Tag Archive for: KOA

KOA 2019 Campground of the Year

/0 Comments

We’ve stayed at a number of KOA campgrounds. In Canada, KOA campgrounds fall into one of two categories: okay and not okay. Most of their campgrounds consist of grass, gravel and, if you find a better class of “okay”, a modest concrete pad.

My beef with most KOAs? Sites are tight. Access for a large rig can be touch and go — mostly touch as in getting touched, or scraped really, by the trees. And they are generally priced high for the quality of the site.

Like the Thousand Islands KOA.

Despite being assured that this particular KOA was big rig friendly and that there would be plenty of room for our coach, we barely squeezed into this site.

And we could not exit the site without getting the staff to cut down several branches.

There is one KOA that we do like in Ontario and that is the Barrie KOA. They offer an adult-only section that is quiet with level, concrete pads. The sites are well spaced with very easy access for large rigs.

We will be returning there for the summer.

Each year, KOA provides an award for their campground of the year. This year, the winner is the New Bern KOA Holiday. Here is a picture from the KOA post:

Another grass and gravel park although there does seem to be a bit more separation between the sites.

Campground of the Year

/0 Comments

We stay at KOAs. But only when we don’t have a choice. I find most of them to be too expensive for the experience which is generally very tight sites, gravel pads and, for big rigs like ours, tight access and issues with clearing trees.

Every year, KOA selects a campground of the year. For 2018, the winner is the Delaware Water Gap/Pocono Mountain KOA Holiday.

This would be one of their sites:

If that was the campground of the year, I was curious to see one of the worst KOA campgrounds. I didn’t have to work that hard to find it. Acton/Los Angeles North KOA. A typical review on tripadvisor:

Disgusting rat hole of a campground

This is the worst place ever… with the sewer smell from the septic tank… ants crawling all over the walls and toilets in the bathrooms and the laundry room is a joke and the prices this place charges you can go up to the rv resort on Sierra Highway for the same price you have cell phone service and WiFi and a beautiful view of the valley and a swimming pool that is taken care of properly …. so people if you are passing thru the Acton area this is not the place to stay. Again go to the rv resort on Sierra Highway for top of the line camping experience

Pretty brutal comments all around.

The sites there appear to have no boundaries. They look to be offered on an unpaved parking lot with very little separation.

It makes me appreciate some of the beautiful spots we have found in our travels to date. Especially in the Petoskey, Michigan area.

And I am certain that we will find many more beautiful spots for our coach in the years to come. If that means the occasional stay in a more rustic KOA setting in transit, so be it. All part of the experience.

KOA 2017 Campground of the Year

/0 Comments

KOA announced their 2017 campground of the year: West Glacier, Montana. It does look very attractive and one to add to our list of sites to visit.

“There’s very little I can say that will do justice to the quality of the improvements made to the West Glacier KOA Holiday,” said KOA President and CEO Pat Hittmeier. “Out of all of the very deserving KOA locations in North America that have undergone amazing transformations recently, we believe the West Glacier KOA Holiday is a great selection for KOA’s Campground of the Year.”

The West Glacier website is here.