roadtripper715951

I don't have much to add to what other reviewers have said about the logistics or amenities of the park, but I can add another voice to vouch for the friendliness of the staff. The staff on duty gave us permission to stay beyond the 3 day limit (just asked that we move sites) and also allowed us to stay even though our camper was beyond the max length usually allowed.

Interestingly, there is an extreme sensitivity in this area of Monterey to cell phone towers. Signs all over the place voicing concerns over cell phone towers being installed in the community. This actually manifested in the park's caretaker fielding a call from a concerned citizen about the WeBoost's antenna I had mounted on the roof of our Airstream! He said he wasn't really in the position to enforce any sort of cell booster usage, or to determine if the one I had was "legal", but said that I may be visited by the POLICE to answer some questions on behalf of the concerned citizen! Of course, I have no problem with that, but thought it strange that someone would be concerned about a cell phone booster. I mean, what does this concerned citizen do? Drive through the area looking for suspicious antennas and report them?

As far as the campground goes, it's a gem, no complaints at all, especially for the price, in fact I'd stay here again even if I could use the booster :) Oh, and that drive up has some darn steep hills!

The first thing you have to know about this campground is that there is a fog horn that goes off every 9 seconds... it’s not too loud or obnoxious, it’s just there. If you’re expecting peace and quiet, this probably isn’t the place for you. That being said, you do get used to it and eventually tune it out.

We stayed at the “Jetty” portion of the campground and it was clearly the best in terms of location, views and proximity to the beach. All the sites were fine, though you’ll probably end up getting your leveling blocks out if you want to be 100% level.

Showers are $2.00 and the facilities were pretty clean.

Go to town to get firewood (gas station, the only one in Bodega Bay) and save yourself $4.00 per bundle conpared to the campground host’s prices.

You’d never no it driving into Bodega Bay (where we had mostly no cell signal at all) but the Verizon and ATT cell service here is THE FASTEST I’ve ever experienced... Verizon was 60 MBPS upload and 140 MBPS download. That’s not a typo... 60/140 up/down. That was unboosted and with an external antenna. I couldn’t believe it; and that was with only 2 bars of service on my iPhone X standing at the sea shore. Incredibly fast; enjoy your multiple 4K Netflix streams :)

The park itself was just ok; no playground for the kids, but there was a nature station near the circle campgrounds. There’s also access to maintained walking and biking trails from the main road.

Relatively speaking, the park is beautiful with its little lake and wildlife, though there are trains passing within 100 yards of the campground about every 45 minutes or so. We’ll signal was fine, but throughout was poor on both AT&T and Verizon (something like 2-4mbps down and 1 up).

We stayed here for 1 night on our way out West with our 31' Airstream. It is pretty remote (about 20 minutes from the interstate on dirt roads) and very quiet. The sites were large enough for our 31' Airstream however they were difficult to get into because the narrow road and railroad ties lining each side. We had to try a couple different sites before finding one that we could maneuver into.

Each site has a fire ring with cooking grate, picnic table and bear box. Vault toilet available. No amenities (elec, sewer or garbage collection) however there was a hand pump for water.

No cell phone reception without a booster. With our booster and direction antenna we got about 3 bars of Verizon LTE, which was enough to making phone calls and browse the internet.

The best thing about this campground was the trees! They were huge! Big trees and big pine cones kept the kiddos happy for our short overnight stay.

We came to Fort Bragg to visit Glass Beach and wanted to stay at a state park. This one fit the bill, though in the off season only 1 of the 3 campgrounds are open. Nevertheless we had no trouble at all finding a spot on a Friday night (campground is first come first served in the off season). There aren’t a lot of spots for large rigs; you’ll have to hunt for those as well.

The campground is wooded, so you’ll have to hunt around for a good solar spot; if you can’t find one, they do allow generators between 10am and 8pm.

Showers are $1.00 for 5 minutes. Firewood is $7.00 per bundle from the camp host.

Had both Verizon and ATT cell signal (2-3 bars of LTE each); used the ATT hotspot with Netgesr MIMO antenna and got about 27 Mbps down and 4 up.

My overall feeling of this campground was that it was pretty overpriced at $40 per night for dry camping, but this is California after all (camping in general is expensive here) but fine in terms of safety, accessibility and amenities.

A little history lesson (thanks Karen!): The Humboldt River makes a big loop and cuts through a mountain range to form Carlin Canyon. In 1841 the California Trail followed the riverbank through the canyon. Years later, in 1868, train tracks were laid. Eventually tunnels were blasted out for the trains and the rail bed became US 40. Now that I-80 is the main highway, with it's own tunnel through the mountain, the road in Carlin Canyon is cut off from most traffic so even though you can see the interstate from the canyon it's fairly quiet and peaceful.

Directions: to get to the canyon take exit 282 at Carlin, go south on Route 221 and east (left) at the intersection. After about 4.5 miles the road will go under the interstate and into the canyon. IGNORE THE ROAD CLOSED SIGNS. You can camp at the first pull off, but it is close to the interstate and noisy. For a better spot, follow the road until you come to the second pull off which is on the river side. It has a bench and interpretive signs under a shade shelter plus a gravel area large enough for several RVs.

The road is closed shortly after the pull off and there isn't any access to the interstate except for bicyclers who must use the canyon road instead of the tunnel. We also did not see an easy way to get to the river. Two dirt access roads are gated and the entire length is fenced with barbed wire. There may be an access point at the first pull off.

This is BLM land so you can stay for 14 days.

We stayed for 1 night with our 31' Airstream. This is essentially a gravel parking lot, but very level and lots of room (enough for 4-5 RVs I'd say). There aren't any amenities (water, elec, sewer or garbage) but if there aren't any other RV'ers there you shouldn't have a problem running a generator if needed.

No cell service what so ever... With our cell booster and directional antenna, we could pick up 1 bar from the neighboring town's cell tower, but it wasn't really enough to do anything with it.

At the second turn off (where we stayed) there was dirt path to the river, but most of the river's edge was overgrown with shrubs so don't expect to be able to put out some chairs; path ends at the river and there's just enough room to stand.

The best part about this site was the proximity to the river and the view of it. Really pretty, especially for a FREE campsite.

Recently started charging $25 per night.

Recently started charging $25 per night.

We decided to give this spot a chance despite there not being any reviews on Campendium because we needed to be close to Scottsdale. It's... just OK.

The area of Arizona that Box Bar Recreation Site is in in technically Scottsdale, but you're a good 40+ minutes for the main part of town, and Rio Verde, which is only a mile or so from the campsites is sort a strange housing and country club oasis in an otherwise very National Forest-y region. Rio Verde has what seems to be thousands of homes and lots of golf courses, but I have yet to find a single coffee shop, grocery store or gas station within the town. The nearest google result was 25 minutes away. The only reason I mention this is that entering the Box Bar recreation site you may think you're just outside a town center, but you're really not; you'll have to give a half hour or more to get supplies.

The camp here, you need the Tonto Forest Pass, which is $8, and you can get a 50% discount with America the Beautiful National Parks pass. You can use the VIPly app to purchase pass on your phone and then display a permit (provided near the entrance to the camping area on the sign posts) with the purchase and permit information. The sign posts also list a number of other areas where passes can be purchased (none of which are nearby).

The campsites themselves... well, the pictures from the USDA make it look like there is a wooded area with lots of flat space to camp... I don't know if the river topography changed recently or what, but this area was nowhere to be found. What was there was a dirt parking lot, and maybe 6 other sites where you could set up a camper. The parking lot would be suitable for big rigs if you could manage the few tight turns and steep inclines getting in there.

The 5 suitable campsites aren't well defined; you can pretty much park wherever you want once you get into the area, but it's very uneven throughout and lots of large pits to avoid when maneuvering around.

The river is right there, and a rope swing for kids if you walk the river's edge to find it. River itself is fast moving.

At the time we camped there, it looked like someone may have been "permanently tent camping" down by the river on the other side of the brown metal fence/barrier.

There are garbage dumpsters near the entrance to the main camping area, a few porta-potties in the main camping area, and access to at least two hiking trails.

Internet access was decent... on AT&T about 10mbps down and 2mbps up. Verizon about the same (both unboosted and un-mimo'ed). Internet access in the "town" of Rio Verde wasn't much better... LTE signal was strong but throughput was ssssllllooooowwwww...

It's just sort of an "eh" place to camp, but it was quiet and very little light pollution if that's something you're looking for.

Recently started charging $25 per night.