Adventures in Nevada County Camping!
I was raised in Grass Valley but my family didn’t take advantage of all the wonderful opportunities for Nevada County camping so I have taken it on to discover these local jewels for myself.
My cousin and aunt wanted to have a family camping trip so I did some research. My cousin and I both have young children, and though we love camping, we are a little rusty at it. We wanted to choose a campsite that was close enough to home, so if we forgot anything really important, we could go back to get it if needed. We also needed a site that would be child friendly.
Our Local Choice
I called around and found Orchard Springs Campground in Chicago Park, right between Colfax and Grass Valley. It sits right next to Rollins Lake.
They were a little hard to get a hold of because they’re not set up for online reservations at this time and they only have one phone line in. However, when I arrived to look at the camp site, Keith, one of the employees of the site, was so knowledgeable and helpful. He gave me great advice about which sites I might want to choose. We ended up choosing a site just a short walk from the bathrooms with flushing toilets and coin operated showers (because we have small children) and a trail that lead right down to the day use area of Rollins Lake for swimming, fishing and beach fun.
The camp sites and facilities were so clean and kept up. Each camp site was equipped with a metal fire pit ring, grill, picnic table, and at least one parking space. There was also a fairly level spot to set up your tent.
The kids had so much fun and made some new friends from just a couple campsites over. We went fishing, swimming, kayaking, hiking, roasted hotdogs and s’mores over the campfire and just got to sit
around and enjoy each other’s company.
This was a great little mini vacation. I do like the more remote camping, but with young kids, busier campsites seem to work better for us. I would love to go back again some time.