The Village at Highlands Ranch

The staff were great, and being so close to the national park was a big plus. I stayed in a hotel room and liked the place, though the Wi-Fi was missing, as they do mention. In winter the floor gets extremely cold, so bring warm socks or slippers.

We ended up at this campground instead of Manzanita Campground because of the government shutdown, and it was only 15 min to the entrance. The grounds were clean, with tall trees around, and nights were quiet despite being near a highway. We had full hookups, so we didn't use the bathroom. We stayed three nights in mid-October during the week. After arriving a little after 4 pm, I wasn't sure where the office was. A woman in a truck directed me to Frank’s store, where she said an envelope with my name and a site map should be waiting if I had a reservation. We were assigned C8, but it was small and sloped, making it hard to level our RV Trailer. I called the office and someone answered. Since the campground wasn't busy, we were able to move to the much better B4.

Check-in was a mess, and the registration staff made us feel like a burden. We got there around 3:30pm, but the office was closed and there were no instructions or envelope waiting. After being sent back and forth from the diner to the lodge across the street, we were scolded for crossing the street and told the envelope should have been on the door. It wasn't, and they didn't have our reservation at first. They eventually found it, though I don't remember getting an apology. What really shocked us was seeing a dead deer hanging outside our picture window for days, along with a bloody bear carcass on the truck beside us. We were mortified. I can't believe an RV park in CA would allow that. It's illegal in California to dress or store game in an RV park, of course. The registration woman had warned us that our site, which we'd chosen at the end corner of a row, was beside an open-sided shed where hunters stored dead game. I said I was a vegetarian and we were there to see animals in the national park, and she replied, "Well, don't come here if you don't want to see dead deer during hunting season." I have no idea when local hunting season starts. That's like expecting me to know who won their team's game. We stayed in a small Class C RV in Sept. 2025, and I would not go back.

It’s a beautiful area, and we were lucky to get a spot over Labor Day weekend. The sites are pretty close together, but the place is nice, with a small restaurant, a market, and a patch of grass for volleyball. Seems great for families. The resort across the street has upscale dining and a boutique, and Lassen National Park is nearby.