California- San Diego and up. cheap/boondocking places

wintersun, your post gives some misleading information.
"That is not true if you buy an annual pass or get the senior discount or stay at some of the day use areas. California has areas that are designated for day use but where you can stay overnight so long as you are gone by 9 AM the next day."

An annual CA state parks pass has nothing to do with *camping* fees; read the rules here:

http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=1049

And, a "senior discount" off a campsite in a CA state park is 2 bucks; big deal! (And, if the park charges for a dog or dogs, any "savings" is out the door!)

The "areas that are designated for day use" that you talk about are called "enroute campsites", and in most cases, this means overnighting in the parking lot of the day use area. If the park's day use area is not among the listings on this link, keep moving!

http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=21687

TOOBOLD wrote:
Please be advised that our state campgrounds start at $35/night for dry camping. Dockweiler Beach is a LA county park is $55-65/night.

I would look into San Diego County, Orange County and San Luis Obispo county parks more reasonable.

That is not true if you buy an annual pass or get the senior discount or stay at some of the day use areas. California has areas that are designated for day use but where you can stay overnight so long as you are gone by 9 AM the next day.

We pay on average $20 a day at the state parks where we stay. In some cases there are two sets of campgrounds and one with sewer hookups and one without and the full use fee is for the spaced with hookups. During the winter months and shoulder seasons we have found campgrounds with no fees as they do not want to staff the area when it is slow.

There are also primative dispersed camping areas in the US National Forest areas such as Los Padres where one can camp less than a mile from the ocean and have no need for reservations and no fees are charged.

I would not recommend county parks in the summer time. That is where the locals from the nearby towns go to party. Read the bad reviews for these places and note the time of the year that people stayed there. Same applies to sprink break and Xmas to New Years periods at these semi-urban parks.

Please be advised that our state campgrounds start at $35/night for dry camping. Dockweiler Beach is a LA county park is $55-65/night.

I would look into San Diego County, Orange County and San Luis Obispo county parks more reasonable.

California coast in the summertime and cheap do not go together - pick 2 of the 3. Often north of Ventura the worst months to be along the coast are July and August unless you like maritime overcast days and lots of wind. The coldest month is February and it gets warmer month by month to a peak in September and this last month is the best time to be in California or in May. Better weather, fewer tourists, and off-season rates.

Lots of state parks with senior rates and also BLM lands and county and city RV parks that are more difficult to find but will have great rates. There are campgrounds that are first come first serve so if you arrive by noon you have an excellent chance of finding a space.

there is quite a bit of camping north of LA... i havent ventured too far south yet...

on the end of LAX there is a campsite at Dockweiler Beach... dont know the cost....

but as you go through mailbu and thru Ventura on PCH... quite a bit..

Leo Carillo - No Hookups

Thornehill- Broome , No Hookups

Sycamore Canyon, No Hookups - last i camped there


If you are Active/Retired/ or DOD employee ... Pt Mugu and Port Hueneme bases have GREAT camping

Ventura RV parK Full HU

McGrath State beach some hookups

Emma Wood State Beach - No Hookups

Faria Beach - Mix... no, partial, Full HU

Faria Beach Road.... - No Hookups

Hobson Beach... Mix

Rincon Beach .... - ???

Carpenteria SBeach, Mixed

El Capitan SBeach... - No Hookups last i looked

Refugio SB .. - No Hookups

Ocean View Rv Park ( name might not be right... its expensive.. but posh!)

Jamala Beach... mixed

Pismo Coast Village FULL... great park

Morro Bay ... - No Hookups... i stayed there a few years ago.... there might be some... dont remember

I think Avila BEach has Camping.

pnichols wrote:
I've tented/backpacked in Henry W. Coe a lot too .... still drive back in there and do volunteer work. We had clearance to drive back in there and fish last month with my son and grandkids, but never made it due to a vehicle (4x4 PU) failure enroute.

Boy .... do I wish the State would permit some RV camping in there somewhere off Kaiser-Aetna road!!

Here's a typical situation going back to do volunteer work in Henry W. Coe state park - it sure would be nice of that could be my RV in that photo instead of our 4X4 PU:

Man that brings back some sweet memories. I can't tell you how many times we backpacked to those lakes and camped. I remember a particularly brutal 13 mile hike to Mississippi Lake. Almost died on that hike, but talk about gorgeous when we got there! I too wish they'd allow some RV camping in there.

I've tented/backpacked in Henry W. Coe a lot too .... still drive back in there and do volunteer work. We had clearance to drive back in there and fish last month with my son and grandkids, but never made it due to a vehicle (4x4 PU) failure enroute.

Boy .... do I wish the State would permit some RV camping in there somewhere off Kaiser-Aetna road!!

Here's a typical situation going back to do volunteer work in Henry W. Coe state park - it sure would be nice of that could be my RV in that photo instead of our 4X4 PU:

Cotay wrote:
If you are taking 101 all the way up, you can go a bit out of your way just about a mile south of King City to get to several nice free BLM RV pads (no services however). Take Hwy 198 to Hwy 25 and head up north to Old Colinga Road. There are some free BLM RV pads at Laguna Mountain/Sweetwater...or if you want to go a bit farther on Old Colinga you can head to Condon Peak (also has free RV pads). Once done, you take Hwy. 25 north through Hollister and hit 101 again at Gilroy. I live in Hollister and am planning on using these as the regular family boondocking sites. All sites are open year round. Also, there is a Thousand Trails on Hwy. 25 at Pacines if you decide not to partake of the free options. Also, the Pinnacles National Park (formerly Monument) on Hwy. 25 just north has pay sites but they are generally available since people haven't discovered the park just yet. It is a beautiful park and the caves are amazing.

http://www.blm.gov/ca/st/en/fo/hollister/recreation.html#camping

http://www.nps.gov/pinn/planyourvisit/camp.htm

That's a very, very neat little detour. Thanks for sharing!! I'm actually going to add this to our "list" of hopeful stops. We tent-camped/back-packed a ton in Gilroy (Henry W Coe) back in the day, but haven't really found any good alternatives since getting the RV.

I feel some of the better money-for-value camping in S.Cal are the County Parks. Much cheaper than the State Parks and usually very green/natural. They're not beach-front, but some do have lake-settings.

For example in San Diego there's the San Diego County Parks:
http://www.sdcounty.ca.gov/parks/Camping/info.html

About the only "cheap" camping in SCal we have found is at the State Parks,but you have to make res. 6mo. in advance.We have a group that goes to Bolsa Chica but we are on the Res sight at exactly when it opens.We also have about 30 people trying to get in and usually we get maybe 8 RES.I'd go accross I40 through Flag and there is free camping South of Williams in the Tonto and Kiabab NF .7000 FT and nice in the summer,plus Williams is a "HOOT",old 66 and stuff in town.Then hit Ca and run 395 ,beach is way crazy.