Thousand Trails Yosemite Lakes — Hotel in Sonora

To each their own. But here is the down and dirty from our perspective. We were traveling in a 40’ Class A towing a vehicle, completely sufficient other than needing power, water, sewer. We never used the laundry facilities, bathrooms, or any cabins/yurts.

The POSITIVES…

LOCATION. It’s close to the Yosemite, 10 minutes from the park gate, 45ish minutes from the valley floor.

THE RIVER/FISHING. The proximity to the river was really cool. We love to fish and enjoyed our completely unsuccessful attempt at catching some trout. They stocked the river as we were showing up so that’s cool, and sounds like it happens regularly.

FRIENDLY STAFF. The lady who checked us in was very kind, welcoming, and helpful with information. The day before our check in, a camp host called to introduce himself as he would be off the day we arrived and make sure we didn’t have questions.

FAMILY FRIENDLY. The vibe in the river was fun, people floating down on tubes, kids playing. Adults sitting in chairs in the water. Lots of kids riding bikes. (If you are into quiet and serene might want to stay away from the river). There also seemed to be many group seating areas around the lodge. The playground looked really nice.

The NEGATIVES…

NEGLECT. This property seems like it was once really nice or has potential to be really nice but there is obvious long term neglect for facilities, landscape, rules, etc for whatever the reasons are (hardly saw any staff). I saw some previous reviews and really was hoping this wasn’t the case, but it is. Pedestals were in disrepair and looked shabby. Many were out of order. Some were available only to find out they threw faults on our surge protector. Picnic tables were splintered and curled at the ends and weeds were growing around some of them and in the volley ball court, playground, and putting area. So many areas, for lack of a better explanation, just looked abandoned and unkept. The main clubhouse/lodge looked nice but was dirty including floors, counters, and cushions.

FIRST COME, FIRST SERVE. I thought this was a joke, but it’s not. Better get there early or you will likely be a full sun spot and less than 50amp service if you need it. This is not a model that works for us and I won’t do it again. I would like to know I have a spot that fits our needs no matter what time of day we arrive. Also the sites are very uneven, be prepared to engage your leveling skills. I couldn’t imagine signing up for a membership to parks that do this. For almost $100 a night, I would expect more.

NO CELL, BARLEY WI-FI. There is flat out no cell service and very limited WiFi. If you are able to connect to it, it will boot you off frequently. If you need WiFi to work/function, do not stay here. They would not even let us pay the WiFi fee it is so bad. Some text and email will trickle through but it’s sketchy.

POT HOLES. Yikes, there are some monster pot holes on this site. The kind that will launch your canned goods right out of the cabinets and knock everything off your counters. I almost wiped out on my bike a few time too. These seriously need some attention!

SARDINES. Any spot near the river is crowded. There are RVs, tents with RVs on the same spots, cars crossing the roads, and everything is just feet apart. Saying this for awareness, because even if there was an open spot on the river, we would not have taken it. I now understand why RV campsites have so many weird rules on number of people, no tent camping outside your RV, noise hours, etc.

Overall, we will look for another place to stay next time but in a pinch I would stay here again, just with MUCH lower expectations. Tried to post some photos to give you an idea of the goods and bads.

To Thousand Trails, please do better. You have a really cool site with so much potential but you are...

This was our first time staying at a Thousand Trails site and this specific location. We stayed at an RV site with 2 vehicles, one converted plug-in camper van and one guest vehicle with rooftop tent.

Pros: About half hour to Yosemite National Park West Gate and half hour the other way to Groveland.

Good amount of space on the RV site with enough separation from other sites. Pedestal and spigot worked fine.

Friendly and helpful staff.

Nice lodge building with A/C and open seating to lounge and hangout. Decent playground and mini golf course

On-site laundromat.

Cons: The link in the email to pre-check-in did not work. Our after hours registration packet was not there when we arrived. Thankfully, Mark was still in the office and came out to confirm our reservation and direct us to our site. The following morning, Rachel came to check on our site and obviously questioned why we didn't have our tag and advised me to check in with the office when they opened at 9am. I did so and their system was down, but Rachel was able to finally look up and confirm my registration and give me a tag. Also, the map online did not match the actual map so there was a missing bathroom where there used to be one so I was roaming around confused for a bit. The whole registration, information and check-in process just wasn't smooth.

Most RV sites/campgrounds we've stayed at have a general store within convenient walking distance. Unfortunately, the one here is right at the highway entrance about a half mile from the actual campground. So if you forgot anything or need firewood, you have to pick up on your way in or drive up there. We did do the half hour round trip walk a couple of times.

Although the lodge is a nice building, some things in there were broken or unavailable like the air hockey table, one of the shuffleboard pieces and TV.

They are upfront about this when you book, but the wifi is terrible or non-existent. There is no cell service. Wifi is only available around the laundry room or lodge and is not very good. If you have Starlink, I recommend using it if you need to...

Word to the wise, be careful what time of year you book here. My girlfriend and I booked one of their heated yurts for out trip to Yosemite in September. We planned ahead and knew temperatures were going to be cold at night. Therefore, we booked a yurt with heat. We got in later in the evening for our first night and it was cold as expected. Went to turn on our propane stove heater and nothing happened. Upon investigation there was no pilot light and it seemed as if the gas had not been turned on to the stove. To make matters worse, the bed only had a sheet, no fitted sheet, and only a light blanket, no comforter. Due to how late it was after finding this all out, the office was now closed. Therefore, we had to layer up our clothes and tried to use a hot pot of water on the stove to keep us warm.

The next day we called multiple times throughout the day to get in touch with the property management. After finally getting in touch with them they said they would resolve it. Spoiler alert, they did not, all they did was provide 1 additional light blanket. The heat was not fixed, no comforter was provided either. Needless to say we froze the next night as well.

The following day we ran into the couple in the "heated" yurt across from us and they complained of the same thing. We both went down to the property management office that morning only to find no one there.

The only saving grace of this place was its location in proximity to Yosemite. It is located just outside the Valley park entrance. However, if I wanted to sleep in an unheated yurt I would have just camped in Yosemite.

I was very disappointed in the property management's response to our issues as well as being charged for a heated yurt with no heat. I would NOT recommend this place to anyone looking to stay just outside of Yosemite. Either save your money and camp in Yosemite and get that experience or spend just a little extra and stay at Tenaya. We stayed at Tenaya for one night and was blown away, and shockingly was about the same price...