My birthday falls on July 3rd. July 1st is a national holiday in Canada so we thought we would make the most of it and book the day of in between and book a long weekend away camping. I always lean towards going to places I have never been before as opposed to spots we know so we can experience something new. This theory is great, but when it comes to camping it becomes pretty risky.
On this occasion we booked 4 nights camping at The Ranch RV & Campsite in Golden, BC (previously known as the Eco Ranch)
BIG MISTAKE!
We had a pretty bad week running up to this with events that I will not go in to detail on, so maybe my mind was a little more closed then usual. But that being said, there is only so much “basic living” you can take when you’re paying to stay somewhere.
The campsite is south west of Golden in the Nicholson area. Surrounded by mobile homes and a pretty basic looking petrol station. When you first drive in it looks pretty nice, big open pastures and then a wooded area where the camping spots are. We pre-booked our spots hoping they would be in a good place. We went with some friends who arrived the day before us and their camping spot was so bad they had to leave and book in to a hotel. They arrived in the evening and no one was around to help so they had to book in to a hotel for the night! The next day they went back and were able to pick a different spot for a couple of nights and then were told they had to move to the spot they originally booked.
The camping spot they had was TINY – the grass looked like it hadn’t been cut at all this season, and they could barely get anything in the space. They have a decent sized tent but nothing ridiculous. You would expect to be able to put it up in any site.
When we arrived, our spot was slightly better than theirs. Although I will say, as a dog owner you have to pay extra for your pets on campsites, which is fine by me if they are looked after, but our spot was FULL of another dogs s**t and Henry and I spend the first 15 minutes mine sweeping!
I will add that this trip was right in the middle of the biggest heat wave western Canada has seen in years. It was 40 degrees when we arrived in the afternoon! Obviously this is not the campsites fault but it certainly didn’t help matters.
We set our stuff up but a combination of the heat and the mosquitos made it a pretty horrible experience. We tried to make the most of it and cracked a beer and just got on with it, but after about 20 minutes of bug storms we gave up and got in our tent and called it a night.
The first night was not too bad, we left the cover off our tent and slept under the stars which was pretty cool. It did cool off at night so we were comfortable, but the dogs defiantly weren’t and were pretty unsettled all evening.
The next day we had planned to go out on adventures but the temperatures soared by mid-morning and it was a struggle to know what to do. So, we planned on just chilling at the campsite and finding shade and water. This campsite advertises a “swimming pond” – The only way I would swim in that pond is if I had caught on fire and needed putting out. It was not a pond; it was a marsh. Mosquito heaven!
There are also basically no facilities at this campsite. There is one tap for drinking water which is in the middle of the woods (impossible to find unless you go exploring, which is mosquito heaven is not ideal) there were no signs for it at all. And there are no bins!
I tell a lie, there was one! But when we got to it, it was so full that we had to put our rubbish in the truck and drive it out to town.
The staff are about as helpful as a beached fish! And the toilets were pretty rough as well.
I’m sad to say that after one night we decided to abandon ship and book ourselves in a hotel. The dogs were struggling, Rocket was getting eaten alive by mozzies, and my patients had worn out.
I don’t like to do bad reviews, but for the safety of your family I recommend picking another campsite if you decide to camp in Golden. There are plenty of others that look great, clean, well maintained and closer to town.
Onwards and upwards to the next camping trip.
My birthday falls on July 3rd. July 1st is a national holiday in Canada so we thought we would make the most of it and book the day of in between and book a long weekend away camping. I always lean towards going to places I have never been before as opposed to spots we know so we can experience something new. This theory is great, but when it comes to camping it becomes pretty risky.
On this occasion we booked 4 nights camping at The Ranch RV & Campsite in Golden, BC (previously known as the Eco Ranch)
BIG MISTAKE!
We had a pretty bad week running up to this with events that I will not go in to detail on, so maybe my mind was a little more closed then usual. But that being said, there is only so much “basic living” you can take when you’re paying to stay somewhere.
The campsite is south west of Golden in the Nicholson area. Surrounded by mobile homes and a pretty basic looking petrol station. When you first drive in it looks pretty nice, big open pastures and then a wooded area where the camping spots are. We pre-booked our spots hoping they would be in a good place. We went with some friends who arrived the day before us and their camping spot was so bad they had to leave and book in to a hotel. They arrived in the evening and no one was around to help so they had to book in to a hotel for the night! The next day they went back and were able to pick a different spot for a couple of nights and then were told they had to move to the spot they originally booked.
The camping spot they had was TINY – the grass looked like it hadn’t been cut at all this season, and they could barely get anything in the space. They have a decent sized tent but nothing ridiculous. You would expect to be able to put it up in any site.
When we arrived, our spot was slightly better than theirs. Although I will say, as a dog owner you have to pay extra for your pets on campsites, which is fine by me if they are looked after, but our spot was FULL of another dogs s**t and Henry and I spend the first 15 minutes mine sweeping!
I will add that this trip was right in the middle of the biggest heat wave western Canada has seen in years. It was 40 degrees when we arrived in the afternoon! Obviously this is not the campsites fault but it certainly didn’t help matters.
We set our stuff up but a combination of the heat and the mosquitos made it a pretty horrible experience. We tried to make the most of it and cracked a beer and just got on with it, but after about 20 minutes of bug storms we gave up and got in our tent and called it a night.
The first night was not too bad, we left the cover off our tent and slept under the stars which was pretty cool. It did cool off at night so we were comfortable, but the dogs defiantly weren’t and were pretty unsettled all evening.
The next day we had planned to go out on adventures but the temperatures soared by mid-morning and it was a struggle to know what to do. So, we planned on just chilling at the campsite and finding shade and water. This campsite advertises a “swimming pond” – The only way I would swim in that pond is if I had caught on fire and needed putting out. It was not a pond; it was a marsh. Mosquito heaven!
There are also basically no facilities at this campsite. There is one tap for drinking water which is in the middle of the woods (impossible to find unless you go exploring, which is mosquito heaven is not ideal) there were no signs for it at all. And there are no bins!
I tell a lie, there was one! But when we got to it, it was so full that we had to put our rubbish in the truck and drive it out to town.
The staff are about as helpful as a beached fish! And the toilets were pretty rough as well.
I’m sad to say that after one night we decided to abandon ship and book ourselves in a hotel. The dogs were struggling, Rocket was getting eaten alive by mozzies, and my patients had worn out.
I don’t like to do bad reviews, but for the safety of your family I recommend picking another campsite if you decide to camp in Golden. There are plenty of others that look great, clean, well maintained and closer to town.
On-wards and upwards to the next camping trip. (sorry i didn’t take many photos but it’s hard to get your phone out when the bugs are out to get ya!)
https://goldencampground.ca/ here is their website, in case you come across it.
It is also worth noting we tried to book activities through them as their website advertises and they said they couldn’t do any of it! – once again, very helpful guys.
A Beau Place 
What a shame x but you gave it your best shot!
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