An Anniversary Trip to Huttopia, Paradise Springs, California [Photos]

For our 38th Anniversary, I set up a trip to a “glamping”* site in the high desert about an hour and a half from home. Huttopia is a French company that has dozens of sites throughout Europe (mainly France) but only a few here in the US. Rosanne and I used to car camp on occasion, especially when we were volunteers at Chilao Visitors Center in the San Gabriel Mountains. That said, the thought of sleeping on the ground in a tent with shared toilets and no shower no longer appeals to us, no matter how beautiful the surroundings are. (LAUGH) Huttopia provides an excellent, if a bit expensive, option.

This is a panorama of the inside of our “tent.” While it is indeed a canvas tent, The Trapper Duo Pacific comes with a complete ensuite bathroom with toilet, sink, and shower (Seen through the door of the rear of this tent. Solar power provides charging for your electronic devices, an electric fan, and heated water for the shower. It also has a king-sized bed, a large cooler (with provided ice packs), and a bear box to keep the critters out of your edibles. We didn’t spot any large wildlife on our trip though.

The outside of the tent includes a kitchen sink, gas grill with a side burner, and banquette seating. It was a great place to take in the surroundings and do the tons of reading we had brought along. There are 30 cabins in this Red Rock area of the camp which is about a 10-minute walk from the central compound. There are no vehicles allowed (besides camp maintenance staff) in the collection of tents, so it remains fairly quiet all day. We were alone in this area on our first night since it was a Wednesday, so that made it even quieter.

A view of the hillside from the tent.

Extraordinarily for the, usually dry, San Gabrial Mountains, a local spring allows several creeks to wander through the main compound of the property. The camp also is adjacent to Big Rock Creek, which flows quite well. We could hear the “burbling” from our tent. Many people were talking advantage of the cool waters as we drove into the canyon toward the camp. I had never heard of this area, but it seems quite popular with the locals. One can guess they are keeping it a bit of a local secret.

Huttopia provides daily activities for children, a large pool, a full-service coffee bar and restaurant, and many games like volleyball, table soccer, and board games in the historical game room. Many evenings include a campfire where you can hang out and meet some of your fellow campers.

This photo shows the area around the restaurant and gaming activities.

Sunset from our tent patio.

Each tent comes with some outside patio lights to gently illuminate the area and provide light for cooking. We had 5 meals while we were there. For dinner the first night I brought grilled chicken, some sausages, a baked sweet potato, and some veggies which were easily heated on the grill. For breakfast, we brought along a homemade, lemon-poppyseed cake, which went great with our morning coffee and tea. On Thursday we had lunch sandwiches and crepes at the restaurant and some lattes before hitting the pool for an hour or so. Dinner was homemade chili and spaghetti. Most of the food we brought was frozen, so it kept quite well in the cooler and yet was defrosted by the time we wanted to use it. The tent also included a complete set of pots, pans, and dinnerware, reducing the amount of items we had to bring with us. Overall we had 1 small duffle bag for clothing, a medium-sized plastic bin for dry food and and items like bug spray, and a small Igloo cooler for the frozen/chilled food items. This was good as you had to move your items to the tents using wheeled carts. All of ours fit into on trip up the small incline to the tent.

A sunrise view to the surrounding hills and another tent. They put a lot of thought into the positioning of the tents and native landscaping to give each unit a sense of privacy unless people were walking directly by.

Another sunrise view

A bit of the long history of Paradise Springs from the Huttopia web site…

Historical 1920s resort – Paradise mountain resort and trout club

Paradise Springs has a fascinating history! In the 1920’s, Noah Beery and his brother Wallace, both Hollywood actors, built stone cabins, a ballroom and other facilities on the site, including a series of spring-fed trout ponds, to create a popular destination for their high-society friends. Old photos and well-documented stories from back then show that Charlie Chaplin, Clark Gable, Mary Pickford and even the iconic Tarzan and Olympic champion swimmer, Johnny Weissmuller and were among the visitors. In later years, John Wayne was known to enjoy the area. Today, Huttopia Paradise Springs is a place where you can walk in the footsteps of these silver screen legends, and even swim in the same pool where the 5-time gold medalist trained.

Rock formation above the campground.

More running water in the main compound.

The office for check-in, the coffee bar just to its right, and a view of the large children’s playground next to a large grassy area for play activities.

Another shot of the boulder formation.

Overall, we had a great time. We loved being outdoors again in a quiet environment surrounded by bird song and rushing water, rather than freeway noise and construction of our neighbor’s house, which is still ongoing as I write. After check out on Friday morning, we drove 30 minutes further up into the mountains and met our friends for lunch in Wrightwood.

A map of the entire Huttopia site.

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*  outdoor camping with amenities and comforts (such as beds, electricity, and access to indoor plumbing) not usually used when camping – Merriam Webster