Bear River Casino

We stopped here for a night on our way up to Harris Beach State Park. It’s right off 101. Clear RV parking signs when you enter the parking lot. Drive towards the back and park pretty much anywhere. Head inside to the security desk and they’ll have you sign up for the players club (super quick) and give you a paper to put on your dash. Could have stayed here 2 nights. There were 6-7 other rigs there the night we stayed.

Overall, painless and clean spot to stop for the night.

..Minivans like Dodge Caravan or similar/smaller cars! We checked in at the casino and told the security what kind of car we got. One hour after falling asleep another security woke us up and said that we have to leave immediately. The reason: Our car is not a RV. We told him that we live full time in this car and that it is our RV but we still had to leave. They could have told us earlier..Never again!

We read the reviews and it seemed like a great place to pull off and sleep for the night. We’ve been camping in a Subaru Outback from Maine to California and nobody has ever had a problem with it until this place. Apparently if you’re in an SUV or van or RV it’s fine to stay the night but they were very strict on the “no car camping” policy. Luckily, being young women, we were able to convince the supervisor to let us stay the night. But the struggle we went through just to park in a lot with no WiFi, no amenities besides walking across the lot to the casino, was not worth it. Our original plan was another casino near Arcata. Wish we had just gone along with that plan. The plus to this is that it’s free and seems to have security cameras all along the parking lot.

We just came by here on the way to Redwoods. After reading reviews we decided to call ahead, the person who answered was super friendly and he said it would be great to park overnight - they just ask if we would come in and register with security. When we arrived we went in the side door (Got I.D’d, we are pretty young so this was unsurprising. Keep this in mind if you are under 21), the door attendant directed us to the players club area. You must sign up for a players card first. It’s an easy process just requiring an ID and basic info and you get $10 free play for tables or slots. After you get the players card go to the big front entrance of the casino (not the hotel, we went there first and the lobby clerks were VERY confused) and look for a kind of inconspicuous door on the right hand side. There should be a security officer there that will give you a little form to fill out that includes your license plate # and drivers liscense # and basic info. After initialing that you’ll park in the right area and won’t make a ruckus, you are given a big pass to put on your windshield. The parking area is flat, the left hand side looks like it’s near grass to walk dogs. The night we were there, there was only two other overnighters so all was quiet. In the morning the view was very nice. Keep in mind max stay is 3 nights unless extended by staff.

While not quite desperate... there were no available state or federal campsites for a hundred miles on Labor Day weekend.

We needed to get Player's Card for free stay, but got $10 house credit to play on machines or tables. Pluses included nonsmoking game room and bar area, flattish paved parking, grassy area for dogs and plenty of room for RVs. This was the furthest south of three greater Eureka are casinos we were considering to beat the forest fire smoke. Better but still smoky, but obviously not the casino's fault. We had plenty but not too many neighbors. The best parking spots are along the northern edge.