Camp Richardson Campground

A great place if you’re okay with seeing multiple bears day and night and fine with your “bear proof” food storage box possibly getting broken into.
Let’s talk about my stay 2 nights ago. The first night we hear from our neighbors that bears were around but left after a while, no problem right? The next morning we wake up to a bear snapping our door handle, trying to get into our van. Creepy.but still we were doing okay. Now let’s talk about our final night. Around 11pm we hear a bear clawing at our bear box that we were instructed to keep ALL food in. (We had probably $200 worth of food in there and a nice new cooler). All the sudden we hear a big BANG! Then silence… then the crinkling of a chip bag. My husband and I just stare at each other. THE BEAR GOT IN. We were on the last stop of our 3 week road trip. We had expensive olive oil, seasonings, etc in that box. It took us several minutes of heart thudding panicked moments to finally decide to try and scare away the bear. But what’s going to get a big bear to leave a feast of free food? We turn the van around, roll down our window and throw rocks, while shining the lights in the bears face. Holy cow the bear was huge! Huge enough to easily be able to break through our windshield if it felt like it. At this point I’m trembling, realizing the moment the bear leaves, we will have to get out of the car and clean up the mess, not knowing if the bear will return quickly. The bear finally runs off and we throw all the food back in the bear box and quickly jump back in the van. What are we supposed to do? We aren’t going to put the food in our van and risk the bear trying to break in. It was HUGE, and who are we to know for sure it won’t try to pry open the van door the same way it pried open the bear box? After 30 min the bear comes back and moves the picnic table we put in front of our bear box and breaks in AGAIN, destroying and stealing even more of our food. We honk and yell and the bear runs off. We grab all our food and throw it in the van and leave. Because what else are we to do? We drive 2 hrs to a Valero gas station and slept there and then just drove home. I’ve never been so scared in my life. The only reason I’m giving 2 stars is because they did refund me $100 for staying there which will barely cover the damages we suffered, but at least it’s something. They admitted that these bear boxes get broken into and they are working with the budget of the forest service, that it’s a process to update them. We stayed in Yosemite national park 2 weeks ago and there were much more secure bear boxes there and guess what? We didn’t see a single bear in that campground (probably because the bears learned they can’t break into the boxes). So now i have a better idea of why there were bears all over camp Richardson campsite. Like i said, I’ve never been so scared, being that close to a giant bear and having to get out of the car to defend our food not knowing if the bear would come running back. Both my husband and I were trembling long after the event. That was my first bear encounter and hopefully my last. I will never be camping there again.

The campgrounds are beautiful.
Great location near the water
The showers and bathroom need cleaning, not just updating. The shower I used never got warm, and was very difficult to turn on and off.

Very nice campground, next to Lake Tahoe.
On foot you can take a beautiful half-day hike over Mountain Tahoe to Fallen Leafes Lake.
Unfortunately, sanitary facilities are very run down, so a star deduction.

During our recent three-day stay at the campsite, we were initially assigned a specific campground upon arrival. We inquired about the possibility of changing our campsite, only to be informed that such changes required a 24-hour notice and incurred a $10 fee. Later in the day we asked two different individuals and they told us it wouldn't be a problem and there was no charge. This did not lead to a great start.

After concluding our camping trip, I was surprised to find an additional charge of $150 on my credit card statement. In an effort to clarify this charge, I had to contact the campsite's management to request a receipt, which was somewhat inconvenient and left me wondering why such documentation was not provided proactively.

Resolving the matter of the $150 "unattended campfire charge" proved to be a rather frustrating experience. It took several attempts and a call every day for five days to finally connect with a manager of the campsite's staff. During this process, I encountered a notable lack of responsiveness, consistently needing to call 3 or 4 times in a row before I would stop going to voicemail. Furthermore, one of the staff members I spoke with displayed a lack of professionalism and courtesy during our interaction, which was disappointing.

Upon reaching the campsite manager on Friday, I was informed that there were no photographic records of the reported "unattended campfire" incident that allegedly occurred at 11: 20 am. The manager indicated that such a fee meant a full-on blazing unattended fire. I offered to provide photographic evidence that we left at 8: 11am with clearly no fire burning, but the manager didn't even bother and just agreed to waive the fee simply because I was calling about it.

This experience left me with a less than favorable impression of the campsite's administrative and customer service processes. The initial communication discrepancies, difficulty in reaching a live representative, and the inconsistency surrounding the "unattended campfire charge" all contributed to a less than satisfactory experience. While the issue was eventually resolved in my favor, the overall handling of the situation left me with reservations about the campsite's professionalism and customer service standards.

The good: Showers and a nice camping spot that was more private than we expected, although many of them are right on top of each other. I think we got lucky. The location is great. What little I saw of staff were friendly. Having electricity was a bonus for our popup. The shower water pressure is good.

The needs improvement: The bathrooms and showers are really dilapidated and with the amount they charge a night-this is by no stretch resort style. It is too expensive in my opinion. Plus they charge even people who are staying overnight $12 parking for the restaurant/beach parking. Wait until four and it’s free.

To note: Bears are no joke here. I saw four in a 12 hour period and they have no fear of humans. Please do not be rude or unwise and put ALL food and toiletries in the bear lockers, make sure to secure trashcans, and don’t leave food out. Multiple times I went and closed trashcans that people foolishly left open and walked up onto a mama bear and two cubs raiding the bathroom trashcan.

It was my first time to visit this campsite and I saw some reviews saying that the toilets were dirty, and I started to get very worried! When we arrived, it wasn't as bad as it seemed, it was actually quite clean! I encountered a bear, but when the neighbors saw the bear, they would be very enthusiastic and tell everyone to help drive the bear away, and there were also patrols to help! It’s my first experience, it’s pretty good with friends and kids.

Wooded Campsistes, not as spacious and private as some, but better than the ones closer to town. 15 minute walk to the beach.
Loud trash removal truck came in every morning around 7. Bathrooms are ok, shower 1$ - get special coins from the reception. Use bear-lockers, local bear came checking on us twice a day.

Whew, where to begin? Nice friendly staff. Beautiful location. However, seems like decay has been working its magic on the campground. Bathroom facilities (only one bathroom with a dew stalls) hobbled together, water was contaminated by e coli so no washing, or showers or cooking water and No discount! We were in the RV campground, nice trees but folks were packed in tighter than I though possible causing traffic jams at times and much more noise. Seems like the motto there is profit over quality experience.

The actual rv sites were fine, but the bathroom/shower facilities were horrific. Mosquitoes the size of your face, frogs hopping around, cockroaches in the toilet, flies all around, not well taken care of at all. Very disappointed about our stay there.

My family and I have been coming to Camp Rich for 3 years and it is a highlight of our summers. We just checked out first week of August.

We’ve have two different sized travel trailers (27ft and 35ft) and both were well accommodated. We have group camped in the RV side (other party was a 40ft class A; space they were assigned fit perfectly). We have stayed in 8 different spots with full hookup and partial, lower level and on the hill. Some spots are tight to get into, but once situated they fit our trailer with 1 larger slide and our full size truck side by side.

Recommendation to people new to Camp Rich: bring leveling blocks or setup. This will help so much. For us, it’s not a draw back because we’re expecting to be camping in the woods, but I imagine it can be frustrating if you’re not expecting a dirt spot that is not ideally level.

Dump site is easy to access, but can be busy. If you’re in a partial hookup site, morning and early afternoon (prior to check in time) is least busy generally speaking.

Have read several reviews with comments about bathrooms. We don’t generally use them, but I have used the RV side showers and bathrooms a handful of times. It would be nice to upgrade them as they are older, but for our family this is not a make or break.

That being said, we love the access to the beach, the general store, and the ice cream shop. Not to mention the bike/pedestrian paths: I love running here every summer! Watch for bears and other animals— I’ve come within view of both coyotes and bears out on a run.

We love Camp Rich and will be back next summer!

Checked into the RV park earlier in the day. The gentleman checking us in was very short-tempered, so our experience here didn't start off well. Once we finally got to our site and settled in, my wife went to use the facilities and she almost stepped in the FECES on the floor in front of the toilet! Absolutely unacceptable! We haven't seen any groundspeople since we've been here. No one's cleaned it up still, and it's been an hour (it's 8: 00 and we saw this at 7: 00). Camp Richardson needs to hire some staff to keep their facilities clean. Disgusting!

Best campground in Tahoe. Close and far enough to city center. Clean campgrounds. Great friendly staff. This spot has been a favorite for over a decade. Highly recommend.

Booked online for day of reservation and missed the "no pets"policy notice that was made aware in email reservation confirmation. Called within 10 mins of booking for a refund. Their policy is no refunds for day of reservations, but they lack a policy for grace period after booking for reservations. Make sure you read every detail before making a reservation. I'm quite upset paying for something I'm not getting that could be resold to someone else because of policy only favoring the establishment. Take your money elsewhere until they add room for customer human error.

The location of the campsite is top. However, we still have a bad aftertaste from our visit. After taking a short walk, all our stuff turned out to be gone (table / tablecloth / stuff on the table). We reported this to the staff and they would investigate. We haven't heard from them again. They also stop responding to our emails. Really really bad service.

Went out for a short hike, when we came back all our belongings were stolen. Awful communication by their staff. Do not go here.

The place is not taken care of. Location is awful! False advertising on their website! If you planning camping in RV the campground is super too far from the lake, you ll have to cross the road as well. They told us the “front” spots are only for camping in tents. We booked like two hours before the arrival and it was not their busy season may be a few RV s parked and they refused to give us a refund. The manager did not even talked to me personally before he already made that decision.

Stopped on to rent some X country skiis 2x during our trip and you cannot find a more accommodating, friendly, good set of humans that you have here in the rental shop. Roland you are an absolute Rock Star!

Sites are dirt and most are not near level - bring lots of levelling blocks. Bathrooms are old and in dire need of major renovations. For the price we expected better facilities. Nice ~1/2 mile trail to the beach.

The location is great, that's all.
The campsite is not taken care of, everything is outdated or dirty. The spots are not straight, which means the connections are in awkward places. Half of the campsite does not have Wi-Fi. The shower curtains are so short that the entire shower area gets soaking wet, as does the bench where your things are placed. In addition, the showers and toilets are not cleaned daily. Rancid!