Thurston Meadows Campground

We have stayed in a lot of campgrounds in Canada and found every one to be enjoyable l, well appointed and clean. This one is only acceptable by our standards. This primarily has to do with no dump station, no potable water and no trash or recycling receptacles. The host has everything, even large trash dumpsters, so it’s hard to understand why trash disposal isn’t available.

The host also told us that we couldn’t run our generator to power our AC even though generator hours were 8am to 10pm. Our site was one of those in the blazing sun which was great for our solar power system but resulted in our motorhome roasting. He told us the park fills on the weekends, and we were there midweek. So there weren’t a lot of other campers. So we ran the generator for several hours in the afternoon anyway; we had no choice. He didn’t bother us about it; however, he might take a different attitude on the crowded weekends.

The most displeasing aspect about this campground was its proximity to apparent makeshift homeless encampments within two miles of the it to the east. They are unfortunately established along the Trans Canada Trail which runs through the campground and along Chilliwack Valley Road. The amount of human waste scattered around every one of these sites is outrageously disgusting! One of our dogs rolled in a “freshie” left only a meter off the TCT on the ground surface. It is very sad that these homeless people have so little respect for their living environment and their fellow humans. We found out about the homeless encampments from a local who we met hiking on the TCT several miles east. DO NOT WALK ON THE TCT NOR WALK YOUR DOGS EAST OF THIS CAMPGROUND FOR AT LEAST FIVE MILES.

We discovered a much better camping option at the end of Chilliwack Valley at Chilliwack Lake, the BC provincial park campground. Read my review to get the picture. If you have to stay at Thurston Meadows, you won’t necessarily be disappointed. And you might find it much more appealing than we did.

We chose this place because a acquaintance said it was a good spot. We would have preferred to be up at Chilliwack lake but since were 34 feet the information said it would only except 32 feet. This should be an error on the part of the provincial parks. Chilliwack campground has 50 and 60 foot long sites, and could easily handle a 40 foot rig.

The outhouse here is very old and would rate it clean.
No water, electricity, trash or dump. The owner who never came out of his little cabin for 10 minutes while we waited to check in, his dog barking the entire time. He had been on the phone and never bothered to let us know where he was at. He finally came out and was still on the phone. He was a very know it all fellow, if you get my drift.
Our site five was in the sun and if we had to do it again, we would pick one more in the shade. The temperatures have been in the high 80s & 90s during our stay. We can hear the creek at night. The sun generated enough power by early afternoon to fill our batteries. We still ran our generator to keep the air conditioning on for a few hours. Generator hours here are 8 AM to 10 PM which poses a problem on heavily used weekends. We arrived on a Tuesday and the campground had probably six people in it. There are three permanent RVs set up near the entrance. There is a trash service, but it says for only people who are employed here or something to that effect. We took our trash with us up to the provincial park.

The trans Canadian trail runs through this campground. We walked on the trail from the campground for about 1 1/2 miles. It was very appalling that there were many areas that people had deposited their waste only a meter from the trail. We asked a few people about this and they said it’s because homeless people come in here and set up camp and then move onto the next place. We did walk on the trans Canadian Trail up further after talking to a gentleman who told us after the prison the trail is pretty good as far as cleanliness. We still did find paper right aside of the trail. This is the first time we have encountered this with Canadians and it’s very disturbing.

I offered the owner some books of which I had 20 varying genres and he told me he didn’t read because he didn’t have time. He didn’t know what genre meant. We see him sitting outside his RV all the time or else in his little cabin. It appears he does this most of the time. He ran his sit on lawnmower for about 15 minutes today just on an area that was all dirt and blew up dust all over the place. He keeps the dog which he bought leashed under his house we’ve never seen him show any affection, or take the dog for a walk. I think this is the most disturbing thing to me about the man. We would never come here and stay again, I don’t think he wants to put any money in the campground. He’s just using it as a source of income.
No cell service but we got to use our Starlink.

This campground is lower in elevation than Chilliwack PP. another reason along with the beautiful lake to stay there and not here.
Read my partner’s post for more information below. Hans.

We joined up with three other rigs for three days of camping at this pleasant Chilliwack Valley campground along the Chilliwack River in British Columbia, Canada. As its name suggests, the campground is situated in a little meadow with a few sites along the river, some more in the meadow itself and then the remainder in the surrounding woods. Sites #2 through #6 are the prime sites along the river. Site #1 and sites #7 through #31 are more in the trees while sites #32 through #51 are out in the open in the meadow.

Our friends were able to reserves sites #2 - #4 along the river but we got our reservation later and settled for #1 which was near them but not right on the river. This campground has unusual (at least to us) rules in that there is no limit on how many people can occupy a site. The only rule is that all of your equipment must fit on the site. That includes your RV, tent, trailer or whatever as well as any vehicles. Many of the sites can accommodate more than one RV or trailer. For example, our site as well as one of our friend's could easily have accommodated two small or even medium sized trailers. We observed another camping group put two large fifth wheels on one of the riverfront sites. If you make a reservation, read the site descriptions carefully as they will tell you what the site can accommodate. The campground takes reservations for any date until half of the sites are reserved and then holds back the rest for first come, first served camping.

Thurston Meadows is a primitive campground with no hook-ups or other amenities so come prepared with your own water, etc. There is NO potable water available. There are vault toilets and the campground host sells firewood. Each site has a picnic table and fire pit.
There are plenty of hiking and biking opportunities in the area and the Trans Canada Trail runs right by the campground. No ATV use is allowed in the campground.

Closest place for cell service was in Chilliwack, about a 15(?) mile drive.

We found this to be a pretty, quiet, peaceful campground (although I imagine it could get pretty crowded and noisy on summer weekends) and enjoyed camping here with our friends.

You can find more information here: http://chilliwackvalleycampsites.com/