When we decided to travel to Florida to spend a part of our 2021/2022 winter, we knew straight away that boondocking (dry camping) the entire time would not be an option for us. Federal public land, such as Forest Service Lands and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Lands are almost non-existent in Florida, and although there are some free public camping options, they are not as abundant and would not have sustained us for several months at a time.
With free dry camping not an option, our next choice was federaly-owned developed campgrounds, such as Forest Service campgrounds and Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE) campgrounds. Our budget for paid campgrounds is only $100 a month, and even with half price camping at federal campgrounds (we get half price camping with our National Park Service Access Pass) we still would have exceeded that budget.
Our last option was a campground membership program. There are several programs out there that provide discounted camping, but even those would still have exceed our budget within the first month. Most of those membership programs have restrictions that don’t work with our travel style, like the discounts only being available on weekdays or only working for the first three days of our stay. With most private campgrounds coming in at $25/night and often more, even half of that cost wasn’t sustainable for several months.
So what we were left with? Thousand Trails. We’d heard a lot about the program from several other RVing families and decided to purchase a camping pass for two zones (Midwest and Southeast) plus the additional Trails Collection.
What, exactly, is Thousand Trails?
Thousand Trails is a campground membership program that allows members to stay for “free” at participating campgrounds. The terms and conditions are dependent on the membership you purchase, and there are several options to choose from. Basically, you pay a fee upfront (or in installments) and then proceed to stay at participating campgrounds for no nightly fee.
So how does it work?
Thousand Trails memberships come in many flavors and varieties, including new memberships and used memberships. Used memberships are plentiful and unique, since each membership contract has its own terms and conditions that stipulate how many days you can stay at one time at each campground, which campgrounds are available to you, and more. For new memberships, your membership options are as follows:
Annual Camping Pass: The camping pass is purchased per zone. The five zones are Northwest, Midwest, Northeast, Southeast, and Southwest. As of January 2, 2023, the first zone will cost you $670, with each additional zone added for another $90. All five zones together will cost you $1,030. With the camping pass, you are limited to 14 consecutive days in any one campground. Any stay longer than 4 nights and you must be “out of the system” for seven (7) days before staying at another Thousand Trails campground. Two weeks in, one week out. You are welcome to bounce campgrounds every four days as much as you’d like, however. The advanced booking window for the camping pass is 60 days, meaning you can book your stay up to 60 days out from the first night of your stay.
Trails Collection: The Trails Collection is an add-on to any camping pass. It includes over 100 additional campgrounds and resorts for $370/year. Trails Collection campgrounds following the same rules as your camping pass as far as stay limits and booking windows are concerned.
Adventure: The Adventure membership is a lifetime membership that allows you stay at any of the Thousand Trails campgrounds throughout the country, and included the option of adding the Trails Collection Plus Reciprocal Program. Stays in this membership are up to 21 days at a time, with no “out of system” days required. You can jump campground to campground as much as you’d like for the life of your membership. The cost is one large upfront fee, plus an annual fee that equals the cost of a camping zone pass.
What are the other benefits included with a Thousand Trails membership?
Memberships include discounts on cabins, cottages and other rentals, discounts at Encore RV Resorts (RVontheGo.com), special pricing on service through their preferred dealer network, annual and seasonal site options, RV storage, member referral rewards, and savings on popular brands like Togo RV, Coach-Net, Outdoorsy, Harvest Hosts, Dish Outdoors, RVshare, RV Trader, iDine, RV Repair Club, and Hertz.
What are these campgrounds and resorts like?
The quality of the campgrounds within the Thousand Trails system and participating campgrounds varies a lot. Some are great, others are glorified trailer parks. Amenities vary, but most have swimming pools, recreation centers/lodges, laundry facilities, playgrounds, and other outdoor type activities like mini golf, horseshoes, and so on.
We offer a unique perspective on these campgrounds. We are mainly boondockers, and if we need a campground we typically choose federal and state campgrounds that offer much more room and fewer amenities. We only need the basics and we really don’t like being right next to another camper. So keep that in mind as you read through our review.
We stayed in a total of 10 campgrounds and resorts with our Thousand Trails Camping Pass for a total of 68 nights, bringing our cost per night to $12.82. Here are our thoughts on each:
Yukon Trails RV & Camping Resort; Lyndon Station, WI This campground was our very first one in the Thousand Trails system. The location was convenient, right off the interstate, and was easy to locate and pull in to. The office was closed when we arrived, but our paperwork detailing our stay and site number was outside of the office for our convenience. The site we were given was at the back of the campground, in a very tight space between a few trees. We had some difficulty backing into it, and even more difficulty pulling out of it. So much so that the campers staying near by helped us out by moving vehicles and guiding us out as we pulled the “wrong” way out of the site. The campground itself looked good, but it left a lot to be desired.
Bear Cave RV Campground; Buchanan, MI This was one of those campgrounds that doesn’t treat its Thousand Trails members as well as it does its paying guests. All sites here are available on a first-come basis and almost all of the full hook-up sites were taken by long-term seasonal campers. The only sites available to us were the grass sites with water and electric only. However, we actually enjoyed our stay here. The other campers were friendly, we were right across from the small playground, the bathhouse, and the laundry, and we were able to navigate our way in and out without much trouble. The area around the campground is beautiful, and although the cave that the campground is named after was closed, we were still able to walk along the stream and down to the lake.
Diamond Caverns RV Resort & Golf; Park City, KY Diamond Caverns is located just 15 minutes from the Mammoth Cave National Park Visitor Center. We were greeted at the entrance to the campground by a staff member who picked out a pull-through site for us and showed us the way. The sites here are close, but there is plenty of green space to play in across from the pull-through spots. The playground, however, was not very nice. We found protruding bolts, and the wood was splintering, so we only allowed our children to use the swings. Overall a fairly nice campground and we’d stay again if we needed to be in the area.
Carolina Landing RV Resort; Fair Play, SC We didn’t actually stay at this campground, although we did have a reservation here for a few days in October. Our original plan was to stay at Springfield Campground on Lake Hartwell then jump over to Carolina Landing for a few days before heading south to Florida. However, we decided to drive through the campground the evening before our reservation to check it out, and boy are we glad we did. In our opinion, this campground is poorly laid out. The spaces are very close together, the roads within the campground are tight, and it looked like a an old trailer park that just happens to allow RVs. We did not get a very good vibe from there at all so we cancelled our Carolina Landing reservation and extended our reservation at Springfield Campground.
Three Flags RV Campground; Wildwood, FL This is one of the better Thousand Trails campgrounds in Florida. Both times we stayed here we chose a pull-through spot. The sites here are fairly easy to get in and out of, the campground is laid out well, the laundry facilities are clean and work well, and it is very quiet despite being off a major state highway.
Rose Bay RV Resort; Port Orange, FL Another RV Resort that is more like a trailer park than anything else. The first time we stayed they put us in a spot that backed up to the nearby railroad tracks, and the second time we were stuck in a muddy corner site that we would have gotten stuck in if we hadn’t had 4WD. The location of this park was important to us, though. It is just minutes to the beaches and about 4 minutes from Orlando-Sanford International Airport. We’d stay here again if we had to but it’s definitely not our favorite campground.
Vacation Village RV Resort; Largo, FL Similar to Rose Bay, this RV Resort resembles a trailer park that was turned into an RV park. The sites here are very tight, and we had a heck of a time backing into the site they assigned us. We wouldn’t stay here again unless we needed to fly out of Tampa.
Orlando RV Resort; Clermont, FL TTO, as it is more commonly known in the RV community, is the ultimate family campground. All of the full-time RVing families we know stay here, and it’s THE place to be to meet up with other families. The sites are on a first-come basis. When you arrive you go find a site and then call them with the site information so they can keep track of who is where. This a very large, very popular campground and most sites are decent. We enjoyed our time here and met up with a couple families we hadn’t seen in a year or more. The only downside to this campground, in the minds of so many, is the cell service. The towers around here are overloaded every winter and no matter which carrier you have you can guarantee that the data speeds will be slooooow. Despite that, we’d definitely be back here if we make it to Florida again.
Clover Leaf Forest RV Resort; Brooksville, FL This was the last Thousand Trails campground we stayed at before leaving Florida in January. This one is similar to other RV Resorts in the Thousand Trails system, with tight sites and many seasonal residents. However, what made us like this campground was the indoor pool. Even in Florida the weather gets too cold to swim outside so this facility was a plus. It was also very quiet here, close to everything we needed, and trash was picked up every day right from our site.
Lake Conroe RV & Camping Resort; Willis, TX We found Lake Conroe to be on par with Three Flags RV Resort and Orlando RV Resort. The sites aren’t too close together for most of the park, the amenities are great, and the people are friendly. The kids really like playing mini golf here and the sunsets over the lake are just beautiful. The campground is outside of town but within 15 minutes of just about anything you need. The playground here needs some work and it appears it’s slated for some updates, so keep that in mind if you decide to visit. Overall one of the better Thousand Trails campgrounds.
How did the cost compare between boondocking and campground hopping with Thousand Trails?
This is an important question and the answer might surprise you. But wait a minute. Isn’t FREE dry camping cheaper than paying for campgrounds? On the surface, yes. But consider this: When you dry camp you are rarely near a city where you can get everything you need. Most of the time we drive a half hour or more to get to places like Target, Tractor Supply, and larger grocery stores. We have to search out fresh water and dump stations. That’s more in fuel just to get what we need. We also have to pay for gasoline for the generator, propane for heat (since we can’t run our space heater with our inverter), and we generally spend more time running errands than we would if we were in town.
With a campground, we have our water, trash, and sewer needs covered, we have electric to save on propane, and it’s typically 15 minutes or less to anything we might need. But with our camping pass specifically, we had to be “out of the system” every third week, which meant trying to find free camping or paying for another campground out of pocket for those weeks out.
Here’s a side-by-side comparison of our costs between the first quarter of 2021 (where we boondocked the majority of our time) and the last quarter of 2021 (while we were in the Thousand Trails system):
Would we purchase a Thousand Trails Camping Pass or Membership again?
Maybe. We love camping out in the wilderness, but we also don’t mind having full hook-ups every so often. If we were to visit the southeast again we’d probably buy a camping pass, and we might consider it for the northwest zone when we visit Washington and Oregon again, but for us a membership just isn’t worth it. We weren’t really impressed with any of the campgrounds we stayed at, and if our budget allowed we’d choose public campgrounds over the Thousand Trails system. We plan on staying west for awhile now, and we can find free dry camping just about everywhere we go here. If you don’t need to be in a campground and you aren’t going to spend a lot of time in the eastern half of the States, I’d caution you against purchasing a membership to Thousand Trails. However, the program has saved many families thousands of dollars in camping fees and it’s a must have for full time RV families who need to be on full or partial hookups wherever they go.
Have you purchased a Thousand Trails camping pass or membership? What do you think of the value it provides and the campgrounds you have stayed at? We’d love to hear what you think! Please leave us a comment below, find us on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest @simplejoyfuljourney, or email me at alicia@simplejoyfuljourney.com. And don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter at the bottom of the page before you go. Have a great week!