Troyer's Adventures & Hobbies: March 2012: Silent Valley Club, Inc. in Banning, CA

THE PLAN: Visit Silent Valley Club, Inc. for 5 nights (3/15-3/20). Attend a tour of the resort and consider option to buy membership. Weather is a concern as a storm is planning to come in. Check out Idyllwild and Lake Hemet while in the area. Also stop at Farm Ranch restaurant per mom’s recommendation.

THE COMMENT: This park is just okay. It’s affiliated with ROD and that would be the only benefit to joining but we found there to be some questionable practices and had concerns upon further investigation. Thus, we chose for this not to be our Home Park. Instead, we have decided to continue searching and to purchase a resale membership for another RV Resort that offers the ROD affiliation to purchase separately, which we expect will cost less altogether than purchasing new from a RV Resort. A few things that we found bothersome are that annual dues are about $600, they only have a 99-year lease on the property and apparently only have 6 (yes, six) members. This resort has been here since 1974, why are there only 6 members, why are so many people trying to sell their memberships, and why are the roads and RV spaces so torn up? For these reasons we opted to look elsewhere.

I don’t want to give the wrong impression; there are some great things about this resort. First off, it’s in a good location in the San Jacinto National Forest with lots of trees, beautiful landscapes and skies. It was blue and clear one day and then raining, snowing, hailing, sleeting and snowing another day…we woke up to beautiful white scenery everywhere we turned. There weren’t many people here even though it’s a holiday weekend, but we prefer it to be less crowded. The restroom facilities are nice with lights, heaters, 3 shower stalls and 3 restroom stalls with plenty of toilet paper, paper towels and soap. I don’t think there were quite enough of these restrooms, or Comfort Stations, as they like to call them throughout the park. But we found a great spot in the “E” section. The people who work here, while somewhat ill-informed, are pleasant.

Other potential benefits to visiting Silent Valley are: General Store, Adult Arts 7 Crafts Center (open in the summer, so I took their word on it), lounge and diner (food was ok, mine is better), Adult Center with puzzles, board games, billiards, a lovely looking pool with a hot tub, and even a TV, the outdoor Chapel is cute, the space for Boche Ball, Horseshoes, the Juvenile Center which offers mini golf, little café and hangout space. If that isn’t enough there are also 4 tennis courts and a fishing pond that they stock 6 times a year with 600 pounds of catfish, trout and tilapia.

All in all, lots of options but none that we really used. We cared more about the roads and scenery. I went to the General Store a few times for Mocha Cappuccinos, I really didn’t know that I liked that so much but I really do. I would love to go play tennis if the weather was better and I was feeling better. Maybe even a swim at the Adult Center. Oh, also they offer wifi at a charge…you can buy it daily, but I got a week of wifi for about $16. The signal is very weak so you must bring an amplifier (you can pick one up online or at Fry’s Electronics for under $20) and that helped.

THE RATINGS: My dad and I would give Silent Valley Club Inc. a 3 out of 5 stars. They got points for scenery, restroom cleanliness and stocked with paper products and soap, some wi-fi and friendliness. We have the option to come back for 5 more nights free within the next 60 days, but I think we are deciding to pass. Its good, but not the “oldest, biggest, best RV Resort” per the sales staff during our tour.