Golden Municipal Campground & RV Park — Hotel in Golden

So I reserved this site a month in advance, filled out the online reservation form for the amount of people in our group, vehicle info & unit information. I received the confirmation email showing the amount of people I accounted for, read up on the regulations that I agreed to and assumed any extra fees had been added and reflected in the price that I owed at check-in. We arrived, checked in at the front, paid the amount and went on our merry way. Day two of our stay, I was told by my spouse that a park employee confronted him at our site saying we owed money for extra people. I went to the office, showed them my confirmation email and was told that the supervisor would be by to speak with me. Shortly after, I was aggressively approached by the supervisor/manager who accused me of not paying for the "extra" people that we had on site despite her having seen my confirmation email. She told me that I would not have to pay for the charge but that I am now banned from the park after our stay. I asked her how she could ban me for a system error on their side, especially when I was upfront about the amount of people we had in our group, and completely respectable to the rules in the park. After her rolling her eyes at me, crossing her arms, trying to guilt me, she then half-assed apologized that she got a "little heated" and that I would not be banned and did not have to pay the extra fee, but continued to try and guilt trip me. After reading the reviews for this park on FB and Google, and seeing the park's response to any unfavorable reviews, I am certain that I too will receive a snarky reply. I stayed at this campground when I was young with my father who has recently passed away. I had such great memories and wanted to share that with my family and kids now but thanks to the horrendous treatment I received, I probably will not return nor ever recommend it to anyone unless the manager/supervisor is replaced. Also, do not bash other campgrounds and destinations or try to compare yourself to them - it's incredibly unprofessional and unbecoming. Yes, the train is atrocious at night and certainly runs consistently and makes it nearly impossible to get a good nights sleep. I've stayed in Banff, Lake Louise, Canmore, and other campgrounds with trains nearby, but have NEVER heard anything like this. Maybe place a disclaimer warning on your web page that the train runs steadily at night and the sound is amplified being in a valley. I will compliment the clean showers, free coffee, and the young male who worked at the counter the day we checked in as he was very friendly and answered our questions graciously. But since this is a review, If you are considering camping here -...

Last night the trains shunted, screeched, banged, clanged, and ran by between 9:30PM and 5:15AM. At first, the sound came every 90 mins or so, but between midnight and 5:00AM the calamity came every 40 minutes. Just in time to doze off from the last cacophony then to be awoken again. I actually lay awake in my tent reading Google reviews on this place; as well as constructing one of my own (not published) and noticed that the owner will often deflect train noise complaints by pointing out that the website is clear in saying it’s a good place for “train spotting” as if that is a sufficient enough warning for what I, and every other person camping, endured last night. She also suggests ear plugs and a “white noise machine.” There is a perfect and natural white noise that comes off of the river; however, it doesn’t stand a chance against what goes on on the tracks beside it and neither would a noise machine. Ear plugs, maybe, but I doubt it.

It sounds like “some nights are worse than others” but if you don’t like gambling with your quality of sleep, especially if you are passing through and driving for hours the next day - then I honestly wouldn’t take a chance on this place; it’s not worth it. Everything lovely about the area is obliterated the moment you spend a night at the mercy of whatever is going on right across the river. Do not ignore the 1-star reviews and don’t come thinking a white noise machine will drown out the trains.

My 6-year-old and I tented at site 38 which was a nice site, slightly shaded, and with a raised tent platform. Note that the ground is rocky and hard and tent pegs do not go in easily. Definitely lay down ground cover if you’re tenting. The mosquitoes are absolutely intense. You will get eaten alive without suitable protection and/or spray.

The tiny beach is not for small children, even good swimmers, there is a drop and it’s not marked and the river runs fast. We sat on the rocks and soaked our legs. It’s a beautiful view, though.

Golden is a cute town, camping would have been beautiful there - but placing a campground directly across from a very busy railway hub is bananas. As well, the booking page should have a very clear warning about the trains - not a blurb at the very bottom that says there’s train spotting - so that people can make informed decisions before they book. It would probably reduce the amount of 1, 2-star reviews, too. I, personally, won’t book here again and can’t...

We very much enjoyed our stay here. Some of the comments seem a bit ridiculous and unfair to me! ALL of this info is listed on the website- ‘Across the river from us is the Canadian Pacific Railway. If you are a Train Spotting Enthusiast you will enjoy the River Sites. If you are a light sleeper we would suggest to keep this in consideration. Bring a White noise Machine or Ear plugs.’ I felt like the camp hosts and the Facilities Supervisor, Primm, were amazing and went out of their way to help people and accommodate everyone to have a lovely stay. We were very impressed with their efforts. The location is stellar here and that was key for us. We rode our bikes and walked everywhere. The mosquitoes are quite crazy right now in the wetlands- supposedly as bad as they’ve been in 25 years, but this is a regional thing- this has nothing to do with the campground. The bathroom and shower house were VERY clean and a level up from what we’ve been used to at other spots along our 3 month long Canada roadtrip. Check out the Eat Pure Mountain Market in town- amazing! As well as the Farmer’s Market on Wednesday. While it’s not fancy camping by any means, the host’s graciousness and efforts to ensure a lovely stay were above and beyond. As the website suggest, I would recommend earplugs or small sound machine or white noise at night as I did hear the trains 2 out of the 5 nights we stayed there- I’m quite a lite sleeper and for some reason they didn’t keep me awake at all. Enjoy your stay! Bring bug spray! Oh and there’s great Paddleboarding, mtn biking, and hiking nearby. We also went on a farm tour at the owners of Eat Pure mtn market- highly...