By:
Submission
Wonderfully hospitable, the grounds are great, even in the winter, Jan 2023. Quiet and relaxing. Do not have anything to complain about.
NO hospitality, park not as advertised
We stayed at the park at the end of October 2019. A couple of months prior, we’d prepaid $50 a night after studying the website and the reviews and talking to Erich on the phone.
Pros: Tall pines between each campsite, washers and dryers available at no extra cost, one bathroom with one shower, strong wifi and cell signal, good location near town, and, if you don’t want to talk to anyone from the park, you don’t have to--they did not seek us out EVER and a woman (Abby) that we had to track down while she cleaned a cabin on the property only answered our questions in the BRIEFEST of sentences without even looking at us as she walked away.
Cons: (See pics) NO hospitality. Zero welcome. There are 2 phone numbers listed at a kiosk near the front--one of which is a wrong number. The evening we arrived, I called, explained we had prepaid for our site and the woman who answered said “they” do not live on site, to go ahead and set up, and she’d come by soon--she never did, nor did she call or text to explain anything. We had to explore the park and find things ourselves, which wasn’t easy as the park is on a steep hillside in a neighborhood with cabins squeezed in next to each other all around, and NO clear delineation between the park’s property and the neighborhood, so we were hesitant to go in any building that wasn’t clearly labeled. While we were there, we explained to 4 other campers where the bathrooms were. The website we saw in August of 2019, just 2 months prior, claimed there were bathroomS, showerS, an indoor lounge area, and RV supplies available and showed a picture of a cabin labeled “office” (The website has been changed but it and the pamphlet at the park kiosk still list amenities the park does NOT have). There is ONE completely UNHEATED bathroom with ONE shower, NO office, and NO indoor lounge area although there are 2 cabin-like buildings that are full of construction materials that we saw through dirty windows. Those buildings also have construction materials stacked around them, but we never saw anyone working on anything. The bathroom/laundry building has NO sign labeling it (it has a badly faded sign on the door that says to keep the door closed after dark) and within that the bathroom has NO sign on it, so I thought it was a storage closet until I tried the door out of desperation for a bathroom. While we were there, the bathroom ran out of toilet paper and it was not replenished for 2 days. The laundry room has 2 ceiling lights, but only one had lightbulbs and it, too, is unheated, so it was dismal. The park is a nightmare for anyone with accessibility issues: stairs and loose gravel walkways/sloped driveways that are covered in ankle-twisting rocks EVERWHERE. When we arrived, our back-in site had a half-rotted picnic table, a random pallet and cinder block on one side, and a rotting turquoise metal and glass-topped patio side table shoved off against trees on the other side, no fire ring or BBQ pit, and the retaining wall separating our site from the site below ours had rotted and fallen apart. The site was just wide enough for our 5x10 foot squaredrop camper with a few feet on either side to walk and a few feet of sitting area with the rotted picnic table squeezed under bushes at the back by the walkway to the bathroom. There is a sundeck on the top of the bathroom/laundry building, but we had to go through an empty RV site to get to it. The furniture there was dirty, looking long-unused, and stacked or shoved off to the side.
Summary: At $50 a night, Sugar Pines RV Park is over-priced. It is worth $25 a night at most. It would really benefit from clear signage, regular maintenance, and an on-site host to welcome and orient guests.
I read the other google reviews for Sugar Pines RV and thought we'd give them a chance despite their low reviews. We tried getting reservations and were turned away because we have an English Bulldog. They said they do not allow any bulldogs. I understand insurance purposes had she been a Rottweiler or Pitbull (which I've owned one of each and never had negative incidences). I can't believe the ignorance of some people, we've never been turned away from an RV park or Airbnb for having our dog and we have traveled within and outside of New Mexico. She's well behaved and we always clean up after her. This place is ridiculous!
I've stayed at the Sugar Pines RV Park a few times and always have a great experience. The owner and manager have always been very kind and helpful. The sites are clean and spacious. The view and wildlife are great. There is a dog park within walking distance and so many walking/hiking trails near by. Cloudcroft is a fun weekend getaway and Sugar Pines is a great place to stay.
