How Does Thousand Trails Really Work?

How Does Thousand Trails Really Work?

Written by Nancy Carter of Making My Own Lane

Thousand Trails Overview

Camping is expensive, right? Even state park campgrounds on the east coast run about $45 a night, and many other campgrounds are closer to $100 a night.

Using $45 a night as a low average, the cost to live in my RV for a month would be at least $1,350 a month. Not including the cost of diesel, tolls, and repairs. Maybe this full-time RV life wasn’t going to be such a great idea.

In my Starting My Full-Time Adventure blog post, I left one thing out. How would I be able to afford to pay for a place to sleep every night?

I had heard about Thousand Trails, looked into it, and decided to buy a Southeast Zone pass with the Trails Collection option. This gave me over 20 campgrounds in the Southeast that I could camp “for free”, or just the cost of the yearly dues. Adding the Trails Collection added over 100 campgrounds, all over the country. Total cost for the year, $1,008.

Thousand Trails does run Zone specials during the year, so be sure to watch out for them if you are interested.

The Zone pass does have limitations, and it gets confusing very quickly. Basically, you can stay for 14 days in a park, then you have to leave the system for 7 days.

You can make your reservations up to 60 days in advance, which sometimes is not enough.

To put it into perspective, other camping sites, such as Recreation.gov used for many state parks, allow you to make reservations up to 6 months in advance.

Ok, so with the Thousand Trails Zone Pass and Trails Collective, I had a place to stay for up to 3 weeks a month. But what about the 4th week? It was still going to cost me over $300, and a lot of headaches trying to find other campsites.

There are even more “Thousand Trails Rules”, but I am keeping it simple today.

In fact, my goal for full-time RV living is to keep it simple.

It can be confusing, which is why some people don't like it. I am still working out all of the rules, as I get different answers to the same questions.

I have found the best way to use the program is to plan your travels and adventures as far in advance as you can.

Last year I found this pretty easy, as I knew the exact start date of my trip. This year, that day hasn't been determined yet, so it's a little more stressful for me.

I did have a change of plans half way through my trip last year, but it was very easy to make the changes through Thousand Trails. Even when it was a short notice change due to bad weather.

Thousand Trails was amazing and able to book me earlier into a safer campground. You can read more about some of the changes I had to make here.

Thousand Trails Adventure Membership with Trails Collection Plus

So, I attended an online seminar, and then booked a membership meeting when I stayed in Tropical Palms in Kissimmee, Florida.

My first thought was, “this is ridiculously expensive”.

But after sleeping on it and crunching some numbers, based on the low-ball amount of $45 in camping fees, it would cost me at least $16,425 to camp every night for a year.

This includes all of my electricity, water, and waste management as well.

And suddenly the Adventure Membership didn’t seem so ridiculously priced. Honestly, it would pay for itself in one year.

And there were so many other benefits.

The 3 Biggest Reasons I Decided to Buy a Thousand Trails Adventure Membership with Trails Collection Plus.

I could stay up to 21-nights in any Thousand Trails or Encore park across the country. Currently there are are almost 200 campgrounds in the system, with 40 of them being in Florida.
I didn’t have to find a place to stay out of the system, as I could travel from park-to-park-to-park in either Thousand Trails or Encore campgrounds.
I could book up to 120 days (correction--180 days) in advance for Thousand Trails or up to 90 days in advance for Encore through the Trails Collection Plus program, only available to Adventure Members.

I was even able to “work a deal” on my first year’s dues (you pay dues every year, on top of the initial buy in).

My cost for camping 365 days a year, if I chose to stay within the Thousand Trails/Encore network, was $1.64 a night, or $600 for my first year.

In 2024, my dues went back to the regular rate of $1608 a year for Thousand Trails and Trails Collection Plus, or $4.41 a night. That’s a lot more economical than even $45 a night, and it makes this full-time RV life affordable and doable for me.

Does Thousand Trails Work All the Time?

If I decided to stay in their network every night, yes it would.

However, there are places that I went and that I want to go that are not near a Thousand Trails or Encore park.

Either there aren’t Thousand Trails/Encore parks where I am going, or there was a specific park I wanted to stay in, like the one on the beach in Assateague National Seashore.

Many of the campgrounds within the system are located on the east and west coasts. So when I travel to many of the national parks in the mid west, I will be looking for places to stay.

When I first plan out a trip, I always look for the Thousand Trails/Encore parks along the route first. Then I fill in with state parks, KOAs, and Harvest Hosts.

In 2023, with the 40 campsites I chose to stay in, 14 of them were Thousand Trails or Encore campgrounds. Overall I spent about 188 nights at a Thousand Trails/Encore campground, and I wasn’t even “full-time” until May of 2023!

I know that every year won’t be quite so economical, including this year as I travel to Minnesota and back. But I think I will end up spending over 300 nights within the Thousand Trails system.

My guestimate is that I will spend less than $5,000 on all of the campgrounds for the year, including my Thousand Trails/Trails Collection Plus dues.

What Are Thousand Trails/Encore Campgrounds Like?

Every campground was different. I felt very safe in every place I stayed. Most were gated and required a code to get in.

Some parks had a lot of annual or seasonal people. As a Thousand Trails member, I was directed to a campsite in the “transient” sections, reserved for those of us there for 3 weeks or less.

Many parks have planned activities and fun things to do, pools, lakes, even golf courses, as well as access to camp stores, laundry facilities, bathrooms, and hot showers. Most offer full hook ups, including electricity and water. Some have dump access right at your campsite. All of the ones I have stayed at offer dump stations. All included in your campsite admission.

It’s easy to meet people, if you want, and easy to make friends that you will continue to see, as many of Thousand Trails members "bounce" around from park-to-park across the country.

I haven’t had any problem reserving the campgrounds I want, when I want them. An advantage of a longer booking window.

There are other Thousand Trails Membership Packages with shorter reservation booking windows. But as someone who was planning on using this program for at least the next 5 years as I travel the country in my RV full-time, it’s a no-brainer.

Can I Buy a Thousand Trails Package For Less?

Yes, you can find “used” Thousand Trails packages for sale.

The 4 reasons I bought a “new” package were:

I wanted to be able to use it right away. When you buy a used package, you may have to wait quite some time for the transfer paperwork to be processed before you can start to use it.
I can resell my Adventure package when I’m done, probably for about 50% of what I paid for it originally.
I can “will” my Adventure package to my children or grandchildren, and they would just have to pay the yearly dues to keep on using it.
There are other benefits, such as free cabins or trade-in cabins for cruises or condos. I have not used these benefits yet, and I may not use them at all. I found the Thousand Trails Adventure package to have so much value even without these extra benefits.

What’s It Like Having to Move Every Two or Three Weeks?

This is my first year staying in the system. You can read more about staying at Thousand Trails/Encore parks in Florida in the winter here.

But, moving every few weeks to stay somewhere for “free” is a good thing for me. I like the ability to stay in different places and see different people, and it helps me to keep my personal belongings in check, as I have to pack them up every so often and move.

Is this life for everyone? No, I don’t think it is.

Does it work for me right now? Absolutely!

How much is a Thousand Trails Annual Site?

You can also get for an annual site.

This means that it is your site for the year, and you can come and go as you please.

There are different site tiers, like regular and premium sites, and each Thousand Trails park charges different prices.

Once you find a Thousand Trails Park you like that you may want to get an annual site, contact that park directly to see what is available and how much an annual site costs. From my experience, an annual site can range from $8,000 to $12,000 a year.

Thanks for joining me as I learn more about this full-time RV life.

If you have any questions about the Thousand Trails system or would like to leave a comment, click here.

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Hi there! I'm Nancy.

In 2023, I ditched my heels for hiking boots, sold my house, and decided to travel the US full time in my 2005 Lazy Daze Class C RV.

I love to share the places I travel to and what it's like to live in an RV full-time.

If you have ever thought about hitting the road and traveling in an RV, either in your free time or full time, you are in the right place!

Follow along for weekly blog posts about my adventures as I travel the US with my two dogs, Rufus and Willie, and my cat, Katie.