Van Damme State Park Campground

Nice place, clean bathrooms next to the sea and clean spaces

General& Site Quality: 74 campsites; 1-13 in the lower loop and the remainder in the upper loop. Each site has a picnic table, fire ring, and bear box. No hookups. Camper pads are dirt. 

Bath/Shower house: Self-contained units, some with toilet and sink, and some with just a toilet. NO soap but paper towels and a hook for toiletries. Showers take tokens; each $1.00 token gives you a five-minute shower. Didn’t use the shower. 

Activities & Amenities: The day-use area and the Fern Canyon Trail accessed from the campground are currently closed due to storm damage. You can drive a short distance south to walk on the Pygmy Forest boardwalk (about a quarter of a mile) but there is very limited parking (about 8-9 spaces). You can extend the hike on the Fern Canyon trail but cannot hike to/from the campground. There is a dump station, but it costs $10 to use. There is a Visitor Center but it had limited hours during our stay. There is easy access to the ocean just across Highway One (you can even camp in the parking lot for the same rate as long as you are out by 9 a.m.)  The park is close to the town of Mendocino with great restaurants and shopping if that appeals to you.

We arrived around dusk and left fairly early the next morning to walk on the Pygmy Forest boardwalk. I didn’t explore too much (including the upper loop) as there was a black bear sighting the day we were there. Even though it was a sunny day, the campground felt dark and damp.

Pros - close to Mendocino and Fort Bragg; toilets and showers well-maintained; campground itself is beautiful, with some sites that have close neighbors, and some that are more isolated. Dump station. Beach across the street from the entrance.

Cons - sites have varying degrees of flatness, so if you are in a tent you may have a challenge finding a flat enough spot; due to a temporary bridge and narrow roads to the upper campgrounds, towing anything above a small (<20') trailer might be a challenge for less experienced RV folks (like me!).

Overall takeaway - bring a tent or small rig, call or get reviews for the flattest sites (52 looked good), and enjoy the beautiful surroundings! We stayed in site 45, which backs up to the redwoods.