Verizon said they are going to put out an antenna in the area, but don’t know when.

This campground has a couple other Unilocal under different headings, please read my review here
We were truly disappointed and would hate for others to have to experience camping here…

+1 Water activities (you can rent peddle boats and kayaks for cheap and there are a couple of beach areas)
+1 Location of campsites (beautiful lake and mountain views)
+1 Friendly employees
–1 Small campsites (If you’re in a group of six or more or going to have more than 2 tents it’s worth it to pay for an extra campsite)
–1 All the garbage (I know it’s not the facility’s fault but it is their problem, they really do need some recycling bins and more trash cans)
–1 Lake patrol (The «no wake» zone is only 5 mph and every time we were on our wave runners we were honestly only going 3 – 4 mph so either change your signs to 2 mph or STOP YELLING AT US TO SLOW DOWN)
I love the trees here and the lake is a lot bigger than it looks. If you have a friend that has jet skis or a boat definitely visit this lake because there are tons of little hidden coves and it’s only a 45 minute drive from Sacramento.