Pio Pico RV Resort & Campground

Worst campground/​RV park I’ve experienced.
Pio Pico is divided in two sides, a south side and a north side, one looks like a junk yard/​trailer park/​RV storage the other a parking lot/​trailer park/​RV storage. The majority of both camp sites are taken up by what they call permanents which means people who live there and the other majority of the park seems to be taken up by RV storage. What’s left are few crappy spots for you to «camp» and park your RV. By crappy I mean that there is no privacy, nothing dividing each spot and the spots are so close together if you stretch in the morning you will probably touch the neighbors RV. Some with slide outs are basically sleeping in the next RVs living room.
All the good spots are taken by permanents who are permitted special privileges, the rest of paying members and non members can camp in the middle of the park.
The south side has full hook up sites and a few tent spots hidden in between RVs and some permanents «back yards». The showers and toilets are primitive and filthy. Most of the fixture where broken or worked incorrectly, but they where doing some half ass renovations while we were there. Many electrical box covers on sites would not close properly and many had the outlets upside down. Tent sites on the north side have 30amps only hookups not to mention that each tent site there is layered with dog poop. I’ve never seen a 30amp tent set up or the need for 30 amps to tent…
Speaking of the north side there is no full hookup, yet there are many permanents there, that of course hold all the good spots and most of the area is not paved with lots of holes. The people who arrive and are forced to go there have to get on a list to transfer to the south side in order to make full use of their RVs.
The bathrooms on the north side are «remodeled» however the showers are designed for people no taller than 4 ft, the shower head comes up to my chest and I’m under 6ft so I had to crouch to get water on my head and face. Also the guy showering can see the guy changing. Primitive design and terrible craftsmanship. It must be the same people who installed upside down outlets in the boxes.
There are 3 bathroom buildings on this side because the fourth one is closed down, you would think it would be open since there are no full hook ups so the more bathrooms the better.
The south side has none of these 21^st century upgrades. But they have heaters.
Most of the available spots are in the dirt so if it rains you are sitting in mud and puddles luckily it’s San Diego. Permanents spots I think are paved or some kind of harder grounds.
Both sides have no noticeable recycling bins but nobody recycles there or cares you can open any dumpsters to find out. They ask that you conserve water but they aren’t very green when it comes to recycling or saving energy.
The pools are only on the south side I believe but fairly clean and maintained I must say. If you have an Atv or a 4×4 vehicle you can go in the hills behind and ride along side border patrol units which frequently drive by. Other than that the wifi is garbage and a rip off, the laundry card is $ 2 non refundable they also try to make money of you with there pathetic movie rental selection.
I don’t know how this park is still operating the way it is, that there isn’t some kind of laws or regulations or inspections in campgrounds. Pio Pico has been open since the 80’s, the north side since the 90’s and that’s all they have done with the land and park? After going to other thousand trails parks how is Pio Pico possible? In fact instead of a thousand trails it should be called a thousand rules. Memberships vary in plans and options of how the parks can be used so the rules are different for everyone it seems like. Someone will come tell you that you can’t use a rope line to dry towels, so what do I do with my wet towels after showering when I’m tenting? Yet a permanent may have all kind of contraptions holding up a shed or canopy or car port. They will come and tell you that a rinsing bucket is not permitted, yet I’ve seen permanents washing their cars. They will tell you you can’t fix a flat because working on a car is not permitted yet I’ve seen permanents changing oil, doing brake jobs etc on there cars and RVs.
The way Pio Pico is set up just doesn’t work, it seems they are only interested in collecting money. Maybe it should become a full time RV park or have campers on one side and people who live there on the other I don’t know. I think that when you live somewhere permanently is one lifestyle, when you camp in a RV for a short time is another lifestyle and when you camp in a tent also a different lifestyle.

The park is not well-​maintained. There are a lot of hidden fees. For example, a park is two separate sections. If you make a reservation that does not get you a reserved spot. Those who show up later in the day get put in the «Lower level district». They do not have sewer connection over there. And charge you an extra $ 10 for removal. Or you need to go to the drive-​by which is not practical for a fifth wheel. There is a high price for Internet which also has two levels. The cheaper Internet works so poorly it is not worth buying at all. The «better «internet is $ 50 a month and horrible, not only slow but cuts out a lot. Forget cell phone service it does not work. When I got there it had just rained most spots were underwater. People who were there before the rains could not get out of their units without walking through 6 inch deep puddles. The staff is rude and nasty. I can’t believe thousand trails allows the place to be a park in their organization. After staying here I wish I never would have signed up for thousand trails

As nice as the staff was we will not be coming back to this park. When you book make sure you are aware that full hook ups are first come first serve. And also that there is no signal for cell phones or basic cable. This is pretty much a dry camping park. The only hookups they have are for 30 amps and water. No sewer hookups if you don’t arrive super early.

If you’re looking for fresh air, an escape from the city and a fun place to spend time with family, Pio Pico is it. We had a wonderful experience staying in a getaway cabin. It was immaculate! On-​site, there are lots of things to do — a fun rec room for the kids, a large pool and more. My favorite part of my stay at Pio Pico was the restaurant. At first glance, it looks really simple and basic, but the food is truly home cooking at its best. I had the chance to meet the staff, and they are a family of four (husband, wife and two children) all helping out. We enjoyed a delicious steak, freshly BBQ’d on the grill, along with a crisp salad and delicious sides. Honestly, it was better than going to a fancy 4 star restaurant and the price couldn’t be beat. I would come back here again when I’m hankering for some rest, peace, quiet and to be surrounded by nature (and home-​cooked food to give myself a break in the kitchen!).

My wife and I stayed there for a week
The staff there was very laid back
All the staff there was very friendly
The men and women that man the ranger station
Thank you so very much for all you did for us
And thank you Veronica in the store
What a wonderful and kind person you are
See you all next year in May

The Park Rangers at this place are extremely rude. I was parked about ¼ mile away from there property up on the hill behind, which is on County Land and is open to the public, and a Park Ranger called Paul came and put a note rudely saying not to park there. I would suggest going anyplace but here. The people running this place are rude and the prices are high.
And Ranger Paul, if your reading this, you went out of your way to cause pointless nastiness in my life, so I am going out my way to cause a little nastiness for you. Get a life and understand that your authority does not go further then the boundaries of your property.
Save yourself a bad vacation and some money, go anyplace but here.

We are Thousand Trails members and have been to MANY of the parks. We have loved our membership and many of the parks. We live in San Diego so we never had a need to go to Pio Pico as we like to camp away from home… well we had bought a new rig and wanted to take a maiden voyage near home so we went to Pio Pico. The buildings are nice… but… the Wifi costs (WHAT??? We pay membership dues!) the park itself is dirty and in disarray. There are JUNKY motor homes and rigs everywhere that obviously belong to people living there full time. They don’t seem to have a standard of how to keep your camp sight as the place looks like a junkyard. We truly felt unsafe as it is obvious many of these are less than desirable clientele. We will leave it at that (Yes! I have experience and a profession that allows me to make that judgement!) Sorry Thousand Trails/​Encore. We pay our dues and THIS is NOT what we signed up for!!! What a shame you have let it go.

General RV information
Physical Address: 14 615 Otay Lakes Rd, Jamul, CA 91 935
Ranger Station #: 619−421−0104
RV Site Details
South Side has two pools, clubhouse, electric, water & sewer
North Side has a remote control car track, horse area, water, electric & two dump sites
Site Pad Material: dirt depending on the site
Water: Yes
Electricity: Yes
Sewer: On South Side only
Wi-​fi: Yes, for a price –the usual thousand trails internet offer
Dump Station: Yes
Pull Through: Yes
Back In: Yes
Pet Friendly: Yes
Camp Fire: 6 inches off the ground covered
Dates of our Stay: August 29-​August 31, 2014 (holiday weekend)
Our stay
Additional Amenities: two pool, remote car track, clubhouse, café, store & horse area
Cellular Coverage: No at&t
Satellite: Satellite worked great no trees blocking it
Wifi: The usual Thousand Trails Wifi offer. Sometimes it works-​Sometimes it doesn’t
We had a good time at this thousand trails preserve. The staff & campers were friendly. On Saturday morning we drove to seaport village and had a nice lunch at Pier Café. The campground is great for early morning or early evening walking. (level walking areas)
Dutch Oven cooking is welcome so we cooked a pumpkin cake.
The electricity went out for a few hours on Saturday afternoon. Its wasn’t too hot outside so we sat outside enjoying the birds.
There are many campsites for our size rig 33ft motorhome. The streets are good for us to move around in and we found a level site with trees behind us for good birding.
Things to do here:
San Diego is 30 – 45 minutes away
Seaport Village
Midway
San Diego Zoo
Balboa Park Museums
Birdwatching — House Finch Pictures
Photography
Dutch Oven Cooking
Remote Control Car
Horse Area

I’m taking the time to write this so no one else will be part of this HORRIBLE experience and SCAM!
So me and my fiancé were looking for a place to camp with both of our families together and we found Pio Pico Campgrounds, we saw the websites video it look amazing. We went ahead and booked it for July 3-​July 6, We stay in Los Angeles, we drove this past Thursday up there took us about almost 3 hrs because of traffic, we finally get there, and this place looks like the movie «The Hills have eyes» HORRIBLE!!, it looked like a junk yard filled with trashed cars, and RV’s Filthy dirty and when we get there the ranger Scott’ was extremely rude I was seconds away from kicking his a$$, he was a smartass to me and my fiancé, no sympathy when we told him there is no campgrounds that we like and that we drove from LA, his response was «well the video was uploaded 7 years ago (
) and he laughed when he told us that, we drove off to the second part of Pio Pico to see if maybe we would find something, and they were HORRIBLE dirty, trash everywhere, cat, dogs loose dog poop everywhere, nothing is green, dead grass and trees, the pool was filthy dirty, we went back to the booth and spoke with another ranger Matt, he was more understandable, I got my license back I asked for my refund he told me Frank (manager) we do that for me. We left Pio Pico, and drove across town had an amazing time with our families at a different Camp site, I called frank on Saturday, he told me he wasn’t the manager, but he would relay the message. I checked my account and I got my full deposit back. So please please if you watch the video link there, it looks nothing like it. go watch «The Hills have eyes» that’s how it looks like. they need to take that video down because its a scam the place looks nothing like it. see for yourself. I hope my story saves you from scam.

I’ll start with camping is great with great company. This place, the rangers were rude, upon arrival — we told them we have a site with FULL hookups, the rude ranger said «we tell everyone there’s full hookups, but it’s a lie.» We find a decent site, our friends back in, we pull in so our doors are on the same side, after day 3 of being like this every ranger stopped to tell us to turn around. Bottom line: first, last and only visit, pools nice, no cell service, WIFI is $ 3.95/day, questionable residents with mean dogs that aren’t on leashes, that attack other dogs running rampant. Tons of these lovely folks live there with their messy quarters! It’s just a meh campground, I wouldn’t recommend it! I will not be taking my kids again!

We’ve been a member since November of 2013. My kids love it here, they give it 5 stars. We go there at least once or twice a month. I have read some of the other reviews and I have not seen none of the trashy trailers or shady characters. They dont have any hiking or riding trails in the park, however there are miles of trails (BLM land) adjacent to the park. They have horse stalls and horse riding trails just outside the north side of the park. This is a great park for family outings, picnic areas, 2 swimming pools, a game room and miniature golf included. Can’t beat that this close to civilization. They also have good staff running the place.

Like others, I can’t understand why Thousand Trails doesn’t maintain the park better. Besides the complaints some others have had (all valid), some of the electric service is in bad shape. Ours drove our surge protector crazy. We had guys come out to work on the electric pillar twice, but it remained dicey. Nice distance to San Diego and great shopping nearby, but it’s really rural. You see a lot of INS activity, both vehicles and helicopters. Very spotty cell service. If you are a TT member and go in snowbird season, expect to wait a day or two across the road in the public sites before you can get in. They have an interesting lottery arrangement for choosing your site, so if you have to wait, walk around and check out the sites the day before. We too are sorry we bought into a (very expensive) Thousand Trails membership. We’ve been to some good TT campgrounds, but too many are just so-​so. It’s a shame.

OMG, no cell service, free 30 mins. of wifi my eye (the wheel keep spinning), dusty and dirty and some shady looking characters. We pulled in and one round of the park we were out. The sad thing is we own a membership and we have been to three of the parks and I am so sorry we bought this membership. You would think a membership park would be nicer than average and provide free wifi!

Nice valley. Big sites. Nice swimming pool. There were renovations going on, so the adult pool was closed. Too bad, but we had a great time. It was maintained adequately. The restaurant is basic — could be better, but it’s convenient.

Pio Pico is part of the Thousand Trails net work of campgrounds. It is a great location to see the sights of San Diego. Unfortunately, they do not have any enforced standards for the campers occupying their sites. There were several sites with trailers that were filthy and had piles of junk around them. Some had a small tents used for storage that were ripped and falling down. Another site had piles of old computers and other office equipment. It looked like a trashy trailer park rather than a membership park. Too bad because it has great potential.

nothing terribly wrong with this place but I’ve been to better. The rate of $ 38 is a little over priced just to pitch your tent. I heard the check in was 4pm but when we got there it said noon.
I called ahead of time to see if they had grills and cell reception. I didn’t think to ask if they had fire rings… i mean what campsite doesn’t have them. In the material they give you it says you can ren a ring and special wood. However when I asked they no longer rent it. The only thing i was looking forward to was sitting around a campfire to roast marshmellows. Half the grills were covered by trees or too close to the bushes so keep this in mind when you are looking for a place to park.
The staff were very nice, they have lots of activities. It was pretty quiet considering there were a lot of RV’s parked. The bathrooms also were decent and clean.
We made the most of it. THe only disappointment was no fire ring

Camping and swimming close to Chula Vista
This Thousand Trails campground is called Pio Pico (membership required) and is located six miles from the eastern edge of Chula Vista. Tucked away off a two-​lane country road is a peaceful 180-​acre campsite for camping, RVs, trailers. Two pools, sauna, miniature golf, general store, shaded picnic tables, and two recreation rooms comprise the location. My grandparents owned a membership to Thousand Trail for much of my life. I have many fond memories of camping and having family gatherings there.