Campground Review: Thousand Trails Colorado River RV Campground

Thousand Trails Colorado River RV Campground

1062 Thousand Trails Lane

Columbus, TX 78934

Time of year we camped there: Spring

Verizon Coverage: Yes

AT&T Coverage: Yes

• We’ve had no issues with Verizon calls or data and excellent AT&T data coverage at Colorado River.

Notes about the surrounding area: Columbus, TX is a small town with a population of ~3,500.  It’s located along I-10 about 75 miles west of downtown Houston.  It’s largely an agricultural area with many cattle ranches and farms.  They have a reasonable sampling of local restaurants and several grocery stores, including a Walmart and HEB.  There is some nightlife, but nothing exotic; mostly small beer bars.  From what we tried, we enjoyed Latte Café, Los Cabos Mexican restaurant, Blake Street sports bar and Shaw’s Bend Social Club.

-Latte is a local coffee shop that also serves sandwiches, soups and pastries.  We really enjoy their beverages and panini sandwiches.  They make most food from scratch and we liked their bread enough to buy some slices to go – the focaccia is AMAZING!

-Los Cabos is your standard, American, Mexican restaurant, but it’s done well with a full bar and nice atmosphere.

-Blake Street is local sports bar/restaurant with a full bar, decent specials and good food.

-Shaw’s Bend Social Club is an animal all its own.  It is less than a quarter mile from the campground, which is always nice.  They have a mock town out back where they have trick shooting and other shooting-related events (we didn’t hear it, but a neighbor mentioned gunfire can be heard on some weekend mornings).  They also have an in-ground pool outside the bar and for $25/year anyone can use it during open hours.  If that weren’t enough, they also have a rodeo arena on-site and during certain weekends you can watch bull riding and other events from the extensive patio.  The entire place is the work of a man named Herman, who can entertain for days with stories about local history – he’s actually written two published books with those stories.  It’s definitely a very unique and local gem that we love to find during our travels. (Shaw’s Bend serves beer and sodas only, but you could probably bring in whatever you wanted as long as you are somewhat discreet and friendly)

Particular notes about this campground and/or sites:  Colorado River is not a big campground, at 138 sites, but it has the footprint of a larger park.  This allows for most sites to offer plenty of space between neighbors.  They offer six full-hookup, 50 amp sites that back directly up to the Colorado River.  The remainder of the sites offer a good mix of 50 amp FHU, 30 amp FHU and a few water/electric sites.  Most sites are grass and gravel, with a few pads of concrete left over from previous long-term campers.

Like many other TT parks, some roads are in poor condition – especially those leading to the section near the river.  The office will readily accept packages (and even call you when you receive one), but they do charge $2 per non-USPS package.  There is also a $3/night charge for any site with 50 amp electric.

Amenities: While we did not use any of them, this park has a nice offering of amenities.  For sports, they have pickleball, basketball, volleyball, a LARGE 18-hole mini golf course, horseshoes, shuffleboard, and a pool and hot tub. They also have multiple playgrounds, several fishing ponds, a boat ramp into the Colorado River, hiking trails, and a dog run.  There is also a propane fill station, dump station, laundry facility ($1.50 to wash, $1.50 to dry) and activity center.

Our experience:  We had heard from other non-retired, full-timer’s that Colorado River is nice.  No one ever really raved about it, but never came up with any big negatives either.  I think “solid” is a good word to describe this park.  After spending a fast-paced Winter in Florida, and a four-day drive to get here, it’s been really nice to slow down a bit and get caught up on life (and sleep).  We were fortunate to be able to select one of the six riverside sites, which are 50 amp full-hookup.  That meant we could do as much onboard laundry as we wanted and also not worry about electricity management – which was not the case for much of the Winter.  The staff has been over-the-top helpful and kind.  We’ve also met some nice neighbors to socialize with, which is always a nice bonus.  In addition to friendly people, the park is full of docile wildlife. We saw many deer, a bald eagle, armadillos, and heard owls and coyotes.

Texas Spring weather deserves its own paragraph.  We were in the Lone Star State last spring as well and quickly found ourselves in a hail storm that no one wants to be a part of.  While that storm was the most damaging, it seemed to be one wave of storms after another – which ultimately led to flooding and the cancellation of our reservation to stay here last year.  Beginning on our drive to Texas, we encountered a large front of severe storms in Louisiana that delayed our arrival by one day.  We’ve had several other storms while we’ve been here and many windy days, but no harmful weather yet – knock on wood.  I don’t think these two years have been “normal”, but I think it should be expected that you will likely encounter foul, and possibly destructive, weather in this region during the Springtime.

SOH Score (1-10, 10 being the best campground imaginable): 7 – As mentioned before, there is no “wow factor” here, but it’s a really solid park.  A great place to slow down, kick back, watch the river go by and catch some local, Texas culture.

Have any questions about this park?  Have you stayed there and have a different take or something to add?  Send us a message or comment below!

See you on the road!

Ryan, Kim and Jet