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3.9
15 votes

Plaskett Creek Campground

Hwy 1, California CA USA

4 people are viewing this place
  • Independent
  • Pet Friendly
  • Wheelchair
    Accessible
  • Public
    Restrooms
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“Overlooking the Pacific Ocean”

Overview Plaskett Creek Campground offers a beautiful location just minutes from Sand Dollar Beach, one of the largest and most popular beaches in central California. The campground gives visitors access to a variety of outdoor activities, including water play and exploration of the surrounding hills and forests. The family-friendly campground offers comfortably equipped sites, allowing anyone to enjoy a relaxing stay in the Los Padres National Forest.Recreation A short walk leads to Sand Dollar Beach, a very popular spot for surfing, fishing, swimming, exploring, sunbathing and more. Fishing permits are required for anyone over age 16. Anglers can expect a catch of yellow perch and other coastal surf fish. The beach is dog-friendly, as long as dogs are leashed and waste is picked up. A variety of trails exist along the beach, which lead to the bluffs that overlook the beach and coves in the area. Additional hiking, mountain biking and horseback riding trails can be accessed within a short drive from the campground, and offer scenic views of waterfalls, redwood groves and mountain meadows and streams.Facilities The campground offers single-family sites, as well as three group campsites, for tent and RV camping. Group sites can accommodate up to 40 people and 10 vehicles. Extra vehicles will be charged an additional fee. Utility hookups are not available. Individual campsites are each equipped with a table and campfire ring with grill. Flush toilets, sinks and drinking water are provided throughout the campground. An accessible flush toilet is located near Site 10. Group sites are equipped with several tables, grills and campfire circles. Vault toilets and drinking water are provided in the group area.Natural Features The campground is located in west-central California, on the east side of Highway 1. Sand Dollar Beach, the largest sandy beach in the Big Sur area, is just south of the campground. The Pacific Ocean borders the campground to the west and the surf can be heard at many campsites. The campground has a park-like setting, under a scattered canopy of mature Monterey pine and cypress trees. Cedar trees provide a fragrant aroma. All sites are grassy. The campground is situated at an elevation of about 200 feet in the Los Padres National Forest. Wildlife in the area includes fox, bobcat, deer and raccoon. Mountain lions and bears are occasionally seen in the area, although they have never entered the campground.

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Reviews of Plaskett Creek Campground

11 people have reviewed this location

Ratings Summary

4.3 Access
4.8 Location
4.4 Cleanliness
3.8 Site Quality
3.9 Noise

Cell Coverage

Verizon 5G

Confirmed by 2 users | Last reported on May 17, 2022

AT&T 4G/5G

Confirmed by 4 users | Last reported on May 17, 2022

T-Mobile 4G

Confirmed by 1 users | Last reported on January 19, 2024

Reviews

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Reviewed by
Campendium

April 11, 2016
Rated

Many beaches along the coast do not allow dogs but the beach across the street from this campground does. Easy walk over.

Campground is for smaller rigs only and has a plethora of children. Very noisy over the weekend. No Verizon service; did not use the toilet facilities. No threaded water, fill jugs only.

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Nightly Rate: $28.00

Days Stayed: 2

Site Number: 19A

5 Access
5 Location
5 Cleanliness
5 Site Quality
1 Noise
  • 16 Reviews
  • 0 Helpful
April 29, 2016
Rated

Stayed here one October. We did not have reservations but there were a few spots open still. We were able to not have immediate neighbors yet still views of the ocean. We were adjacent to some brushy vegetation which helped with the privacy feel to one side of the camp. Since it was a drought year, the grassy lawn was struggling a bit, still good for tent camping. Otherwise there is no understory vegetation growth to provide privacy - just the large standing trees. The restrooms were newer, but the water was turned off (only toilet was usable). Water spigots still worked to fill up water containers. The best part of this spot (other than it was available and nice), is that is 0.7 miles walk to Sand Dollar Beach. This is normally a day use area with a fee and parking lot on the bluff, but you can walk to it easily from camp. Stairs take you down the cliffs to a crescent shaped beach. Sand shores and rocky shores both to explore. We stayed for the sunset and had the entire beach to ourselves. I don't recall my cell coverage, but it was probably spotty. It was a bit of a drive (or backtracking) to any restaurants so we were glad we had a dinner with us for that night.

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Nightly Rate: $28.00

Days Stayed: 1

Site Number: 38 or 40 (forget)

RV Type: Travel Trailer

5 Access
5 Location
5 Cleanliness
5 Site Quality
4 Noise
Photo of Campendium

Reviewed by
Campendium

May 06, 2019
Rated

Plaskett Creek is a nice campground on the east side of Highway 1 in Big Sur.

The Sand Dollar Beach Day use area is beautiful, dog friendly, and right across the road. It’s one of only two dog friendly beaches in the Big Sur area and more protected from the wind than Pffiefer Beach 40 miles down the road.

The main drag in Big Sur is also about 40 miles away, take what you need with you.

We preferred Kirk Creek to Plaskett Creek, but Plaskett Creek is a great Plan B with better protection from the wind and better beach access.

Firewood is $12 a bundle. Drinking water is available via faucets in the campground but there is no dump station or official RV water fill.

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This reviewer would stay here again

Nightly Rate: -

Days Stayed: 1

Site Number: 6

RV Length: 19 ft

RV Type: Travel Trailer

5 Access
4 Location
4 Cleanliness
4 Site Quality
4 Noise

Cell Coverage Rating

AT&T

Photo of Campendium

Reviewed by
Campendium

June 27, 2019
Rated

If you want a great coastal camping experience, this is the spot. Our site is one of the two or three sites that have a view of the ocean through an opening in the trees. The one right below ours has a slightly better view. About 70% of the people were tent camping and about 30% with small trailers. I only heard a neighbors generator for about 30min. Otherwise it was completely silent. Aside from my kids running around the open grassy area making new friends. Facilities are clean, camp host is friendly, fellow campers were all friendly. Sites do not have any hookups. But the sites are a good size with good separation between campers. Lots of surfers camping for the night and providing entertainment you can see from the bluffs above Sand Dollar beach. Pro-Tip: Try to hit Sand Dollar at low-ish tide. There will be a lot more exposed sand. When the tide is higher, you'll be confined to the higher sections of the beach which are rocks. This cove is to me, a classic California coastline. Rocky cliffs, surf, wildflowers. It's amazing.

*** I was able to pick up 1 bar with AT&T near the upper group sites when I walked the loop. I drove back over with my WeBoost Drive Reach and was able to get 4 bars. And make an important phone call.

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This reviewer would stay here again

Nightly Rate: -

Days Stayed: 2

Site Number: 008

RV Length: 21 ft

RV Type: Travel Trailer

5 Access
5 Location
5 Cleanliness
5 Site Quality
5 Noise

Cell Coverage Rating

AT&T 4G

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Reviewed by
Campendium

August 22, 2019
Rated

Flush toilet / water available / bathroom sink / no shower / table / fire pit / easy access / high shade.

A nice campground, the night we stayed was rainy, but there is a lot of trees which is convenient in case of rain or sun! Sand Dollar Beach is just accross the road : beautiful place. You hear the cars on the road from the campground, but at night there is no more traffic. For this price, it would have been nice to have showers (showers available in the Limekiln Campground). Sites are big enough to have privacy. We stayed there mid-May.

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This reviewer would stay here again

Nightly Rate: $35.00

Days Stayed: 1

Site Number: -

RV Type: Tent

5 Access
5 Location
5 Cleanliness
5 Site Quality
3 Noise
  • 284 Reviews
  • 0 Helpful
December 08, 2020
Rated

We stayed here several years ago and loved it! Researched sites ahead of time looking for one we would not have to un-hook and one with sun for our solar panels. The sites are in a big loop with a dividing road in the middle. Some of the sites on the West side of the loop have an ocean view. I would say reservations are a must. Beautiful bluffs and beach just across the highway. Quiet at night - just gorgeous!

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roadtripper6474771 would stay here again

Nightly Rate: -

Days Stayed: 2

Site Number: 13

RV Length: 22 ft

RV Type: Travel Trailer

4 Access
5 Location
5 Cleanliness
5 Site Quality
5 Noise
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Reviewed by
Campendium

May 03, 2021
Rated

We stayed in space 11, it is right next to the camp host and some of the bathrooms. The spot was under the trees, and had a view of the ocean. Nice sunsets and a beach across the highway. Overall really fantastic camp site. There are no hook ups, but there is plenty of water and flush toilets. Most of the sites have decent access for trailers, unfortunately space 11 is probably the worst of them. Our 20' trailer was a tight squeeze and with large boulders positioned around the site, there is a significant penalty for error. We will absolutely go back.

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This reviewer would stay here again

Nightly Rate: $35.00

Days Stayed: 3

Site Number: 11

4 Access
5 Location
5 Cleanliness
4 Site Quality
5 Noise

Cell Coverage Rating

Verizon

AT&T

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Reviewed by
Campendium

January 18, 2022
Rated

The park was easy to find. It is located right off of highway101. There is pavement all the way including in the park. Signage is good. Check in was efficient and friendly. The rules are fairly basic..
Our site, 08, was a back in that was not quite long enough for our short 28 foot Coach and Towed. Our two door Wrangler had to stick out onto the street a bit. Services were non existent. Even the water was not usable as the system was contaminated. Distancing is reasonable for a State Park. Each site has a table and a fire pit that were NOT conveniently located. Our site was flat but sloped to the rear. We did not use the washrooms as they were closed due to the contaminated water supply. This park is in serious need of upgrading. The interior roads had many very deep pot holes with some deep enough to damage your vehicle and large areas where the pavement have broken away completely. Very few sites are level and very few are long enough to fit a motorhome with a towed. This park appears to have been built and designed for the 1950s and little or no improvements have been made since.
There is a pathway across the highway and down the road that will take you to the beautiful beach. Be aware, to get there, one must make use a 100 step staircase down and again on the way back. This and the fact that the park is reasonably located, are the only redeeming features.
The camp host will sell you a very small bundle of fire wood for $15.00 and five gallons of water for $5.00 (or a quart for a dollar).
We found this park to be very poorly run. The camp host was hardly visible until it was time to sell firewood. We saw no effort made to maintain the park in any way. They were not knowledgeable about the local area. When asked where one could fill our tank with fresh water and dump our grey and black tanks we were told that a location was not known. We paid $35.00 per night and we feel we received very poor value. Because of the lack of water and sanitary services, this park should have been closed or at least the price reduced accordingly. We doubt if we will be back again.

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Nightly Rate: $35.00

Days Stayed: 3

Site Number: 8

RV Length: 28 ft

RV Type: Class A

5 Access
5 Location
2 Cleanliness
1 Site Quality
5 Noise

Reviewed by
tracywaldon

  • 135 Reviews
  • 0 Helpful
May 17, 2022
Rated

You can't beat Big Sur and there are some nice views from the campground and the land across the highway from it. If you are in a rig more than 25 feet long, there are a handful of sites that might fit you. The measurements provided on recreation.gov allow no wiggle room. Site 21 where we stayed is listed as taking an RV up to 45 feet. We put our 28-foot trailer in as far back as it would go and barely squeezed the truck in by parking diagonally. The boulders delineating the parking pad make placement very difficult. It appears to be the same for all of the other sites. There is a very small overflow parking area, but it's tight as well. The pads are asphalt and have some of the oddest geometry you have seen. They are level for about half of their length and then will have an odd dip or rise for the remainder. I saw a few that appeared to tilt at least 6 inches to one side or the other. A shorter unit could find a somewhat level spot on a pad, but if you need to the full pad length for your unit, you are unlikely to be able to get level. This may explain why most campers were in tents or vans.

There really isn't any screening vegetation between campsites. It's a large lawn with scattered trees, so privacy on your site is non-existent. One exception is a few of the sites on the east side of the campground that back up to the mountain have fairly private tent pads.

This campground is run by a concessionaire. They sell a number of items such as bottled water and firewood. Firewood runs $15 a bundle, so you may want to consider bringing it with you. I do think the host does a good job keeping the campground running well. She was out and about in a very busy campground making sure dogs were leashed and the roads remained passable.

One nice feature of this campground is that it is a short walk to Sand Dollar Beach. Didn't see any sand dollars but there's a good stretch of sand to lay out on. In addition you can walk on a bluff trail for about two miles north and about a mile south of the campground. You will be dodging poison oak all of the way, but there are some great views.

Cell service is nearly non-existent. However, every so often we would get a connection with Verizon and AT&T. Just enough to get a few texts or emails to leak through and maybe make a phone call. It's not a consistent connection, but the alternative is a 25 mile drive south to get a good connection.

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Nightly Rate: $35.00

Days Stayed: 7

Site Number: 21

RV Length: 28 ft

RV Type: Travel Trailer

3 Access
5 Location
4 Cleanliness
2 Site Quality
3 Noise

Cell Coverage Rating

Verizon

AT&T

Photo of Campendium

Reviewed by
Campendium

July 26, 2022
Rated

I want to start by saying how beautifully located the campground is. Right across from Sand Dollar Beach which we really enjoyed. Our group didn’t have a reservation but was early enough to do a “first come first serve” type of situation. We arrived @ 12pm, took a lap around the campground & then drove back to the host to ask for a spot. I had to wait outside of their RV to be approached by a very unpleasant woman who told me she can’t help me till 2pm. I decided to wait it out @ Sand Dollar Beach, came back at 1:57pm to start discussing a spot with the host & she literally told me to leave until 2pm… she did not want me waiting by her.. even though there were other people waiting too talk to her too. I laughed at this because 2-3 minutes is an actual joke. JUST HELP THE PEOPLE IN FRONT OF YOU, WHO ARE LITERALLY WAITING TO GIVE YOU MONEY. She helps another person before helping me & I can tell that it pained her inside to actually give me a campsite. She asked for our vehicle information so she could take down license plates & as I was getting my friends plate, she says “there’s no service here” as if I didn’t already know that… I give her a photo of the license plate with a smile. She tells us that our campsite, 19B was kinda strange and didn’t have much parking ability but when we got to the spot we saw plenty of space for both of our vehicles to
Unload our gear & get set up.

Home girl comes fast as lighting on her golf cart, tells us we can’t have our vehicles there (she expected us to unload our stuff from the visitors parking to our campsite HAHAHAHAH) she scolds us like a parent, and doesn’t leave our site until both vehicles were moved.. and then yells “DONT DO THAT AGAIN.”

Bro, if you’re working as a camp host; SMILE! Try and relate with people & act at least a little interested to continue to retain business, otherwise this
Beautiful camp is going to be known as the one with the rudest person in Big Sur.

Besides the host, the space we had was great. It has a nice grassy, and shady area. We watched the stars all night! Only other downfall was the fact that the bathrooms look like a jail cell. No lights. Not even a working sink.

If you want to look into another vibey camp spot, check out Big Sur Campground! They took walk ins too!

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Nightly Rate: $45.00

Days Stayed: 1

Site Number: 19

RV Length: 16 ft

RV Type: Travel Trailer

5 Access
4 Location
3 Cleanliness
3 Site Quality
3 Noise

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Plaskett Creek Campground

Hwy 1
California
CA USA
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  • Unavailable
    Parking
  • Check
    Pets Allowed
  • Check
    Restrooms
  • Unknown
    Wifi
  • Check
    Wheelchair Accessible
  • Unknown
    Credit Cards Accepted
Affiliation
National forest
Check In
3:00 PM
Check Out
2:00 PM
Last Nightly Rate
4500.0
Longest Vehicle Length Reported
33 ft
Lowest Nightly Rate
28.0
Max Length
30 ft
Max Stay
14
Sites Count
44
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    Paved Sites
  • Unavailable
    Fifty Amp
  • Unavailable
    Full Hookup
  • Check
    Rec Facilities
  • Unavailable
    Pull Through
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    Tent Sites
  • Unavailable
    Dump Station
  • Unavailable
    Big Rigs
  • Unavailable
    Open Seasonally
  • Unavailable
    Age Restricted
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    Boondock
  • Unavailable
    Cabin Sites
  • Unavailable
    Dispersed Sites
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    Firewood
  • Unavailable
    Fulltime Residents
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    Group Tent Sites
  • Unavailable
    Laundry
  • Unavailable
    Mobile Homes
  • Unavailable
    Permit Required
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    Potable Water
  • Unavailable
    Propane
  • Check
    Public Water
  • Unavailable
    Pull Through RV Sites
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    Reservations
  • Unavailable
    Sewer Hookup
  • Unavailable
    Showers
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    Sites
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    Standard Tent Sites
  • Unavailable
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