Auburn RV Resort Your Gold Country Base Camp

Setting Up Camp in Gold Country

If you spend enough time moving down the highway in an RV, you start to develop a sixth sense for campgrounds. You can usually tell within five minutes of pulling through the entrance exactly what kind of experience you are going to have. Some places feel like a tight corporate parking lot where you are squeezed in slide-to-slide. Other places feel a little bit more relaxed, like someone just cleared out a patch of the woods and invited you to hang out for a while.

It sits right in the beautiful rolling hills of Northern California. This town calls itself the endurance capital of the world, mostly because of the insane amount of trail runners, mountain bikers, and horseback riders who come here to test their limits on the local terrain. If your idea of endurance is just driving a forty-foot rig over the mountain passes without losing your mind, you are still going to find a lot to like about this spot.

Here’s the thing about this specific park. It is not a sprawling wilderness destination where you are completely isolated from society. It is very much an in-town park, but it manages to keep a surprisingly quiet, green atmosphere anyway. You get the mature trees and the shade that you want when the California sun starts beating down, but you are also close enough to a Target and a grocery store that you can run out for milk in your slippers if you really need to. For a lot of travelers who are passing through on Interstate 80 or using the area as a base camp to explore the Sierra Nevada mountains, that balance is exactly what makes sense.

Getting There and Pulling In

When you are pulling a heavy rig or driving a big motorhome, the arrival process can make or break your mood for the entire evening. The good news here is that getting to the park from the highway is pretty straightforward. You take exit 123 off Interstate 80 and turn right onto Musso Road. It is tucked away just enough to feel like you escaped the heavy traffic, but you are not driving miles down winding, narrow mountain switchbacks just to find the entrance. The road in the resort is one way, so you enter at the top, and exit on the bottom.

But you do need to keep your eyes open as you approach. The signage for the park is a little small and easy to miss if you are focusing heavily on traffic. If you do happen to overshoot the entrance because you missed the sign, do not panic. Musso Road is a dead end so if you miss the turn you will need to head to the end and use the turnaround.

The interior roads are paved, which keeps the dust down. That is always a massive plus in my book. Nobody wants to sit outside their camper while every passing truck kicks up a cloud of white powder. The roads are wide enough for most standard rigs, though if you are piloting a massive forty-five-foot luxury coach with a stacker trailer behind it, you will want to take your time on the corners. It is manageable, but you cannot just fly through the loops.

Choosing Your Perfect Spot

When you book your stay here, you will have to choose among a few different types of sites. Most of the sites are back-in spots. I believe they have two pull-through sites. The sites come with full hookups, meaning you get your 20-, 30-, or 50-amp electrical service, fresh water, and sewer connections ready to go.

To reserve a site you need to fill out the form on the Auburn’s web site. Describe your rig and what there is a box you can ask for what you would like. The management will take this information and assign you to one of the sites.

Taking Advantage of the Amenities

If you need to get some work done while you are on the road, the Wi-Fi situation here is worth mentioning. They advertise high-speed internet, and for the most part, it works well enough for basic browsing and checking emails. But like almost every RV park on the planet, the signal can get a little sluggish during peak evening hours when everyone else logs on to stream their favorite shows. If you rely on a rock-solid connection for remote work, it is always a good idea to have your own hotspot backup system ready. However, many travelers report decent cell service on the major networks throughout the grounds.

If you travel with dogs, you know how stressful it can be to keep them cooped up in a moving vehicle for hours. Finding a park that actually welcomes pets makes a world of difference. This resort features a fully fenced dog park where your pups can run off leash and burn off some of that pent-up energy. It is clean, secure, and a fantastic perk for pet owners.

There is of course a laundry facility and restrooms available in the center of the resort.

The Logistics of Daily Life

The real reason you choose to stay in Auburn is everything that waits for you just outside the campground entrance. This town is a golden gateway to the Sierra Nevada mountains, and the outdoor recreation opportunities are practically endless. You are just a short drive away from the Auburn State Recreation Area, which features miles of incredible trails that wind down along the stunning American River.

If you love history, Old Town Auburn is an absolute must-visit. It is filled with historic gold-rush-era buildings, cool little antique shops, and fantastic local restaurants and craft breweries. You can spend an entire afternoon just wandering the streets, learning about the California Gold Rush, and grabbing a great meal without having to drive all the way into the chaotic traffic of Sacramento.

For the wine lovers in the crowd, the Sierra Foothills are home to some incredible, underrated wineries that offer a much more relaxed and affordable tasting experience than you will ever find over in Napa or Sonoma. You can easily spend a day driving through the scenic countryside, hopping from one small family-owned vineyard to the next, and then head back to the comfort of your rig to watch the sunset through the trees.

Exploring the Foothills Beyond the Gates

The real reason you choose to stay in Auburn is everything that waits for you just outside the campground entrance. This town is a golden gateway to the Sierra Nevada mountains, and the outdoor recreation opportunities are practically endless. You are just a short drive away from the Auburn State Recreation Area, which features miles of incredible trails that wind down along the stunning American River.

If you love history, Old Town Auburn is an absolute must-visit. It is filled with historic gold-rush-era buildings, cool little antique shops, and fantastic local restaurants and craft breweries. You can spend an entire afternoon just wandering the streets, learning about the California Gold Rush, and grabbing a great meal without having to drive all the way into the chaotic traffic of Sacramento.

For the wine lovers in the crowd, the Sierra Foothills are home to some incredible, underrated wineries that offer a much more relaxed and affordable tasting experience than you will ever find over in Napa or Sonoma. You can easily spend a day driving through the scenic countryside, hopping from one small family-owned vineyard to the next, and then head back to the comfort of your rig to watch the sunset through the trees.

Places To See

• Downtown Auburn – restaurants, shops, and year round special events.
• Historic Highway 49
• Empire Mine – Empire Mine State Historic Park is the site of one of the oldest, deepest, and richest gold mines in California.
• Coloma and Marshall Gold Discovery – The Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park in Coloma, California, commemorates the 1848 discovery of gold by James W. Marshall, which sparked the California Gold Rush.

Bringing the Journey to a Close

At the end of the day, the Auburn RV Resort is a highly practical, comfortable, and well-located base camp for anyone traveling through Northern California. It might not be a rustic, isolated wilderness experience. The resort gives you clean facilities, a safe environment, and immediate access to some of the best outdoor adventures and historic sites the state has to offer. You will find that this park is a welcoming place to park your wheels and enjoy the unique charm of Gold Country.

Of course I need to get a picture of my Super C in the blog post 😉