davidkingham

We were looking for a place to escape the crowds over memorial weekend, we found it that's for sure. We had this place to ourselves over one of the busiest weekends of the year. Sounds good right? It is a beautiful spot, but not worth it. The bugs were insane, clouds of mosquitoes and big spiders galore. Then there was the guy that is the caretaker for the campground, he seems very sketchy but is nice and even brought us firewood, but he gave us the creeps. The area itself is pretty boring, unless you are into extreme canoeing (all class IV) or fishing there isn't much to do here. Next time we will plan in advance for a holiday weekend and go somewhere nice instead of the backwoods of NorCal. Yikes.

Like everyone else has said, between the trains, the kids, the tourists, it's what I would normally call a nightmare, but there's something about being camped right there next to the beach that sort of makes it okay. We came in on a Sunday during spring break without a reservation, and by some miracle got the one open spot because they were doing maintenance on it. FYI if you happen to get in with a reservation and want to stay longer than one night you will need to get up early to get in line, they advised us to get in line at 6am, this was overkill as nobody else showed till 7, you must physically lineup next to the entrance booth, at 8:15 they write down your names in the order you arrived, then you come back at 9:15 to see if they have a spot for you, and you have to do this every day, no multiple days allowed. Plus, you have to make reservations 48 hours out, so I would not recommend this place without a reservation, you can get in but it's a huge pain. The bathrooms were horrendous, otherwise fairly clean.

If St. Marys is full and you want to camp on the east side, this may be your best bet. This campground doesn't fill as early as the other big ones. We arrived at 7am to be safe and there were a few sites open already, and many more cleared out in the next few hours.

If you have a big rig you will not find a spot here. The sign coming in says 25' overall length is the limit, but our truck and trailer are 41' total and we were able to find a few sites that worked just fine. If you have a 25' trailer you may not be able to fit, but I would recommend a drive through to decide for yourself.

Most of the sites are very shaded, so solar is not readily available. We were able to find one that had good solar, everything else is very spotty.

There is a dump station that is free to use, with potable water. There are also bathrooms.

The site are a little close together like most NP campgrounds, I found people to be a little noisier here than Two Medicine or Many Glacier, a lot of screaming kids and people staying up a little too late. The hosts do come around and make sure everyone is quiet by 10:30. We had one bad night where some idiots were burning plastic in their fire.

Overall pretty decent if you can fit in a site, scout it out first!

I could not get any cell signal with a low end booster, but there is Verizon LTE as you get onto the road, so if you have a good booster you may be able to pick it up.

Easy access to the Grand Tetons and Jackson are the biggest perks of this park. It is massive so you will likely find a spot easily. Electric sites are super expensive, but non electric is decent. The campground is maintained okay and kept clean, but it is a little ragged. It's obvious the park has put zero money into updating this site for a long time, they will run it into the ground as long as possible. Despite that it has great views of the Tetons, not too many bugs, lots of trees and is fairly quiet for a national park campground, I would recommend it!

The falls and the hikes around this area are fantastic, there were few people around and very quiet. In typical Cali fashion it is very expensive for only water hookup. Bathrooms were decent and showers were available.

This is a perfect central location to explore the redwoods. The sites are sized well with plenty of space between you and your neighbors for most sites. It's a bit tight and the small roads look intimidating at first, but it was no problem in a 25' trailer. In typical Cali fashion it is expensive, especially for no hookups and no dump. But they have hot showers that cost a buck. This is very much in the forest, so you only get sunlight for a couple hours a day if you're lucky, so between that, the breeze, and humidty it was was very cold most of the time, weird bone chilling cold even though it's 55 degrees. It's very quiet here even though it's busy, a very peaceful bunch staying here. There is zero cell on Verizon or ATT, in fact you have to drive 15 minutes or so to get any service.

This is one of the greatest spots you will ever camp at. The views are stunning, it is peaceful and quiet. It is remote boondocking, you won't find anything for a long ways. Be sure to check the forecast for any major wind before you come, it can be brutal in this area. If you have a larger rig or trailer I recommend coming in from the east side off of Hwy 163, the road is very smooth and easy. As you get closer to the large rock spire (you'll know it when you see it) the starts to degrade, most rigs should not go beyond this point, I have good clearance on my trailer so I could make it, but most should stop here. There are sites scattered all over the road, so typically you won't have any problem finding a site. Cell is spotty, Verizon picked up extended 3G on and off, but AT&T had good 4G (not LTE) for most of the road, in the valley near the rock spire there is no signal in the valley, even with a booster, but when you get just outside of this valley it comes back. A great nearby area to check out if you're into ruins is Comb Ridge.

The location of this park is phenomenal, a super short walk to a fantastic beach full of sea stacks, tide pools and sandy beaches, just breathtaking. The spot we had was a bit of a challenge to back into, and some may be very hard, so keep that in mind while selecting. The rates are incredibly cheap for full or partial hookups, we had electric and water, there is a dump station though. My only complaint is that there are a lot of kids here, I mean a lot. Our site was close to the playground, so all day long you hear screaming kids. There is even an ice cream truck that comes through, don't come here expecting peace and quiet. Even with that I would totally stay here again, but pick a site away from the playground. Cell service is fantastic, you could easily work from here. Brookings is a very short drive and has fantastic restaurants and a Fred Mayer.

The location of this park is phenomenal, a super short walk to a fantastic beach full of sea stacks, tide pools and sandy beaches, just breathtaking. The spot we had was a bit of a challenge to back into, and some may be very hard, so keep that in mind while selecting. The rates are incredibly cheap for full or partial hookups, we had electric and water, there is a dump station though. My only complaint is that there are a lot of kids here, I mean a lot. Our site was close to the playground, so all day long you hear screaming kids. There is even an ice cream truck that comes through, don't come here expecting peace and quiet. Even with that I would totally stay here again, but pick a site away from the playground. Cell service is fantastic, you could easily work from here. Brookings is a very short drive and has fantastic restaurants and a Fred Mayer.