Smith's Trout Haven

Customer Beware* We recently planned a getaway and reserved 4 spaces right next to one another for a family get together. We all arrived at different times. ONLY giving one star because of the amazing young man and woman that checked us in.
First, all dogs must be on a leash!! We get to our spot about dusk. We run and stake our dogs down so we can set up the camper. LITERALLY, as we got set up and were taking our dogs into our camper, the camp host came over and told us all dogs must be on a leash and she had been watching and our dogs were not on a leash. She did have her husky with her on a leash (about the time my dog runs out the camper door because my husband opened it to see what was going on). First our dogs were staked on 30 feet of line. They were running around but on a leash!!! Bad taste right out the gate. Next morning our party is making breakfast between the 4 sites we have. No one behind us or to the side of us or in front of us. From across the park, we see the camp host's husky literally in the pond without a leash, then came over to our camp begging for food, and aggressive towards our dogs who were on leashes. We were afraid they were not going to be able to protect themselves with how aggressive this husky was being towards are leashed dogs. We hurriedly put them back in the campers. That evening as we had a lot of family meet us in Lava for the weekend, they came over to have dinner with us, probably 40 of us. Literally during dinner, the camp host began texting us that we had dogs again running around our camp and they needed "checked in". All dogs were on leashes! However, one person in our group did not know if they were bringing their dog and did not add them to their reservation. While it's obvious she was watching our family eat and enjoy one another she kept texting to take care of the extra dog we had during our family dinner. Mind you we paid well over $600 for these 4 spots for a couple days. One would hope to have a little respect, and privacy and would have absolutely paid the extra dog fee when we were done eating dinner with family that traveled several hours to all be together.
10pm is quiet ours. By this time there were probably about 10 of us around a campfire, roasting marshmallows Half probably under the age of 10. Not being loud. Yes, talking in regular voices to one another but in no way being loud. Creepily she sneaks into our camp, stands right behind one of our chairs and reminds us its quiet hours. The younger kids didn't understand why they couldn't finish roasting their mellows and tell stories with their family around the fire. Very sad.
Fast forward to the next morning. Again, the husky is running around without a leash, a bit later the camp host literally stared at us with her dog while we cleaned camp to get out of there as soon as possible. We understand rules we have all been camping for years. We always respect our neighbors and leave camp cleaner then when we got there. For what one pays to stay here, do yourself a favor and book somewhere else if you want privacy and to be able to actually enjoy yourself. Leave your animals at home as the husky that belongs to the camp host is not always on a leash and is aggressive. Especially to smaller breeds.
The camp host is creepily too involved with what the campers are doing and inserts herself into spots you have paid for. She does not stay on the roadway, or even approach your camp from the roadway, she walks straight through to your camp. We frequent Lava, and have family meet us there often, hundreds of people at one time, sometimes. Us or any we know will never waste our money again.

It was the end of September 2021 as my husband and I were going to be passing through the area and looking for a quiet place to spend the night that wasn't in a highway or interstate. We saw this place on a Google map so I called and spoke to owner Walter. He said even though he was closed for the season the night we we wanted to stay, he would allow us 1 night. Nice guy!
The place is older, very open and easy maneuvering for any rig. Nice fishing pond, I would bet it is busy in the summer. Kids would love it!
I asked Walter if he would allow us to pull in in November on our way back through the area. He said YES! Just give him a call or text the a couple days before os work out details, We did and told us to use site 9 or 10 and let us know a few hours before our arrival. He turned the electric on for us, water was available, but garbage wasn't. Only charged us $27 ($10 off). reat experience!
The only negative was that there is a train track north about a 1/2 mile. We could hear it (maybe 4 times 4:00pm-9:00 am), but it did not impact our sleep.