Santa Cruz Redwoods RV Resort

If I could give this place zero stars I would. The positives are that it is well-located relative to the Roaring Camp Railroad and Henry Cowell Redwoods. The major negatives are (1) the fact that foul smelling brownish tinged liquid was bubbling up from the gravel right next to our picnic table for hours on Sunday and (2) horrible rude customer service when I made them aware of problem (1) above. This site costs $90 per night (we were there with a group). We are very experienced campers. I would not return for any reason.

We stayed in site 40 which is very small and sloped both front to back and side to side. You had to wedge between two large trees. But that was not the issue. The issue is that site 40 is the lowpoint of the entire campground, and is basically a drainage toward the San Lorenzo river. (This is also in the area where the "river view" sites are, be forewarned)! When we arrived on Weds we noticed that some of the gravel in our site appeared to be wet and was a darker color from the other gravel.

We didn't know why it appeared wet on that part of the gravel but didn't worry too much until Sunday when a horrible, unbearable stench that smelled like excrement suddenly overwhelmed our site causing us to gag. Our neighbors also were unhappy about the smell, and said that the same thing happened the prior Sunday when they arrived. We all saw a lot of brownish liquid bubbling UP through the gravel where it had appeared discolored (I made a video but can't post video on this site). It looked like a spring but brownish and stinky. This liquid was running downhill across the camp road and down the hill toward the San Lorenzo river. Children and pets were running through this liquid. I had to put on a mask and latex gloves just so I could pack up the smell was so bad and so pervasive and I didn't want to touch anything that contacted the liquid. To us it just smelled like poop and it lasted well over an hour. Luckily we were leaving that day!

The horrible smell was disturbing enough, but the management reaction to it was even worse. I went up and knocked on the office door and the woman who came to the door said she would send maintenance. A man came to our site in a golf cart and said that it was the leachfield and that the flow out of the gravel it was caused by "everyone dumping at the same time" on Sundays and that someone was coming to fix it tomorrow. I stated that I felt they should not rent out our site (40) given that they were aware it had this problem and that we should not be charged for that day. His demeanor was abrupt and rude, and he said to talk to the manager. I went back to the office and complained again to the office employee, and was told that someone was coming tomorrow to fix it. I again stated I would like a refund due to the smelly liquid in my site. The office employee said the manager could come.

I went back to my site wearing my mask to wait for the manager. Meanwhile the same maintenance man and the front office worker came back and the maintenance man was very rude. He again said it happened when everyone dumped their tanks on Sunday. I reiterated that the smell was unacceptable, and site 40 shouldn't be rented out given the smell. He made a rude hand gesture. I told him I was a paying customer who did not think this was a normal smell for a campground. He said if it was so bad we should hurry up and leave.

Then the manager came. She was driven in a golf cart by another younger man. They indicated that sometimes there is a "something of a smell" when everyone is dumping at the same time. I showed her the brownish tinged liquid bubbling up out of the gravel and she said it being fixed tomorrow. Then she said (incorrectly) that the liquid was not on our site, it was next door to us (as if that mattered) until I showed her it was coming from immediately next to our picnic table and that it smelled horrible. She then stated that was because everyone dumped at once and someone comes every few months "to clean it out." I again asked for a refund again. In my opinion, an RV park should be able to handle sewer dumping by their customers without this horrible smell -- that's what the $90/night is for! While I talked to the manager, the brownish turbid liquid continued to ooze out of the gravel by my picnic table right in front of her. In reply to my direct request for a refund she said "that's not happening."
If you absolutely have no choice but to stay here, get a site toward the middle of the downhill slope (top is too close to road, bottom near river had horrendous smell and brownish liquid coming out of the ground as described).

We are long-time highly experienced campers who have stayed in campgrounds and parks across the country and this is the worst customer service I have experienced. I am not sure whether or not this situation is OK with Santa Cruz County but it definitely is not OK if you are a paying customer at $90 per night to have brown stinky liquid burbling out of the gravel right next to your picnic table. There is no way we could eat lunch before we departed, we just got out of there.

We enjoyed the setting of this resort, it was beautiful. The staff were kind and helpful. The spaces were quite close together and that was disappointing but we had read reviews and expected it. Our site was squeezed between the laundry building and a large tree so we had to be careful with the slide. I had to duck under our neighbors slide to get to the shared water spout. Lots of campfire smoke at night but quiet hours were honored. We rented a car in Santa Cruz and explored the coast line and warf. We also went to Henry Cowell State Park near by, we’ll worth the short trip.

When we arrived, we were surprised at how packed in all the trailers are. We had site 39, and we’re right in the center of the action. There’s not much room between sites, and the adjacent trailer (and sewer hose) is basically up against your picnic table.

At night, our voltage on the 30 amp hookup kept dropping below 104 and our watchdog surge protector kept shutting off our power. We weren’t running anything except a small 12v cooler and our fridge, and a tiny 750w space heater. The next morning maintenance said there wasn’t anything they could do but we could stop using the surge protector, which we didn’t want to do.

The office staff was helpful though, and moved us to site 4, a 50 amp site, and that solved our voltage issue, plus we had more space and were farther removed from all the action in the center of the park. This saved the trip. We would have given a 1 star otherwise. For us, we like a little more space and quiet, so we probably won’t be back. With a large group of friends, it would be fine.

Clubhouse and patio overlooking the river was nice!

This was our inaugural trip with our new Airstream FC 27. Kind of a 2-night test run within reasonable drive of our house. We do not like crowds so I knew the proximity of people was going to be an adjustment for us. And it was. Had trailers backed up to our side within 10’ of the side of our trailer. But everyone respected the quiet hours, and were all so nice. We dealt. Our 2 dogs also dealt on their maiden voyage. And the redwood groves throughout the campsite are really pretty. Felt like we were really away even though we were only 3 hours from our house. Plus the Henry Cowell park down the street was gorgeous with beautiful walk options through the redwoods. But generally this park was not a scene for us to return to. We are likely going to gravitate toward boondocking where we can be MUCH more distant from our neighbors. But the site was otherwise pretty, clean and quiet at night. With friendly people.

We were in and out pretty quick, but the location was great, campsite was good and the park was very clean and family friendly. Most sites looked like they were on top of each other. Ours was not, but it was also next to the Office, so lots of idling trucks during the day as folks checked in or were leaving. The best spots looked to be the ones by the river. They have wifi, but good luck getting anything done on it. My t-mobile phone said it had 1 bar LTE, but nothing ever loaded. Santa Cruz is just down the road. Henry Cowell is across the river, but you need to drive up or down the road a bit if you want to get into the park.

This place is well kept and almost every campsite is covered with tall redwoods, plus there's a river that runs along some campsites. The internet works well and you are close driving distance to Santa Cruz, the beach and other parks. It can get chilly as the trees block most sun so bring lots of firewood. Some of the hookups are in funky places, which may place your RV too close to another. The train whistle during the day from the local Roaring Camp Railway is a nice touch. I recommend reserving a ride ahead of time and climbing on board.

The most popular sites are 25, 49, 19, 20, 44, 74, 62, 10, 81, 41, 42, & 23 according to the front desk.

Stayed here for 3 nights, and the location is fantastic. There is something magical about being in the big trees. As others mentioned, the sites are crazy close, and there are a lot of people. It might have been spring break, but there were lots of families with kids and gear, but everyone was very respectful and kept to quiet hours. Kids looked like they were having lots of fun and not rowdy, just lively. I ended up working off the wifi and occasionally has to switch to cellular for video calls but everything was fine - especially if you just need to be on email and have a few
audio Zoom calls. Staff was very courteous. Note that this site is the only one without sewer hookups but you can pull into any empty site to dump as needed (saw about 2-3 rotating empty sites daily during my trip). No walking trail to Henry Cowell, but it’s a short drive away and you can park on the side of Hwy 9 to avoid park parking.

We stayed here late in February. The park was pretty full of campers but we had decent privacy. Full hookups and sites that were easily accessible. We had an easy contact free check in and actually never had a need to contact any staff there the three nights we stayed. Our site backed up to the nice little playground, which was close enough that we could watch over our kiddos playing on the playground while relaxing in front of our trailer. They will deliver a rentable fire pit and wood if you want, for a few of course. We enjoyed being under the tall redwoods and took a hike in the giant redwoods at Henry Crowell state park, a two minute drive away.
Overall, we would stay there again in a heartbeat. However it looks like the summer rates are a little pricier.

Pretty, clean, well-kept park with redwood trees throughout and nearby creek. My site was. not level, took some work both side-to-side and front to back. Redwoods provide nice shade when it's hot. Paved roadway makes for easy walking. For a longer walk it is difficult since access road has not sidewalk and very little shoulder. Two nearby neighborhood streets helped. Good AT&T cell coverage. Nearby public parks. Santa Cruz 20 minutes away. Be sure to follow the directions on the resorts website, access on highway 9 is difficult if you come in the wrong way. Google suggested a shorter reasonable route for an automobile, not an RV.