Sycamore Grove Campground

This is a nice quiet area to stop over for a few rest days, but has a weird vibe.

The spots are smaller than we thought. We are in a 36 ft fifth wheel and we shimmied into spot 4, which is a pull through, but it’s curved like a crescent, so it’s awkward. Also, not very level, but, lots of shade trees and we chose the site because of the hot weather coming up. We also thought pull throughs would be the largest sites here... not true.

I thought I would fill in the info alluded to by another review. Someone mentioned that if you stay in a site on the left side of the road, your front door would be on the road side and the picnic table would be on the wrong side of your rig... true, but what sites are on the left side of the road???!! Well, sites 1, 3, 5, 6 and 8 are on the left side all pull throughs. Site 1 has less of a curve in the pull through, so may be an easier fit for a larger rig, but again, your front door will be opening to the entrance road.

We would probably choose a back in site next time due to the curve in the pull throughs making it difficult to get situated.

There was no access to the showers or flush toilets, which was frustrating because every other campsite we’ve seen has been maintaining their bathrooms again, so we thought that was an unnecessary inconvenience. Also, no dump station at the park, so that bathroom access is sorely needed! Oh well.

Also, we need to get refunded for our discount. When we made our reservation, our National park pass discount was not honored, and the signage at the park states clearly that it should be. Keep that in mind when reserving. Maybe call someone?

Besides all of that, it’s nice to have grass, and the trees are really beautiful. The river nearby is also pretty, but very fast moving, so our kids were wading in at the boat ramp, and kinda bummed they couldn’t fully jump in.
Oh well, it’s always stimulating on the road!
New experiences everywhere!

T-Mobile was great here!

The park is near by Red Bluff so it’s easy to access, however there is some locals visiting the park regularly which adds to the noise. Not too bad though. Restrooms and showers are closed due to COVID. They do have porta-potties for campers. There are nice paved walking trails and nice lawns. If you’ve been in the desert much this winter you’ll enjoy the lawns. Its perfect for staying when passing through the area. Probably not a destination place.

This campground is clean, well maintained and spacious. Lots of shade trees, several very long trails to walk along and right on the river. The host was welcoming and helpful. Red Bluff is super hot in the summer. I don't know if being near the river would ease this. The spring weather we had was mild and delightful. I imagine mid to late October would be lovely and winter camping easy to do here. Huge, old Sycamore trees to delight and enjoy. Very quiet, yet only ten minutes to a Wal Mart, restaurants and gas stations. Sites are comfortable for smaller trailers and RV's, only saw a few sites that would fit the bigger rigs over 30'. Be aware there is a regular group of folks in about four campsites on the 24 site loop who appear to be homeless and living out of their cars/campers. They were clean, quiet and kept to themselves, but definitely were living in a challenging situation. This was sad and did impact our stay. We would camp there again for sure, beautiful park!

This was a nice campground, but rather scruffy along the side facing the river, and the host's site would have looked at home in a trashy trailer park. I had a prior reservation, but when I arrived there was an "Open" sign on my site, and some other sites had "Reserved" signs on them with dates that had expired that morning. Those signs were not removed until more than 24 hours after they had expired.

Some of the sites, including mine, that were listed on recreation.gov as 44 ft long were in fact 30 ft. I could not overhang the back of the site because there was a tree immediately behind, so the only way I could fit was by parking my truck at 45 degrees right up against the road. If you can't fit your tow vehicle or toad into the site, you have to park it in one of the day-use lots outside the campground. The site was very narrow, with mud right outside my door.

I paid $18 per night for water and electric, with a NPS senior pass discount. Verizon 4G was good, with 4 bars, 42 Mbps down and 8 up. There is no dump station here, but there are dumps both north and south along I-5.

This campground was a really nice find and only about an hour from Lassen Volcanic National Park. You do have to reserve and pay online (there is no ranger station) but we always travel with solid plans anyway. The sites are spacious & the grounds beautiful. There are many paved walking paths, a nature center with a lovely garden showcasing native plants, and the Sacramento river to sit and watch. There are a few sites with water & electric which is excellent. There is no dump station at all but you can go down the road a couple miles to the Fair Grounds (call Frank at 530-209-1858 for directions & to meet you there) and dump for $10. Our kids had so much fun exploring the park & riding their bikes because everything is paved. A fire ring and solid picnic table (on a paved pad) are at each site. The showers are paid but 25 cents gets you 3 or 4 minutes. Use the ADA shower in the women’s bath so you have 2 shower heads at the same time. The water was very hot - so nice!!! Walmart is only 10min away (grocery) and an Applebees 3 min up the road. The camp hosts have very junky run down setups but whatever. We would stay here again!!!

It has been a couple of years since we have been here. It is NOW all online reservations or phone reservations only. At the entrance there is a sign telling you which phone number to call. We did not know that when we got there because it was not like that 2 years ago. We were able to call and get a one night only reservation. If you do it online I believe it has to be two nights. It was very quiet. Lots of walking and biking trails. If you have the America beautiful pass you can get $8 off. We had a non-utility site. By doing that, we had more privacy. We felt safe here.
We stayed Nov 7, 2018.

This is our second time here on our way up to Oregon. We staying in a pull-through spot, #12 for $25 and we made a reservation online. The park is clean, shaded and the walking trails are a added bonus. The camp host was friendly and the ladies in the Visitor center were very helpful. It’s a great place to stop that’s along the Sacramento River.