39 of 39 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Maybe the "Best" is a bit optimistic., September 19, 2003
By A Customer
This review is from: Frommer's Unofficial Guide to the Best RV & Tent Campgrounds in the U.S.A. (Paperback)
An overall failing, in my opinion, of the campground rating books (I would include Woodall's & Trailer Life) is a tendency to "fluff" the description or rating of the parks. This book is guilty, guilty, guilty. Let's take just an example. In the gorgeous state of Montana they review Indian Creek RV Campground in Deer Lodge. For beauty they give it a 4 star rating, I will go along; the mountains alone probably merit the rating; if you will overlook the immediate surroundings. Spaciousness is given a 4, only true if the park is half empty. If you have someone next to you, it is cheek and jowl. When we stayed there for one night, we could have passed the salt easily from our dining table inside the RV to the neighbor's picnic table. Our picnic table was taken over by the trailer for the tow vehicle of the people next door; they had no room left in their space. I think a rating of 3out of 5 would lead you to believe the spaciousness was reasonably good, I disagree. Site privacy was non existent in most cases yet the park is given a rating of 3 out of 5. Quiet is given 3 stars. I-90 is one of the boundaries of the campground. I-90 is not known for being quiet, although I do admit it quieted down a lot past 8:00 PM. In the text descriptions of the campground, it is described as being on the banks of the Yellowstone River. NOT, nowhere near. I would recommend Deer Lodge, if you can stay in the part away from the interstate in one of the larger sites. The town should not be missed, the mountains are glorious, and you can walk or bike to town. But I would not want to go here planning to spend several days in a quiet place with big spaces on the banks of a non-existent river. It would be a disappointing experience. One buys these books to avoid disappointing experiences. Why not tell the truth, some sites are narrow some are larger, by the interstate so not real quiet but not too noisy, great mountain view, walking distance to a very interesting town. Isn't that good enough? Do we need to fluff it so you arrive and are set up for disappointment? Where the river comes in, I don't know. Perhaps there are 2 Indian Creak RV parks in two different Deer Lodge Montanas?
Some of the RV parks are in the wrong cities. Columbia riverfront RV Resort is in Woodland. Would someone looking for lodging in Woodland search in Vancouver? I think not.
While some parks seem to have inflated ratings others seem not to be given credit. Yogi Bear's Camp Resort in Cheney outside Spokane Washington is given only 1 star for site privacy. Yet it has huge spaces with trees in between. While you can see other RV's, the privacy seems better than most and certainly better than Indian Creek RV Park in Deer Lodge Montana, yet that park merited a rating of 3. Makes no sense. I would give the Cheney Park a 3. Spaciousness rates the Cheney park 2 while it has nice big sites, compared to a 3 in Deer Lodge. Makes no sense.
Many great parks are missed completely. By Coeur D'Alene, Idaho, Blackwell's is a marvelous park. No mention of it in this book.
I think the book succeed in some ways. The written description (where it is accurate) is a great adjunct to the ratings. Fleshing out the ratings is a great idea! Some of the descriptions are apt and lead to parks you would not want to miss, like Polson KOA in Montana, a gorgeous park looking over Flathead Lake and the Mission Mountains, beautifully landscaped and well run.
More often I think the book fails.
1. Inaccuracy. Rivers where there are none. Privacy and space where there are none.
2. If it is a guide to the "Best" RV campgrounds, why does it include VanMall RV Park in Vancouver, a cramped, crowded, parking lot type park with no privacy or space and leave out Blackwell's in Coeur D'Alene with the river, lake, great service, grassy sites, and wildlife? Deer Park in Eugen Oregon is another nice park with a big grassy lawn, nice sites, and friendly people, no mention here.
The "best" RV park guide has not been written. I am ready to buy a guide that gives true assessments of the parks, has pictures, good maps, site plans, and more detail.
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Great Commentary, Lousy Maps, February 19, 2003
This review is from: Frommer's Unofficial Guide to the Best RV & Tent Campgrounds in the U.S.A. (Paperback)
This campground directory has some great points and some negative points. The commentaries and the descriptions are great. These are not checkmark ratings like you find in other directories, but specific positives and negatives about each rated site. Having stayed at several of these campgrounds, I occur fully with the reviews.
The negatives? The maps stink. Presumably, cities on the map marked with a black bullet are listed in one of two sections in the directory. There are numerous cities with a black bullet that simply are not listed anywhere in the directory. Second, a number of the campgrounds are listed under cities that are different from the street addresses given and different from other directories, causing you to search other maps to find the location. The most interesting mistake, however, is on the map on page 60. They have Montana shown where I always thought Utah was, but maybe its revisionist geography.
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Pluses & Minuses, June 18, 2003
By A Customer
This review is from: Frommer's Unofficial Guide to the Best RV & Tent Campgrounds in the U.S.A. (Paperback)
Pluses - Lack of advertisements and ratings, where you don't have to check the front of the guide to see what they mean, make this a much more user friendly format than the Trailer Life book on RV campgrounds.
Also the map section, showing the campgrounds make it much easier to find the location.
Minuses - After using the book, or trying to use it, for a brief camping trip, I discovered that they left out the largest Oregon State Park, Silver Falls, which is a fantastic campground.
Also directions such as "From Hwy 101, turn right at the Texaco ...", for the Newhalem Bay State Park in Oregon, doesn't take into account which direcion you are coming from. Turning right doesn't work if you are coming from the south.
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