SoCal Camping & Rafting — Hotel in Porterville

I almost decided not to book here because of the negative/mixed reviews but I am so glad I ended up staying here to celebrate my birthday on Memorial Day weekend. Our group booked four cabins (C3,C4,C5,A5). I stayed in C4 (king bed + twin bed “family cabin”). C4 had comfortable beds with clean linens and plenty of space to store our gear. Windows could prop open, helping the cabin cool off and stay comfortable at night. Cabins also had solar panels (with an on off switch on the back) for twinkly lights inside- a lovely touch! C4 did not have any plugs or fans which would have been tough if it had been any hotter. WiFi at the campground worked and made it way easier to stay in communication with our whole group.

The C cabins have a good amount of flat space in front of them around the fire rings. We all enjoyed hanging out around the fire at C4. The A cabins have a little less flat space in front of them but there is a great communal area with a bbq and big table by the A cabins. The A cabins are also closest to the bathrooms and showers. Small metal tables and chairs were provided at each cabin but we were happy we brought extra tables for food prepping and serving! I also definitely recommend bringing an easy-up or umbrellas for some shade because the C cabins get full sun most of the day. Some of the people in our group stayed across the street at Corral Creek Lodge because they wanted a bit more creature comforts and it was super convenient for them to walk right across and join us.

Bathrooms were clean, spacious, with plenty of TP and towels. Showers were awesome with hot water and open tops to look at the sky. The towels provided were pretty small so I would recommend bringing your own towel!

Fun things about the location: There is a nice path down to the river by cabin C8 but there is also a great beach area just down river from the campground (about a minute drive). From the campground, it is about a 15 minute drive down to kern river brewing in town, about 10-15 minutes upriver to McNally’s for a general store and AMAZING burgers, and about 45 minutes to the trail of 100 giants.

Now, the “room for improvement” parts: -There was a line for the bathrooms and showers at times. More facilities would help meet demand on busy weekends. -There was no clear place to put dirty towels- this would be an easy improvement with a clear bin for them! -Red ants were an issue- especially near the C cabins. Other (non-harmful) wildlife we saw were some little mice, lizards, and spiders. -The parking situation was not great- there was a loading/unloading zone with provided wagons to haul everything from the cars to the cabins and then we had to park cars across the road by the corral creek lodge. -The parking lot got very full and folks were having to double/triple park. I personally think knocking down/ moving the volleyball net and turning that area into a parking lot with overflow across the street would be much better. -Some solution for the lack of shade is an area for improvement! It could even be worth renting out easy-ups to people for their stay in the same way they do the camp cooking boxes. -More communal tables/areas to hang out would also be lovely. Bigger tables at each site would also be nice. -Equipping every cabin with fans would help as the weather starts to get hotter too. -Labels for the shampoo/conditioner/body wash would be great. -WiFi information and instructions about the solar lights/ other helpful tips could be a nice touch.

Overall, we had a LOVELY time and it was the perfect spot for a mixed-comfort-level with outdoors glamping trip. We had our expectations set at “a step up from camping” and we...

We had a group of 12 (mostly kids) and booked 3 family cabins for my son’s birthday. James told me to give him the reservation codes since we booked separately and he’d make sure we were together.

We have all tent camped before but since we had mixed ages we wanted to give this a try! And the jacuzzi’s were a bonus.

I’m only now reading the reviews and while I agree there could be some improvements (there always can be) I’d say for camping it was great!

Over all it was an amazing experience and we will be back! We stayed in campsites a&b I’ll bullet point pros and cons!

Pros: Comfy beds, plenty of pillows, fans, electricity, jacuzzis, nice bathrooms and showers (all wood/outdoor with towels stocked). I did not find the cabins to be dirty or unkept at all. Our linens were clean and the trash bins were empty and there was plenty of pillows! Also they have pretty solid WiFi!

We had two cabins with jacuzzis and there was lots of patio space on them as well. (Our jacuzzis both worked fine and the temp was great and easily changed. We had a5&6 so I can only speak for those)

There were a couple common areas set up with games and hammocks & large tables. The night sky was unobstructed by light pollution & there were solar lights on the paths. Funky wagons to get your stuff from the cars to the camp sites but still helpful! Fire pits with grates at all our sites for fires and grilling. Lots of space for the kids to run and play. Ours ranged from 1-9 yrs. The river access was a little steep but even my 4 yr old managed fine.

Also, less than 100 yards down the road is a river beach with a really calm swimming area perfect for our age kids and just enough rapids for them to walk up stream and float.

Only 25miles from the 100 giants trail hike too for good big tree exploration!

Cons: Our cabins (originally when we arrived were not as close as we’d hoped. I was envisioning us sharing a common space. And one family cabin was missing a cot) this is only slightly a con because after emailing and texting james he remedied it by giving us a smaller cabin as an extra space since we were missing a bed and also gave us a cabin closer so we ended up in a row. **had this been high season and no space available I could see how this would cause issues. HIGHLY suggest confirming locations for groups so it’s right the first time. But that being said I was pleased with the rapid and satisfactory fix!

I will agree with others that Carrie (the “on site host”) is not responsive. I still haven’t gotten a response from her on WhatsApp and we arent there anymore. We never heard from her. (I assumed it’s because james handled our fixes but perhaps this needs to be addressed internally)

There are definitely a LOT of red ants and I would suggest trying to encourage those away from right in front of the cabins. Only because they bite and hurt. I e heard salt gets rid of them…

Seeing as the cabins we rented were advertised as family cabins, I’d suggest larger seating. Maybe picnic tables with benches? The bistro tables and 2 chairs are nice but hardly accommodating to a family. We brought chairs so it wasn’t the biggest deal but food for thought!

All in all wonderful. Are there animals? YES do you have to find some solutions? YES. But it’s camping! You get dirty, sometimes the hot water isn’t available, there’s marshmallows on your shoes & your kids come home with a collection of rocks lol

Comms on site could be better but we felt safe, happy, and connected to nature all while being way more comfortable than in tents with little kids and air mattress that deflate while you sleep. lol

We...

ocation is beautiful nestled in the mountains and beautiful river view . This gives it a one star. Otherwise I would give it 0. ||||DO NOT COME HERE WITH SMALL CHILDREN||||We arrived around dinner time. There was no one to check us in and no instructions on how to connect to wifi to make a call to contact the host for check in. There is no cell service here. After a drive back into town to get service we got a hold of the host. Gave us our cabin numbers. upon re-entry someone was in our cabin and we had to contact the host again for a new cabin. Do not come late at night or it will be very difficult to find anyone to talk to about cabin placement. There was a gentleman who slept in his car overnight because he couldn't get a hold of anyone. We were also supposed to get a cabin with a hot tub and were not given one. there is a chalk board with your name and cabin number upon arrival. the chalk board is often missing names and has wrong cabin numbers upon speaking to other guests. cabins are locked and no codes given. cabins are double booked often. ||||The morning of our first day we found out our rafting trip was cancelled. They said it was due to low water levels and we drove 5 hrs to get there. we found a reputable company in town to take us last minute. We found out from other guests often the so cal raft is broken. There are known low water levels this time of year and the host on site told us this was expected and that we should have been contacted a head of time. We had explicitly asked over text before booking if we would be able to do tubing and rafting during the first week of august with our 5, 7, 9 year olds and the company told us yes. We showed them the text on arrival and they said sorry that you were told this but we can't take 5 and 7 & year olds. They gave us tubes to sit in river but we couldn't float. They only had adult life jackets on site. Half the tubes deflated. The woman that inflated our tubes looked like she was on drugs. She yelled i f*ing hate infalting tubes. was angry and unstable. we took our tubes down to the kernville campground where the local hosts were fabulous and told us the bad repuation so cal out has. the rafting company we booked with told us the same. so cal out has a bad reputation. It is well known around town. I am actually glad the rafting trip was cancelled with so cal out. I would not trust this company to take you rafting. Very unprofessional, unorganized and poor knowledge of river and river safety. Questionable sobriety of guides. DO NOT RAFT WITH this company. It would be very dangerous.||||On the first morning we told them that we were supposed to have a hot tub. they relocated us to a cabin with a hot tub after a guest checked out. upon transferring to that cabin we found a dirty town in the bottom of the hot tub. the hot tub water was brown and the filter was sitting outside the hot tub. I sent pictures to the owner and host and got no response. we then had to move cabins back becuase it was disgusting. ||||We also got lice a few days after coming back from the trip. The bedding looked clean. However now I question due to the condition of the hot tube. Other guests on site said they had bugs in their beds. ||||If you decide to stay here. Do not bring kids, do not raft with them. Avoid the hot tub cabins and bring your own bedding. beds were reasonably comfortable. bring all food and water there are no stores near by and one small solar light. ||||We won't...