Ben Ries Campground — Butano State Park - CLOSED INDEFINITELY

Butano State Park, Ben Reis was an excellent experience. 

The park itself has great hikes, thick with Redwoods, immediately you feel like you are in Ewok territory. Lots of varying levels as well. 

The campsite has car camping and walk-in sites. I had sites 5 and 6. The map for the campground is deceiving as they looked close together and connected but they were separate. If I were to come back and want two large sites to connect, I would choose either 6 and 8 or 10 and 13. If it's just two people, site 3 is pretty private as well as 14. 16 is also a good site, but too slanted. Overall, the sites are spaced apart nicely.

The bathrooms are pretty clean, flush toilets, no showers, no hot water and no soap. There is potable water throughout the campground, recycle bins, trash bins(animal proof) and bear lockers and firepits at each site. It does have a dishwashing station and most people cleaned up after themselves when using it(read: don't be a d-bag and clean the drain and basin people!!!). It is also a crumb free park and they take it very seriously. There is no cell service. 

Fellow campers were there to camp, not to party, so that's always a plus(I was also there Sunday to Tuesday so…). 

Great weather, lots of shade at the campsite and on the hikes. Coast was a cool 60's- 70's but warm in the sun(the coast/beaches are windy), night time was a lovely 55-59 degrees, easy to sleep, not too cold(first week in August). Hard to find stars as you are canopied in trees but if you walk a little out, the night sky is dark and stars a plenty. 

The campground is very close to PCH/Highway 1 and the beaches are lovely. PCH is also dotted with farms and fruit stands, artisan pies, etc. The closest town is Pescadaro, and has a tiny main street with an excellent coffee shop, and grocery store with fresh baked pies, breads, jams, sauces, and a deli counter as well as sundry items. There are cheese farms/creameries as well surrounding the park. 

I hope you enjoy this as much as I did, cheers!

Butano State Park, Ben Reis was an excellent experience. The park itself has great hikes, thick with Redwoods, immediately you feel like you are in Ewok territory. Lots of varying levels as well. 

The campsite has car camping and walk-in sites. I had sites 5 and 6. The map for the campground is deceiving as they looked close together and connected but they were separate. If I were to come back and want two large sites to connect, I would choose either 6 and 8 or 10 and 13. If it's just two people, site 3 is pretty private as well as 14. 16 is also a good site, but too slanted. Overall, the sites are spaced apart nicely.

The bathrooms are pretty clean, flush toilets, no showers, no hot water and no soap. There is potable water throughout the campground, recycle bins, trash bins (animal proof) and bear lockers and firepits at each site.  It does have a dishwashing station and most people cleaned up after themselves when using it (read: don't be a d-bag and clean the drain and basin people!!!). It is also a crumb free park and they take it very seriously.  There is no cell service. 

Fellow campers were there to camp, not to party, so that's always a plus (I was also there Sunday to Tuesday so...). 

Great weather, lots of shade at the campsite and on the hikes. Coast was a cool 60's- 70's but warm in the sun (the coast/beaches are windy), night time was a lovely 55-59 degrees, easy to sleep, not too cold (first week in August). Hard to find stars as you are canopied in trees but if you walk a little out, the night sky is dark and stars a plenty. 

The campground is very close to PCH/Highway 1 and the beaches are lovely. PCH is also dotted with farms and fruit stands, artisan pies, etc. The closest town is Pescadaro, and has a tiny main street with an excellent coffee shop, and grocery store with fresh baked pies, breads, jams, sauces, and a deli counter as well as sundry items. There are cheese farms/creameries as well surrounding the park.

 I hope you enjoy this as much as I did, cheers!

- "The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit."

― Nelson Henderson

What an incredible place! Campsites are in the midst of the massive redwoods so it’s always pretty shady and cool. There are 40ish sites (50/50 drive-in and walk-in), well spaced for a bit of privacy. Fairy rings (where the redwoods have grown up in a ring) and hollowed out tree trunks made awesome forts when we were kids. There are ferns growing all over the place, and brilliant yellow banana slugs cruising around in slow motion, and loads of mushrooms if you go in the right winter conditions (early season rain). This is a great spot any time of year. Even if it’s rainy, the redwood canopy has a way of drinking up the rain so that it becomes more of a drippy mist. There’s a creek and awesome trails around, just don’t step on the banana slugs. If the shade gets to be too… shady you can always drive down the road to the beach. Año Nuevo has a colony of Elephant Seals that pretty impressive to check out.

There are pit toilets as well as a bathroom with a flushing toilet more centrally in the campground.

Butano State Park is an absolute gem! It is a smaller park than many of the other redwoods parks in Northern California, so it was very nice and peaceful. Butano is a bit off the beaten path to get to, but so worth it. There are some car sites available, but we had a walk in site. At the time we went, you were assigned a site by the ranger - we happened to get the very last site that was tucked back on a little hill, so it was very nice and secluded. Every site is surrounded by giant redwood trees, and it is an absolutely gorgeous campground.

We forgot our tent on that trip, but that ended up being a GREAT mistake! We set up our air mattress on the tarp, and falling asleep and waking up amongst the still, quiet redwoods was absolutely magical.

The park is so green and lush, shaded, with a nice moderate temperature. There are plenty of hiking trails, and a creek nearby.

I would love to return to Butano some day!

CAMPSITE SPECS

Fees: $35/night

Plumbed Toilets: Yes

Drinking Water: Yes

Showers: No

Picnic Table: Yes

Firepit: Yes

Cooking Grate: Yes

Shade: Yes

Cell Service: No

Animal Bins/Food lockers: Yes

Trash: Yes