Camping on the California Coast

[CruizinDux]

Agreed with Tom. No mention of S of SF by the OP, but as usual the thread is experiencing a little drift.


Here are two threads that discuss ther route options



http://www.airforums.com/forums/f42/beware-highway-1-in-north-california-153732.html

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f42/oregon-coastal-road-trip-147177-3.html#post1759724

The 2nd post sort of morphed in to a CA Hwy 1 thread


Getting back to the OP's ??? WE tend to use parks more that CG as our preference. CD's tend to limit the hookups available. We use RV parky, the KOA.com site, Campendium and RV reviews. I like having a map of the area with CD etc icons. It helps give you a sense of where options are located in a given area.




For the fun of it, I love seeing the Geico Insurance commercials. They are basically shot on HWY 1 starting in Jenner and NB past High point with a view of the Historic Ft Ross area where the San Andreas fault re-enters CA as it heads N. One ad closes with a great shot from High Point/Timber Gulch, (Named as it is the high point on Hwy 1 ) N to the Ft Ross area. The other ad shows a great shot driving down Meyers Grade to Russian Gulch/Jenner and closes with a beautiful shot looking S to Pt Reyes/Tamales Bay.


Also don’t miss Salt Point SP. IMO the best hike and coastal access on the CA coast. Camp at nearby Woodside CG.


BTW there is a KOA in Pt Arena (Between Mendo and Gualala/Sea Ranch)....think of the move "Forever Young" The landed on the point with the light house in the background. Lovely spot of coast.

[CruizinDux]

BTW, Reserve America handles all the SP in Oregon and possibly CA as well.
i have always thought of them re the states they have contracted with, but on our key west trip, realized a search showed both and for the ones they do not do the resies, the link would send you to the appropriate website of the park or cg.

bob

[Kamiak]

Originally Posted by CruizinDux

BTW, Reserve America handles all the SP in Oregon and possibly CA as well.
i have always thought of them re the states they have contracted with, but on our key west trip, realized a search showed both and for the ones they do not do the resies, the link would send you to the appropriate website of the park or cg.

bob

California State Parks has their own reservation system, and it requires that you create an account. It can be challenging if you're attempting to book a popular location. Unless they've changed it in the past few months, you can book six months, based upon your arrival date. That means your departure date could be six months plus two weeks hence. That two weeks can cause booking problems for the dates of your choice, even if you try to book six months in advance because other people have had two weeks to book into your arrival date, if that makes sense. So, if you wanted to arrive somewhere on, say, the 15th, six months from now, you won't be able to book that arrival until the 15th six months prior, meanwhile, people arriving on the 1st through the 14th can depart on the 16th through the 28th. In other words, at popular parks, your arrival date may be full long before you're eligible to book it.

[SuperTrouper]

North to South from Ft Bragg:
Mackerricher SP, Gerstle Cove (Salt Point SP), Stillwater cove (Sonoma County Park). Wrights beach (Sonoma State Beach) Note that some campgrounds although booked 6 months in advance have first come first served overflow spots (Wrights Beach, Salt Point) Wrights Beach is my favorite with 5 miles of Kortum trail on the headland at your front door and 10 sites on the beach. No hookups or showers. My 2 cents.

[Denny Arnold]

We did the west coast , from San Francisco up to Canada. It is all beautiful!

But, we spent a night at Van Damme State Park, just south of Mendocino. Probably the most memorable night of a 60 day run.

The park was full, and the ranger put us in the "overflow area" which turned out to be right on the beach. We had a campfire , it was a cool night, and we hung out with some German campers & 3 abalone divers (that graciously shared their catch with all of us).

No electric, but, the full campground facilities were included, across the street.

California State Parks are fantastic

[napabill]

You may find this link to maximum rv/trailer lengths in various California State Parks helpful: http://www.parks.ca.gov/rvlength

[blahargoue]

FYI. I live in Morro Bay 50% of the time. San Simeon State Parked was booked up nearly every day from May thru Sept this year. Nearly every place in CA is difficult to get into on short notice during the traditional travel season.

[DC Bruce]

Ok. Here’s the ultimate campground if you have the nerve to go there: Mattole Beach at the mouth of the Mattole River. IIRC, this as USFS campground. No reservations; pit toilets only. No other facilities. Killer view; watch the sea lions fishing in the mouth of the river. We made the trip with our FC 27. I would not recommend anything bigger. Before you start out be sure and have a full load of fuel for your TV. You will burn a lot. Take the Mattole Rd. west from highway 101. Turn left on to Lighthouse Rd. and follow it to the beach. Despite the “RVs turn back” signs, my wife/navigator spoke to the ranger who said it was ok. The grades are incredible, the road is one lane in part; it’s a wild ride. Views are also incredible. Trucks only, please. No CanAm tricked out cars or minivan tow vehicles. When we were there in the dry winter of 2015, there were, IIRC, a couple of people sleeping in Subaru Outbacks. No one with a trailer.

[turk123]

Our destination this time of year is mountain View California. Almost impossible to get anything nearby. Anything on the Santa Cruz / Monterey Bay area is completely full all the time. Most campgrounds are pretty bad and overpriced if you can find a place.

The problem with northern California now is the price of real estate. Apartments (one bedroom) go for $4500/mo and housing is in the millions. Many who work in the area are willing to move into an RV to survive the high cost.

We are staying at Coyote RV ten miles south of San Jose just north of Morgan Hill. It is 35 minutes from my son in Mountain View. It will cost us over $2000/mo. We almost did not get in this time. Fully booked.

As a side note, I was one of the braver ones to take my 30 footer down the coast Route 1 from Monterey to Morro Bay. I would not recommend it and would not do it again. It was safe, but it was white knuckle driving for 3 hours. Do not get stuck by a small landslide (happens all the time) as you will not be able to turn around. Traffic is light and there is no pressure to go faster than 35 mph. As a driver, you will not enjoy the scenery nor will you even see it. You will spend most of your time keeping away from the rocks sticking out (especially if you travel south to north) and watching oncoming traffic and trying to stay on your side of the road. The 1000 ft drops are thrown in if you want to even look!

[SilverWind]

Originally Posted by turk123

Our destination this time of year is mountain View California. Almost impossible to get anything nearby. Anything on the Santa Cruz / Monterey Bay area is completely full all the time. Most campgrounds are pretty bad and overpriced if you can find a place.

The problem with northern California now is the price of real estate. Apartments (one bedroom) go for $4500/mo and housing is in the millions. Many who work in the area are willing to move into an RV to survive the high cost.

We are staying at Coyote RV ten miles south of San Jose just north of Morgan Hill. It is 35 minutes from my son in Mountain View. It will cost us over $2000/mo. We almost did not get in this time. Fully booked.

As a side note, I was one of the braver ones to take my 30 footer down the coast Route 1 from Monterey to Morro Bay. I would not recommend it and would not do it again. It was safe, but it was white knuckle driving for 3 hours. Do not get stuck by a small landslide (happens all the time) as you will not be able to turn around. Traffic is light and there is no pressure to go faster than 35 mph. As a driver, you will not enjoy the scenery nor will you even see it. You will spend most of your time keeping away from the rocks sticking out (especially if you travel south to north) and watching oncoming traffic and trying to stay on your side of the road. The 1000 ft drops are thrown in if you want to even look!

The traffic on Hwy 1 can be heavy during the summer and on weekends, especially traveling south in the afternoons. Check weather forecasts for rain and fog. Heading north to south can be a little nerve wracking in poor weather. Land slides are a big thing on Hwy 1 so check the CalTrans web site for closures and avoid traveling in heavy rain.

I've driven it many times in a variety of vehicles. My last camping trip was in our AS Interstate, traveling south to north from SLO.

[darcym]

New Brighton State Beach, if you're coming south from San Francisco is just on the outskirts south of Santa Cruz (close enough to town for ventures in to this quirky beach community), on a wooded bluff right over the beach. A small campground but has a 36 foot limit. I don't know about hook-ups, but I loved camping in my tent trailer there.

Also took the tent trailer to the Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park in the hills above Santa Cruz, deep in the foggy wet old growth redwoods. It has a 31 foot trailer length limit, and as I recall the roads were very narrow and tight. But the campsites were spaced so that you really felt like you were alone in the woods.

HWY 1 south of Monterey is not for the faint of heart, but is gorgeous and Julia Pfeiffer and Big Sur state parks are lovely.

Humboldt Redwoods area is wonderful, but also very twisty roads. I only tent camped up north so can't speak to the RV experience.

[CruizinDux]

Turk123, great pic of the recent slide. We were leaving pismo heading for Paso the day of the slide. Raining so hard had to pull to the side if 101....zero vis. Glad we headed up 101 and not 1!

FWIW, 2X on darcym comments re New Brighton. Super area if you can get in. Sleeper!!!! nearby rv park...sorta...try the santz cruz yacht harbor. W+E and showers i believe. Fantastic location in Woods Lagoon with towering eucalyptus trees. Close to SC and Pleasure Point/Capitola to the south...the surfing haunts of my youth.

https://www.santacruzharbor.org/rv-park-information/

Also heading s, i've heard of a good rv park in Moss Landing and further s, camping at the monterey co fairgrounds + monterey pines rv park adj. next door.

Happy trails
B

[brad1]

Seacliff State Beach has full hookup sites right on the beach. It’s mainly a long, beachside parking lot with cheek by jowl sites still, it’s very popular. Today it’s been evacuated due to high surf meeting up with a high tide and a powerful storm, so in the winter you have to be ready for that.