La Jolla Indian Campground — Hotel in Valley Center

The campground itself (RV side) is nice. The first few spots (1-5) are teared so if you are getting multiple spots keep that in mind. I recommend spaces 2 and 3 for nice shade, short walk to the bathroom, just far enough from the river, and flat useable space, full hookups on most sites.

The bathrooms are cleaned daily, well lit, have soap, well stocked, and include warm showers with decent pressure. No paper towels.

Cell service is scarce as expected, but the zip line has free wifi that you can tap into if it isn't too busy.

Fire ants are a thing. They didn't bother us, but I'd recommend some ant spray or baiting them on the outskirts of your site.

There's a small playground that has seen better days, but kept the kids entertained for a while before dinner each day.

Tubes are $10 per day to rent and they're good quality. Bring a rope or tie down to tie them off to a rock at the "bottom" of the river so you can float. The RV campground is the end of the line which is convenient so all you need is a vehicle to haul you to the top then that person can drive down, grab their lawn chair and a cold beverage, and sit in the river waiting for everyone to get back.

My issues really start and end with the staff member at the gate who checked us in. I only had to talk to the gentleman for about 3 minutes, but he dang near had me ready to turn around and go home.

First, he tried to tell me that I would get kicked out of the space I paid for because I have a pop up camper and only RV's are allowed..... uh, what? I'm I'm wheels with full hook ups and almost 20' long set up... how do I not qualify for an RV spot??

I kindly told him that I felt I could park whatever I wanted on the space I paid for so long as I didn't exceed the vehicle limit and if someone had a problem they could come talk to me at the site.

Next he accused me of having a pet in the car (ps, no pets allowed)... it was my kiddo's stuffed animal and I had to pick the thing up by a leg to get him to move on to another subject.

Then he proceeded to tell me that he hopes I brought shade because I spots I got (RV 1 and 2) were very sunny and it's gonna be hot. Thanks captain obvious. I brought a couple ezups.

What would have been amazing customer service would have been to say... "ya know what, ya'll got spots 1 and 2 but 1 doesn't have much shade. However, site 3 is empty for the time you're here and it's the same price so why don't you slide down a spot. There's a nice big shade tree that covers the whole lot."

That didn't happen. 😒

The only other thing that was ridiculous is that it's $35 per night to park an extra vehicle... so we spent an extra $70 for our 2 night stay. Lame.

Overall: the kids had fun and the facilities I used were well maintained so it was still a good trip, but could have been an awesome trip if the gate guard could have been a little...

When I approached the entrance, we had cars behind us cut to the side to get serviced first. Unfortunately, the car in front of had a ton of questions and was unprepared. When I finally decided to follow suit after having 5 cars cut in front me, the staff rudely told me to stop. I couldn't believe it cause It seemed like something out of a comedy skit. They even serviced the last car that cut in front of me first! Then the car with a ton of questions that was in front of me decided to block the route, further delaying our entry to my reserved campsite. After getting to my campsite, I was told by my family members that other campers have settled in our reserved site early that morning. They obviously lied that it wasn't taped off and felt obligated to settle there, even demanding to stay. After security finally kicked them off, I noticed a fair amount of trash floating the down the creek and throughout the campsite. There are no electric outlets or faucets for each campsite. You have to walk about 5 minutes to get to a faucet. It can be a pain if you have to refill and transport your water jugs. There are also unsightly port-a-potties throughout the campgrounds. I've seen worse in my military career and the the ones here seem tolerable. They are not cleaned daily. With the popularity of this place, you would think that there would be more bathrooms, showers, etc. The showers and bathrooms are filthy. The biggest downfall is the bathroom hours. They open from 8 am and close at 8 pm. Granted, the campers should "know" the hours, but it's a major inconvenience considering that the campground is based on the creek, where people need to shower afterwards. Majority of the campers here are party people who play loud music. I do not mind that at all. I do mind the wannabe thugs and gangsters, karens, and people who have no situational awareness. We had people march through our site to access the creek. Our site is pretty isolated (6G), so when people come through without asking or having common courtesy, it raises a red flag, which puts me in a defense mode. I don't know if they're scouting our gear to pick off or what not. When I had to access the creek up the hill, I at least asked the family on that campsite if we could quickly pass through. The only saving grace for this campground is the creek. However, it is not for little kids as they can easily flip overboard on their tube, get trapped, or suffer injuries. There are a lot of rocks and low clearance logs which you could hit your head on. Otherwise, this campground deserves a solid 2 star.

summary PROs: nice creek CONs: bathroom hours, port-a-potties, rude staff, entitled campers, no faucet or electrical outlet at site, unreserved campsite too crowded Good for: party campers, recreational campers bad for: campers who want to reconnect with nature,...

The HIGHLIGHTS:

Came here when I was in my teens and had a blast, I wanted to experience the same thing with my daughters and I was NOT disappointed. It was absolutely perfect, thankfully my reservation was from Sunday to Tuesday (Memorial Day weekend). I was hoping that people would be leaving Sunday, showed up around 12pm and sure enough prime spots were opening up. River was running perfectly, fast enough to have fun but safe enough for even my 8 yr olds. If you want the best sites, show up as early as possible! We had no problems with mosquitoes or excessive bugs even right by the water.

Just FYI:

Definitely bring water shoes, you can hurt your feet on rocks. Buy your own tubes and bring them, $20 rental is steep for sure! Don't bring your own firewood from home, they will take it away, $8 a bundle at the gas station.

What sucks?

It is definitely nerve racking to show up without a dedicated spot....they definitely over sell/overbook and with no refund policy, people make up their own random spots, even right along side the dirt road....definitely not safe or ideal. They need to just give in and mark individual sites, it's really a stupid way to handle reservations and not sure I would risk it again on a holiday weekend!

They don't let you set up your own bathroom teepees...this is just plain dumb and seems silly to not allow this.

SECURITY!? So I stayed until Tuesday, after memorial, there was not one soul left on this campground....a little shady so I drove to the front to find out how security is handled just to find absolutely NO ONE. It is a little scary to think anyone can drive down this road and enter the campsite and youre all alone where no one can hear you, no signs posted, no after hours number to call, nothing. Seems strange to not even have a camp host....this is unsafe...please correct me...