[ LOCATION -5 Stars ]

• Walking distance to Dana Point Harbor and Baby Beach. Lots of fun things to do there including whale watching, boat/kayak rentals, SUP boarding rentals, and restaurants/bars. Also walking distance to Wheel Fun Rentals where you can rent 4 seater surrey bikes to cruise along Doheny Beach for $35/hr.
• The campgrounds are SO close to the beach. Just a couple feet over the dunes! Campsites 45-73 are the best IMO. They book up fast, but they are GOLD if you can get one. Campsites near the road are loud from the freeway and street.
• Convenient to lots of liquor stores and restaurants along Del Prado Avenue. The Double Tree is also SUPER close to the campsite entrance. They have a nice rooftop bar, and a small lobby shop if you need to buy toiletries, snacks, drinks.
• Close to the San Clemente Metrolink which is less than 4 miles from the campground.

[ AMENITIES -3 Stars ]

• The day use areas are so nice for picnics! If you walk along the beach there are rows of day use areas with picnic tables and bbq grills.
• The restroom and shower facilities are cleaned daily in the mornings, but they are very dirty. There aren’t many restrooms for the amount of campsites/campers so they flood, run out of toilet paper, and become disgusting. Showers take CA State Park coins.
• There are lots of homeless people who linger in the park, and they use the showers as well. We saw two go in to a shower and didn’t come out until 45 minutes later.
• You can purchase firewood at the check-in area for $7 a bundle. Not every camp host site had firewood so we had to walk further to find some.
• Sites are really small and close together. The best sites are along the ocean, but they are also the furthest from the restrooms. You give up convenience for a good view. The place is always booked and packed. A LOT of people so it doesn’t feel quite as relaxing.
• Sites come with 2 parking spots, a fire ring, and picnic table. Water spigots are near the restrooms.

[ CLEANLINESS -2 Stars]

• The restrooms are a NIGHTMARE. It’s obviously better than pit toilets, but a lot of them overflow and there is urine and feces all over the toilets and floor.
• There are lots of crows, seagulls, and birds at the campsite. They poop everywhere. All over our tents and picnic tables. Lesson learned: Don’t pitch your tent under any trees.
• Lots of ground squirrels around. They are very aggressive and brave. They will jump onto you table and take food.

Product Review

As a Ranger for The Dyrt, I get products to test from time to time - this weekend I tested Renogy’s Multi-Functional Solar Backpack. I have another solar product (bluetooth speaker) from Renogy that I love, but this solar backpack blew me way. The panels are much larger so it charges so much more quickly and efficiently. I was able to charge my phone to 100% in an hour and a half of being plugged in, and also it kept my husband’s laptop charged while he was doing some programming at our campground. As a charger, it totally met my needs and exceeded my expectations.

There are also so many features to this backpack that really impressed me. I love that the solar panel part can be unzipped off from the rest of the pack which makes it really convenient. I was able to remove the solar panel from the backpack and lean it on the ground to charge while keeping the rest of the backpack safely inside my tent. The solar panel part of the pack can also be flipped and reversed so you can have the panel facing out when you want it charging or faced inside when you want to protect it from exposure to rain. The backpack is also very safely padded for a laptop so that it is protected. I love the convenience of all the little pockets and compartments for organizing, the sunglass loop, and also a side pocket to hold a water bottle.

This backpack was so well constructed and designed with the user in mind. I highly recommend this rucksack to anyone looking for a solar backpack.