DOG 360: Thousand Trails-Lake of the Springs in Oregon House, CA.

Thousand Trails-Lake of the Springs in Oregon House, CA is absolutely PAWtastic! Nestled in the foothills of the Sierra Mountains, about 70 miles north of Sacramento, this 950-acre campground provided our family (Mom, Dad, sister Meaghan, Papa and his dog Molly and of course Us!) with camping, fun, excitement, tranquility and much more. The campsites there were abundant with 507 power and water only campsites and 33 full-hookup sites in the summer. In the winter there are 192 power and water only campsites and 33 full-hookup sites. These sites have space for RV's, tents or both. They even have a section for tent-only camping.

The site we stayed in was awesome and had space for our papa's 5th wheel and our parents' tent which is where we also slept. Even though they take reservations, take heed that all campsites are on a first-come, first-served basis as your parents cannot reserve a specific site.

There are many fun activities for your family to take part in such as swimming (at the Dog Beach, the people only Swim Beach or in the pool), boating, fishing, shuffle board, volleyball, tennis, horseshoes, playing on the playground, miniature golf, basketball, baseball and even gold panning. The one activity that confused us the most was where our parents, sister Meaghan and papa had a metal stick and were trying to get a tiny colored ball into a hole across some green carpet. Why anyone would want to hide a ball is beyond us. Naturally we hide bones, but to hide a ball, we play with those. Maybe they didn't want us to snatch them up and run off with them like we do with the larger yellow ones. Although we do bring them back so that they can be thrown again. By the way, we also saw some people hitting those yellow balls over a meshed divider back and forth with a wierd looking slapper thingy. We don't understand some activities that humans like to do. We just love to swim, play fetch, act silly and make our parents happy.

One of our most favorite twice-daily activities was swimming at the designated off-leash Dog Beach, reserved especially for all dogs and their families, located near one end of the campground's private 120-acre lake.

The gated and fenced-in pathway down to the sandy shore is enclosed with pine trees and brush which enticed our sniffers with the wonderful smells of the forest. No fishing here ensuresd that our paws didn't step on any discarded fish hooks or barbs.

Our sister Meaghan enjoyed swimming with us and throwing sticks and balls for us to fetch at the Dog Beach. She also enjoyed swimming and searching for frogs at the people only Swim Beach located at the opposite end of the lake between the boat dock and Los Verjeles Dam.

At the boat dock, your family's choice of boating experience includes kayaks, paddle boats, bumper boats, patio boats and more. Our family decided to cruise the lake on a patio boat which we all, yes including us dogs, got to enjoy one early evening towards the end of our stay. Let us just say, Woof Woof!

As soon as dad found a spot to anchor the patio boat, we couldn't wait to jump right into the lake for some swimming with our sister. Once we finished our swim, which consisted of circling the patio boat a few times, we made it back on and relaxed while our dad decided to do some fishing. He did well, catching and immediately releasing some Bass and Crappie and hoping to catch and release a Catfish or two. Hey, speaking of Catfish, what is so darn special about cats that they have a fish named after them? They don't even like water! Well, dad just informed us that actually there are Catsharks, which are ground sharks of the family Scyliorhinidae with over 150 known species that are generally known as Catsharks while many of the species are commonly called Dogfish. Whatever dad, they are still Catsharks. Anyway, moving on...

Touring the lake, taking in all of the beautiful scenery and gorgeous sunset was just another wonderful way we enjoyed spending time with our family.

Our nightly ritual consisted of listening to the crickets chirping their nighttime symphony, gazing up into the night's sky at the universe's vast array of constellations and going for walks spotting deer. Mostly does and their fawns would come into the campground to graze. It was amazing and truly awesome to see and experience them in their environment. There are other wildlife as well, that thankfully we didn't encounter, such as bears, bobcats, snakes, fox and others. We even saw many a squirrel spiraling up the trees after one another and tons of feathered friends such as ducks, blue jays and humming birds.

This was a wonderful place to get away from it all and just enjoy being together with our family. Everyone we met and their four-legged children were friendly and fun to play with. The campground staff was also nice and courteous and we would PAWsitively recommend Thousand Trails-Lake of the Springs in Oregon House, CA. as an absolutely dog-friendly destination to all of our dog peeps and their families!