Colusa-Sacramento River State Rec Area

This does not seem like the same State Park property we stayed at many times a few years ago. It must be run by a contractor or some other arrangement...The oldest, most beat up bath/shower house I have ever seen. Infrastructure crumbling...The only nice thing about this campground is the friendly people staying here on their way north or south.

I've stayed here twice, both times as I was on my way elsewhere. Colusa is a nice little town, quiet, and not so far off of interstate 5. The campground is a bit old and well-used but ok, clean enough, and has a dump station. Very little privacy between sites (and potentially none in the back RV lot), but the sites are paved and level. My most recent stay was the day after it re-opened from its COVID-19 hiatus so understandably not a lot of maintenance had been done. The campground was not full either time that I stayed, and the camp host kindly let me stay in one of their empty "premium" sites nearer to the bathroom even though I only paid the "back lot" price. There have been a lot of flying insects each time I've stayed (March and June), and it's been warm, so bug screens are a must!

The campground gets 4 stars not for aesthetics or location, but because of its convenience, level sites, relative emptiness (in my experience, though a weekend in fishing season might be different), flexibility and helpfulness of the camp host, and cleanliness (and I am fussy about that, particularly in these times of plague...). It's good for a stopover, not for an outdoors experience.

This is a nice little campground, close to town, and lots of shade. There are several sites that have 30 amp electrical but no water. There is a dump station with potable water. Now for the "but". . . the showers and restrooms had not been cleaned for who knows how long. Dirty floors, litter scattered around, and disgusting toilets. The ladies shower room smelled so bad that my wife refused to go in. All of this and there is an on-site camp host.
This is the first California State campground we have stayed in for many years and I hope the condition of this campground is not representative of the entire system. Maybe I am expecting too much, but I am from Oregon and am accustomed to a superlative State Park system.

We stayed in a site with no hook ups. The hook up sites were $26 at the time we were there. There are showers and a dump available. Sites are level and treed however close together affording little privacy.

The town is worth exploring. It’s very quiet town with lots to check out. A nice path runs along the river and go s through China Town. We enjoyed looking around on foot however we were there on Easter and everything was closed.

There's a county fair, pretty river, Casino and a cute little town. Nearest Starbucks is 30 minutes away, but there's a little diner nearby that looked well cared for. It was closing when we pulled into town at 10pm.The full hookup RV park next door looked mostly full of full-timers. There's a dump station at the state park and sites have water/electric. We arrived late so we just parked in one of the boondocking sites. We didn't use the restrooms so I can't speak for them, but on a Sunday night there was only about 4-5 other RVs there. There's a a park host on site. This is a very pretty location. It's almost fully shaded by the beautiful, mature trees. Sites are all paved, wide but a little shallow. We could've fit our 30 foot trailer if we unhooked. The boondock sites are longer, parallel parking sites, which allowed us to pull in without unhooking from our tow vehicle. They had a little built-in grill, a picnic table, grass and a tree. There's a large parking lot which was totally empty. The cell coverage was adequate that I could watch the livestream from my local tv station on Facebook.

Looking for a place to stay driving up the I-5, and not wanting to stop at the run-of-the mill RV parks, I looked for something a bit more off the beaten path. I was so happy to find this gem. It was over 100 degrees on the hot summer day I stopped here, so the old, large shade trees were a paradise of shade.

There is also nearby access to the Sacramento river, which seemed to be a good spot for the locals out fishing. There is a levee you can ride a bike on for miles. Also within walking distance is the town of Colusa with many parks, playgrounds, shops, and a few restaurants. I enjoyed my time exploring this quant old town, also riding a couple miles further into town for groceries and supplies.

While here, they were putting in electrical and water hookups, which would make this a 5-star spot in my book. As it is, it's my favorite 'dry' campground to date. Reviews on other sides have complained of a creepy, unfriendly park host. That person was not around while I was there, instead the park host at the time was a very friendly lady.

Don't worry about the 27-foot limit listed here. You could easily get a 40-footer into sites 10-14. Also there is 'enroute' camping for $14, versus the $28 I paid for a spot. That gets you a spot in the large empty parking lot, but doesn't get you the shade. Again, a 40-footer could park in the lot easily.