Little Diamond RV Campground

We have a zone membership with Thousand Trails, which means that we camp in their parks for free, for up to 14 days at a time. We have visited many TT's around the country...some are great, some are horrible. Little Diamond is now one of my favorites...and there is no sewer hook-ups, so this is really saying a lot. We were there the last week of July. A beautiful time of the year in this park. We loved that the park was TT and KOA...it made it even more fun for my kids. Yes, the TT side of the park is overgrown and needs TLC...but it was green and lush and forested. We could ride bikes up to the little lake, the family lodge and pool and the playground. There were plenty of family activities in the lodge during the weekend...which the kids loved. There is a huge frisbee disc golf area. The park is nice and quiet and a great place to get away and relax. There is a dump station near the ranger station. It is a quick drive down to Little Diamond Lake...but we could not find access to the lake. The only beach we saw was for a private club and we drove around half of the lake...it appears to have access for residents only (a bummer for us in the midst of summer). We really love the summer feel of this park and would not hesitate to return.

NAVIGATING: Most of the trek to this campground was uneventful, but there is a bit of a drive around the lake to get to the actual campground. Our GPS did attempt to take us down some scary overgrown trail (maybe it was a road once upon a time) so be careful of that.

GETTING SITUATED: The check-in is a pretty typical Thousand Trails set up with a ranger station and gate. The park is a strange Thousand Trails/KOA mash-up and certain sites are designated for each. There doesn't seem to be a lot of rhyme or reason to how they are designated as the Thousand Trail sites are just sprinkled throughout the campground (although there is one section that seems to be dominated by TT).

DOCKING STATIONS: The sites are mostly dirt and gravel. There is NO SEWER at this campground. When we plugged into the electric at our site (#11), we got an open ground light on our surge protector. We only stayed one night, so we opted not to plug in and just used our batteries instead. If we were staying longer, we would have moved to another spot. Water was fine.

THE SCENE: The crowd felt more KOA than TT to me.

THE FACILITIES: All the facilities (shared between KOA and TT) seemed to be fine. The pool was in use and folks were using the lodge. The family bathrooms were very nice with a private shower and restroom.

STUFF TO DO: There is a lake with docks and tables under canopies to hang out at. There are also boats for rent. For some reason, the lake gave me this super Friday The 13th Crystal Lake vibe. Cool and creepy.

HIKE FACTOR: The park is big enough to get in a decent walk or run. We didn't stay long enough to explore any of the nearby stuff.

GEEK FACTOR: We got decent service on Verizon and AT&T. T-Mobile was 3G and no Sprint coverage.

Verizon: 3.10 MBPS down/1.70 MBPS up
AT&T: 17.90 MBPS down/1.15 MBPS up
Sprint: 0.00 MBPS down/0.00 MBPS up
T-Mobile: 0.08 MBPS down/0.10 MBPS up (3G only)

This park is a dual park, KOA on one side and Thousand Trails on the other with shared amenities. We stayed in the KOA as well when friends visited so I have reviewed that separately.

The Good:
Most of the sites, especially in the upper loop, are rather large and well spaced with lots of trees and lots of privacy between them. We stayed in the upper loop (site #114) the first time we were there and that site was very private and very large. The second time we were there the upper loop was closed for the season and we stayed in #62, which was also rather private, especially since no one was in the site next to us and the road to the upper loop (which runs right by this site) was closed for the season.

Cell coverage is decent. Not fantastic, and there were drop out spots but it was definitely useable (able to stream video on both AT&T and Verizon).

The Bad:
In typical TT fashion the roads are messy, some sites are overgrown and have a lot of weeds on them. Trees need pruned. It appeared some power boxes and water spigots were broken.

In this particular instance though this is an extra slap in the face. This is dual park (part KOA and part Thousand Trails). It's the same staff and management for the whole park, using the same equipment. So when you drive around the KOA and see how nicely groomed and upkept it is you KNOW the park management and staff has the skills and tools to take care of the park and keep it nice and clean and groomed. This only means that the TT side is significantly messier because they are choosing not to apply those same skills and care to that side of the park. It shows you that they know how to run a park, but TT just doesn't care and would rather not dedicate the time to upkeep.

The park amenities are in better shape then I usually see at TT parks and I can only assume that is because the KOA clients are using those same amenities.

That all said I would stay there again because the price is right, and I do like the location.

RESORT AMENITIES:
The pool was in decent shape, but the hot tub wasn't very hot and had weak jets, so it felt more like a small warmer pool.

They do have a disc golf course though I didn't play it, and a lot of open space. The kids we were there with loved running in the open space and did have fun at the playground. There was also a dedicated dog run, though most of the time I just walked the dog around the park, it is big enough that it is good exercise.

You are a little far from anything. The nearest town is that of Diamond Lake but there isn't much there. The nearest community with a full grocery store, etc. is Newport, WA which is about 25 mins away. But we like the solitude so we don't count that against the place :)

[Actual Stay 08/27/16 and 09/16/16]