Ben Ries Campground — Butano State Park

This is a hidden gem. A little bowl full of redwoods, a creek and great hiking. Lots of great tent sites but pick your site wisely so you are not too close to your neighbors.  Also have some good back country hike in sites.

There is a nature trail along the creek.

If you hike up to the ridge on a clear day you can see the ocean.  There is also an old landing strip on the hill you can hike to as well. Great hike along the ridge where you can bakcpack into a trail camp.  Little streams along the way to get access to water.

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

Such a hidden gem. I came here around Thanksgiving with some buddies and o was completely blown away with my experience here.

At least I hadn’t heard of it before, so I wasn’t expecting much out of the trip, but after having camped here, it’s one of my FAVORITE spots now.

Uncrowded, quiet, beautiful and crisp are a few words that come to mind. If you’re looking for a getaway to enjoy some time outdoors and actually feel like you’re camping away from civilization come here. The spots are spread out, the air feels pure to the lungs, and it’s very woodsy.

Can not recommend this spot more!

Nice Campground, drive-up access with ample room to park. Space between campsites so you're not on top of each other. It was packed and there were some people making a lot of noise well into the middle of the night. Other than that it was great, some good trails for hiking that Branch off from the sites. There were also walk-in campsites. We did purchase firewood from the campground, and saw quite a few large banana slugs.

We did a one night backpacking trip here in Butano SP and it was great!  Had to get a permit to camp in the backcountry, and could only camp at designated sites but they were easy to find.  We got there early on a Saturday afternoon and got our first pick of campsite.  No fires allowed, and BYO water or bring a filter.

Would come back here again

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

Super user-friendly campsites that are good for beginners. Lots of great hiking trails in redwoods for all levels.

Large, user-friendly campsites surrounded by redwood trees. Great ferny hiking trails for every level of camper/hiker. Very easy access to campsites and near Pescadero and Highway One.

Butano is just inconvenient enough for the average weekender to be amazing for everyone else. It's mellow, kid-friendly, shady, and wooded. If you don't want to make breakfast, Duarte's is a 10 minute drive. Or pick up coffee across the street, then hit the beaches, or go for hikes up into the hills.

Did a 12 hour hike around the entire park. it was long but gorgeous!

I really liked this camp ground! It’s a little bit up in the trees, seculeded camp sites, and nice scenery. Lots of banana slugs to watch out for. People weren’t overly concerned about noise levels.

I absolutely love this campground. We stayed here for thanksgiving, so it was fairly quiet when we were there. The trails are well marked, and there are plenty of them! The sites have a lot of room and privacy (We stayed at campsite 1) Most sites are within redwood groves. We'll definitely go back! Maybe we'll see you there this thanksgiving!

This place is magnificent. I've hiked every trail here. It's pretty amazing to climb up and see the views of the ocean on a clear day. Most site are small and can probably only hold 1 tent however parking areas seem to be pretty large so if you only have one car you can use the other parking area for a tent. There are a few larger sites to be found.

Camped here in off season in November and it was us and maybe 2 other campers. Feels super remote and primitive. Tucked in a redwood grove. Hikes are awesome. Flush toilets. But aggressive squirrels. But one of my favorite spots in CA.

This campground is a hidden gem. 20 car camping spots and 17 walk-in spots. Everything here is very shaded with tons of trees. The walk-in spots are easy to manage if you don't have a huge tent. Tons of banana slugs to discover and hikes to go on. Dogs are allowed here. Nearby Pescadero offers great food options including the taco restaurant in the town's only gas station. Stop at the goat farm on your way out to visit the animals and sample the cheese.

Have camped at Butano many times over the years, still one of our favorites. Quiet, Redwood forest, family camping with lots of hiking trails that can take you up into the hills or down along the creeks (with bridges too!). Not a large number of sites but that's part of the charm. It has drive-in, walk-in and even hike-in sites. Back in the day we used to just show up and camp but now reservations are usually needed. Banana slugs and Blue Jays will keep you entertained!