Trinidad Lake State Park Campground Review Trinidad, Colorado #ruffroadrvlife #coloradocamping #ruffroadrvlife
Trinidad Lake State Park is a Colorado State Park located in Trinidad, Colorado. What a scenic park! We loved our short stay here.
*Heads Up! Colorado State Parks charge a daily fee in addition to camping fees. At this park the cost is $9.00 per day.
There is also the South Shore Campground which has 10 non-electric sites. This campground is within walking distance to the lake.
What we love about Trinidad Lake State Park:
Large sites, some with brush, others out in the open
Clean park
Great views: Trinidad Lake, Fishers Peak, Spanish Peaks, Sangre de Cristo Mountains
Easy to get to from Interstate 25
Verizon worked
Park is nice. It has been updated.
Trails – easy to challenging
What we didn’t love about Trinidad Lake State Park:
Colorado charges a per day fee for vehicles in addition to the camping fee. While we have seen this elsewhere, $9.00 seems a little hefty for a daily parking fee. Towed vehicles are included.* If you are spending any time in Colorado, go for the $80 – $120 park pass.
No water at the majority of sites and only a few full hook – up sites.
No easy access to the lake and no swimming in the lake.
Trinidad Lake State Park is worth a stop if you are traveling along the I -25 corridor in southern Colorado. We’re glad we booked there!
Peaceful little campground just off of I84 in Oregon.
We left the lush coast of Oregon and headed east. Thus began our slow trek towards Florida. However, we had one more stay in Oregon, not the lush rainforest environment we’d enjoyed the past couple of weeks, but the high desert environment that has its own majestic beauty. We found a peaceful stay at LePage Park, an Army Corps of Engineers park, right off of I84.
How to Get to LePage Park- From the Oregon Coast
First, the route to get there from the coastal area was beautiful! We left the coast and drove towards Portland then on to I84 which runs along the Columbia River Gorge. Here’s where I wished I could wing it, because this is an interesting area to explore. We filed this away for future trips.
Heads up: This route can have some strong wind gusts but we did fine even though it was windy that day already.
LePage Park is right off of I84 on exit 114. The exit dumps you right into the park. That’s the only place you can go. When you leave the park, you follow the ramp to rejoin I84. Even though the park is right next to an interstate, the road noise was not bad. You might hear the rumbling from vehicles crossing the bridge or a train now and then from the tracks on the other side. None of this bothered us during our stay.
Campsites
The park is located on the John Day River which flows into the Columbia River on the other side of the bridge. There are only 22 electric and water sites with only one of those being first come, first serve. That spot was claimed for several days when we arrived. No worries, though, we had reservations. In addition, there are 20 primitive treed tent sites set on a lush grassy area. These filled up on the weekend, but the area was wide open during the week.
Things to Do
LePage Park offers a boat ramp, play ground, fishing, swimming area, and provides enough space to walk your dogs. We saw big horn sheep, a mink, and an eagle while there.
Phone Service
Heads Up: Verizon service did not work there. We could sometimes call out but the calls would drop without warning. If you head ten minutes back to the west, you’ll find a McDonalds in a Pilot with good wifi. Pilot offers wifi, as well. That’s where we headed when we needed wifi.
We Recommend this Park
All in all, we had a great stay at LePage Park. It’s a quiet, little peaceful park along I84 in Oregon. Next stop, Hood Park in Washington.
Lepage Park in Oregon
About Us
We are two happy retirees living full time in our RV, Ruff Road, with our two dogs. Our travels have taken us across the USA. We’ve only just begun to see this great country. We share campground reviews, a look at places that we’ve visited, tips and lessons learned along the way.
We’re on the road living the RV life, slowly moving to the west. Now that we are mobile, we’ll be sharing more content with you. Check out our You Tube channel, Ruff Road RV Life, to see the places we visit and RV life lessons learned. We will be posting at least once a week, unless we are in a no service/ limited service area. It happens even with Verizon.
How has the journey been so far? We have loved every campground to date. We have enjoyed the perfect combination of water and woods. The Ruffs, Terra and Luna, are loving the water and the wooded walks. We are enjoying colorful sunrises and sunsets in addition to our healthy walk- abouts throughout the day.
Is it what we imagined? Yes indeed, and more! We’ll be sharing these experiences as we travel. We’ve settled into a regular routine but we are flexible. For example, we went to lunch one day and learned about a nearby museum. So off we went for longer than expected visiting this museum. We love the varying window views as we move from place to place. We’ve enjoyed the benefit of 50 amp service and sewer hook-ups so bathing and laundry was no problem.
Follow along! Let us know if you have any questions about full time RV life. If you are full-time rving, share your experiences, we’d love to hear. If you have a website or You Tube channel, comment and share so we can learn from you. Below are the links to our You Tube Channel and to our latest posted video. Subscribe so you’ll know when we upload. Ruff Road rolling on…”We like looking at freedom.”
Florida Beach Campground – Yes, life is good here in Florida!
Our latest campground review is for Gamble Rogers Memorial State Recreation Area in Flagler Beach, Florida. We stayed at Gamble Rogers in February. February in Florida, on the beach or near the beach, can get quite chilly. In fact, it was one year ago this month that we took Ruff Road on his first excursion- a drive along A1A in this same area and we were freezing when we stopped for a beach walk. This year, we were lucky and the weather was great!
This campground has a river side and a beach side. We camped on the river side because that was all that was available when we booked.
Terra and Luna’s first beach trip!
Peace and Quiet
Why yes. This campground was peaceful and quiet even though most or all sites were occupied. The river bordered our campground area allowing peaceful nature walks or just chilling on the soft green grass or having a picnic riverside. The beaches in this area are less crowded than the neighboring beaches to the south of us, Ormond Beach and Daytona Beach.
Peace and Quiet Rating: 5 stars
Things to Do
Well this is one of those parks that you just want to sit and be zen with the breeze blowing through the palms and beach side waves that you could even hear at times in the river side campground. Watching the sunset or sunrise at the beach or the river offered some excellent photography moments or again to just soak it in. There is a small nature trail that winds through the palms and trees and even along the river. The beach is within walking distance to do some beach walking, shelling, or just chilling at the beach.
Gary was able to surf fish and he also fished in the river. This park also has a boat ramp. If you like to bike, A1A is a scenic highway along the Atlantic coast that passes through North Peninsula State Park. I rode my bike on the sidewalk for miles with little stress of traffic or busy road crossings. It was too windy while we were there to kayak but if I wanted to drive over to nearby Bulow Creek State Park, it would have been less windy than the river. There are several state parks in this vicinity so you can plan to “park hop”. You will find many activities listed on the Gamble Rogers website. There is something for everyone.
We didn’t really have the need to use these but a quick glance proved they are clean. Florida really does a nice job with their facilities and the upkeep.
Bathhouse Rating: 5 Stars
Dog Friendly
This one is important to us since our two kids, our pups, Terra and Luna are with us always. Sadly, dogs are not allowed on Florida State Park beaches. We could walk the trails and have them in the campground but no dogs at the beach. Fortunately, there is a public beach right next to the park where we were able to take them. It really wasn’t much further than the park beach and even had a parking area. They enjoyed romping in the sand at the beach and romping at the river. The trails are long enough to get a good walk in. Wildlife is around because they loved sniffing everything along the trail.
Dog Friendly Rating: 4 stars (because no dogs on the beach!)
Always playing
It’s a feather!
Campsite
The campsites are nicely spread out so you have space. There is no vegetation between sites and the beach side seemed to be a little tighter that the river side. Sites on the inside of the river side loop were just in a grassy field with a few palms here and there. Most sites on the outside of the river side loop had nice wooded backdrops. Either the road or the beach dunes were behind campsites on the beach side. We loved our site because we were on the outside and we could access the nature trail through the woods right behind us.
Campsite Rating: 4 stars (personal preference, we like a little more woodsy)
Overall Rating: 4.6 out of 5 Stars, YES, we would stay here again!
Blanket to block the wind…and view of other pups
Funny Story…
I always say, if you don’t have an adventure, you don’t have a story. Here’s our Gamble Rogers story.
My dear Gary (insert bless his heart here), just loves to fish. On this trip, he decided to try his hand at surf fishing. Of course, we would need to take the dogs with us so he planned on doing a little evening surf fishing. He spent the day getting ready. All bait, equipment, water, chairs…ready to go. Our plan was to park in the beach side parking lot and walk to the dog gate that led to the dog beach because remember, no dogs on the park beach. As I whizzed by on my bike earlier that day, the walk didn’t look that bad.
So we parked and headed out, with the dogs, with the chairs, with the bait, with the fishing gear- hands, shoulders, and backs were loaded! We began the trek to the dog gate. We walked and we walked. I think Gary may have done a little cursing along the way. When we got to the point that I thought had the gate, we realized that the campground went on and we were only halfway through it! After much huffing and puffing and lugging, we finally made it to the dog gate and followed a little path to a parking area. Gary wondered out loud, “Why didn’t we park here in the first place?” I laughed and we went on down the stairs, across the sand to our fishing spot.
Then Gary remembered, he forgot his pvc pole holder. Sooo, I volunteered to walk back across the sand, up the steps, across the parking area, through the dog gate, through the now glaringly large beach side camping area, back to the truck. The plan was to just move the truck to the dog beach parking area. I turned the key. Nothing. Dead battery. I asked passerbys for a jump start but no one had cables and we didn’t either. Ok. So I locked the truck up and carried the pvc pole holder through the beach side camping area, through the gate, along the path, through the parking area, down the steps, across the sand and reported to Gary that the battery was dead.
We decided to go ahead and fish and get a jump from one of the campers or campground host. It was a fun evening of Gary catching a few fish and the pups happily digging and playing in the sand. We headed out a little after dark. I sat with the gear and Gary headed back on the trek to the truck to try to get a jump. He returned awhile later and had to call our insurance company for roadside assistance. It appeared the campers were all tucked away in their rvs and the host’s lights were out.
So we loaded up with the last gear left and headed back to the truck on this long trek now in the dark. When we reached the truck, I asked for the keys. Gary said that he had left it open. Well the wind had other ideas and had blown the door shut with the keys inside. We had a spare in our RV, but the RV keys were in the truck also! So another phone call to roadside assistance was made to request a locksmith to get into our truck. I won’t lie, I had some choice words until I learned that this was covered and would not cost us money. Then I was good. I’m not sure about Gary. He was tired from all of our trekking today.
We waited. We just unfolded our chairs and had a sit under the night sky with the crashing waves sounding behind us. This story has a good ending. Our rescuer arrived, unlocked the door, jumped our truck in a matter of minutes. During this wait time, Gary realized the battery was the original battery and most likely done. We then had a nice little drive to the nearest auto parts store to buy a new battery just 15 minutes before closing.
And that, my friends, is a story that we will remember about this trip!
Fishing riverside…Luna just wants the bouy
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Well, not real mountains but go hiking in Torreya State Park and you’ll feel the inclines and the declines. This area boasts high bluffs, ravines, and clear creeks. The park even has a waterfall!
Beautiful creek
Are you looking for some peace and quiet?
We stayed here for one week in January. We have to say that this is the most peaceful and quiet campground we have ever visited. The ranger said that winter is the best time to visit. This is a small campground with 30 sites and a yurt. The sites are large enough for larger rigs and provide some space so you aren’t walking out your door and right into your neighbor’s yard. Campsites do have sparse vegetation between them but were nicely wooded behind them.
What can you do at Torreya State Park?
Walk the trails! You won’t believe you are in Florida. There are over 14 miles of winding, hilly trails with some technical parts and clear, running streams. You can also visit the historic Gregory House overlooking the Apalachicola River. They offer tours of the house for a small fee.
I came to hike but the river is there for kayaking although you would have to find a boat ramp since there isn’t one in the park. Also, for those of you who love to watch birds, this would be a good place for that as well.
Torreya Trail
Come Stocked and Prepared…
You won’t find stores close by. You will have to drive a bit to get to the nearest civilization. This is one thing we loved about this park. It is isolated and you get the feeling you are in the wilderness.
What about the important stuff? Bathrooms, showers, laundry…
In one word – Amazing. The bathhouse was clean and provided privacy when showering. As a bonus, it is heated. This was so welcomed on those chilly nights.
What about dogs?
Torreya State Park is dog friendly. Dogs are allowed on the trails and in the campground, on leash and under control of course. Our two pups loved the hiking with cool splashes in the creeks we passed.
Puppies in a creek
5 Points of Review-
Overall we give this park 4.6 out of 5! Yes, we will be back.
