Campground Memberships

[Muddy Waters]

We are camping at Loon Lake, Oregon at present and have been cruising around (always on the lookout for our next place to stay) and found ourselves in Florence yesterday. There was the most beautiful-looking campground but it was a Thousand Trails site, private, and they wouldn't even let us drive through for a look-see unless we had a pre-arranged appointment.

What's the deal with campground memberships in general and Thousand Trails in particular? Are they worth it? Are the campgrounds really so much better? How about the people? Loon Lake has some, uh, 'interesting' characters. Most of them are super but there have been a few fights and a loud, profane party that went on until 1:30 a.m. one night. So much for their enforcement of 'quiet time'.

I'm curious if anyone has opinions on memberships.

[Dakota's Dad]

TT is very nice. I have a membership through my parents (TT member # 9 or there abouts), as do my brothers. Most of their parks are on the west coast, but there are 3 within a couple hours of us here, and since they have merged with Naco and such, more parks are open to us as well. I honestly don't know what the annual dues are, I understand they are higher then most (again, I have never had to pay a due or membership fee) all the parks we have visited or used have been well within what I would refer to as a "resort" as they do. They all have rentals and tent camping areas as far as I know, that is how we have used them up until now.

[gaylejoe]

We have been members for 7 years and are very satisfied. Last year we used most of their locations working our way of the West Coast from Arizona, California, Orgeon, and Washington. You guys living in that part of the country are very lucky. I'm sorry that you could not go inside the park but they are very strict on that policy.

[Muddy Waters]

Thanks, Gaylejoe. Not letting us drive through made it seem sort of mysterious and cult-like. The campground looked really gorgeous from where we were, though.
I don't think I could convince my DH to spring for a membership at this point in time but I was mighty curious.