Poorly

Poorly designed and poorly managed: that’s our current campground in a nutshell.  The designer didn’t know shit about RVs, most likely was never even in one and was too stupid to get input from someone more knowledgeable.  The result: sites that are too close together, too narrow, too slanted and oddly spaced.  The frosting on the cake is that some of the sites have the utility hookups on the wrong side.  RVs have water, electric and sewer hookups on the left (driver) side, but some of the back-in sites here have the utilities on the right side.  Unbelievable!

Our site is so narrow, it took precise placement to be able to extend the slideout and still be able to open the entry door on the opposite side.  As it was, I had to remove several tree branches that were blocking the door.  Extend the awning?  No way in hell!  The site is quite slanted front to rear, so much so that it’s necessary to block up the RV tires to level the rig.

Poorly managed it definitely is.  When we arrived 3 days ago, there was no one near the entrance to check us in or direct us to our site.  That’s not uncommon and I have no problem with it; having someone sitting in an entrance booth twiddling their thumbs most of the day would be a waste of time and money.  We had reservations so already knew which campsite was ours.

Typically though, the ranger-type or camp host drops by your campsite on arrival day to check you in, answer questions, etc.  We’ve been here 3 days now, saw a ranger drive around the loop once, haven’t seen the camp host drive around the loop at all, and neither of them have talked to us.  For all they know, we aren’t the people who reserved the site at all, just drifted in, found a vacant site and moved in.

In well-managed parks the camp hosts come around and check out the campsites soon after they’re vacated.  They pick up trash, clean out the firepit, and in some parks they even rake the ground smooth and sweep off the paved RV pad.  Not here.  The firepit in the space next to ours was full of trash when we arrived 3 days ago and it still is.

And here it is, the subject of this richly deserved criticism: El Chorro Regional Park, between Morro Bay and San Luis Obispo, CA.  If you’re ever in this neck of the woods, be sure to give it a miss.