O'Neill Regional Park

We stayed at this county park over the weekend. The campground is just outside the major points of interest in South Orange County. For me it's a nice weekend getaway, but if visiting from out of town you could stay here and visit all the tourist destinations Disneyland, Local Beaches etc.

The park is located in a canyon just outside of suburbia. It's a nice setting with trees and a currently dry river running along the campground. All sites are gravel and there are no hookups, although there are many water faucets located around the park some right at certain sites. There are some nice pull through sites in the park that are large and well shaded, when I return I will attempt to reserve a pull through site. There is a two lane highway that runs next to the park and motorcycles frequently drive by late into the night. This park was somewhat loud until about midnight. Many locals visit the park on the weekend camping in tents and some were a bit too loud into the evening.

There are many nice places to walk in the campground for dogs and humans as well as hiking and biking trails (no dogs allowed). Beware of ants! They were everywhere in the gravel covering the sites.

Our site was a back in site me was nice, but the back in sites are much closer together than the pull through sites. The sites are positioned on a angle so backing in was simple. The road that leads to the park is windey and low tree branches canopy the road. I was nervous with my Airstream so proceed with caution if you have a taller motorhome or fifth wheel.

We found ourselves with a little time between reservations on the coast and decided on a week here to explore the trails and still have easy access to friends and sites in Orange County.

This park is amazingly close to everything but still manages to feel like you are out in nature.

We had a great site - 31 all the way at the end of the sites. Our site was huge, private and quiet. We did find ourselves in the trees and had little to no opportunity for solar power. Our site was relatively flat with a picnic table and fire ring.

Nearby trails take you up and around the park - with mountain biking access, paved roads, hiking trails and even horse trails (with horse camping area just down the way from our site). The easy access to trails was a huge impact on our rating. We love being able to get out into nature without having to drive.

The close access to the urban area also means that it is a very busy park with LOTS of tent campers. Many large groups even over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. The ranger came by and suggested that we lock up our portable solar panels. We also had to make time to clean up our site of all the garbage left behind by prior campers. Over and over we witnessed campers leave messes behind at the campsites and the rangers did not do a cleanup of sites between guests.

Make time for hiking and don't miss a trip to Cooks Corner, the popular biker bar with great Taco Tuesday. We also loved the nearby corner store and their excellent selection of beer.

The park is just at the edge of civilization in Trabuco Canyon. It's nice because you feel somewhat out in the wilderness, but you are literally less than 10 minutes away from groceries, restaurants, shopping, etc. As noted in pervious reviews, the road is moderately busy, especially on the weekend with bikers. The campground itself was pretty empty during the week and nowhere close to full on Superbowl weekend (we couldn't get an antenna signal, so that may explain it). We chose a site that had partial shade (worked for our solar) and had a nice cluster of trees for the hammock. We pulled head-in to keep the picnic table and hammock on our door side.

Things to keep in mind:

-There is a $5 a night charge for your toad car

-Water is available, but in the back-in/head-in sites, you may need a long hose. The pull-through sites seemed to have the water spigot within reach for an RV.

-There are many trails in and around the park. The only dog-friendly trail in the park is the Mesa trail along the day-use area. Most of canyon is wilderness area and they don't want dogs to disturb the wildlife balance.

-The canyon road up to the park is twisty. We came from the south (Rancho Santa Margarita) and it was ok for our 30 ft mh and toad. Coming from the other way there are signs about vertical impairments and there is a lot of tree overhang.

We stayed here after failing to find anything by the coast for Thanksgiving week. The park is perfectly fine and there are some nice hikes from the campground. Generally this is suburban Orange County, which is not my ideal destination. It was pretty crowded too.

The park is kept perfectly well, but seems to be a victim of the horrendous western drought. Many of the pictures online show a much greater degree of vegetation than we saw here.

We had a decent site that is pull through and good for solar. And some of the pull through sites here are immense.

All in all a decent park and if you wanted to visit friends in the area or are stuck without a weekend reservation and one of the oceanside campgrounds I would say it's a much better choice than the Disney-serving RV parks in the area.

Note: We stayed here in a tent. We needed a campground close to LA that had good tent spots, and was in warmer location (we'd been freezing at night in some of the higher elevation campgrounds). We also really wanted good internet because we'd had none for the previous 3 days. O'Neill came up in our search and we had a great time. The staff is incredibly nice and helpful and they have some great programs in the nature center, and there are some great little trails around the park as well.

The campground has a few loops, most with really big sites (the pull-through sites are enormous), a lot of trees and level, gravel pads. There are a variety of locations and options (it's not in rows, but rather built around the trees in the park) and there are several restrooms with showers (although I had trouble getting hot water) throughout the loops.

We stayed here two weekday nights, which were super quiet and peaceful, and then one weekend night which was pretty loud. The campground really is nice and so close to some major towns, so no wonder it fills up fast. Being in a tent, it was particularly loud, but the good thing is the sites are big and well spaced.

The town of Rancho Santa Margerita is just a couple of miles up the road and they have everything you need (groceries, camping supplies, pet supplies, Starbucks... we even went out for Thai food one night and they walked it next door to the dog-friendly brewery for us to eat).

Overall, we'd definitely come back here if we needed a place in the area. Although I'd rather stay on a week night, or camp in a trailer that blocked out the noise.

Paid $20/night for the RV and and extra $5 for our truck because it was the weekend.

Showers were nice and hot, but you got to hold the button down. Definitely some road noise and the occasional loud biker. All in all a good stay.

Here during midweek and no reservation. Weekend reservations recommended. Dry camping, free dump and potable water. No outside firewood allowed. No alcohol allowed. Pets allowed in campground but not on trails. Free showers. Staff friendly and helpful. Fire ring and picnic tables at sites. Sites small but spread out. Equine camping avail. Small tack and feed store nearby, small country store nearby. Verizon cell service between 1-2 bars in campground. Nearby city (5miles) has lots of shopping and dining options.

I love this park, it's really great. The staff is friendly, sites are big, rates are reasonable, trails are cool, good cell service, dump station on site, clean showers, and you're 30 minutes from the beach. It was awesome to have the option of hiking the canyon in the morning and beaching it up in the afternoon. It was super quiet, everyone was doing their own thing, it would be dope if they had hook ups but either way we will happily be back.

Had a great time camping with a group in sites 40-44. Clean sites that are huge - lots of space for multiple tents per site. Paved roads with gravel parking sites.

Surprisingly few bugs and critters. It was hot, with not a ton of tree shade so bring shade if in hot weather! Great for bikes, scooters and such.

Clean bathrooms with free showers and there are a few water spigots throughout the camp sites.

We have a 42’ motorhome and the campsite was huge. Lots of room for at least 2 cars to park as well.