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.

Here's another promise NOT gonna happen. If you have any trailer at all, you must turn around at the bottom of the hill, then go UP the steep hill to your promised site. Yeah...that site...shorter than you need and SO unlevel, you can't level out. All this for dry camping. BTW, if you are tent camping, it's wonderful. You're welcome.

We were introduced to the campground by friends. They found the most awesome and private camping site in the joint. Nice site and was great for both our families to share. The only draw back is that the facilities are far away. The park is close the many beaches and Fort Bragg is right up the road.

Comfortable but not much privacy. Decent base camp for exploring the area.

I wish we could stay longer. We got lucky and score a last minute site online.

Simple campground just outside of Mendocino/Ft Bragg. Steps from a beautiful sandy beach. Water fill up station with hose is available, wifi is strong (we ended up in a site right next to the visitor centre where the router is). No cell reception though (AT&T). Bathrooms are clean.

Note: there are lots of hikes here apparently but dogs are not permitted on any trails so I can't speak to the quality/experience of these.

Nice, quite, clean campground. The parking spaces are not as flat as we were hoping for as we have a rooftop tent, but a minor complaint. The bathrooms were really clean. There was a skunk that ran though our site after dark, but there were no problems.

I was very surprised by this campground. It was very quiet, well maintained with clean bathrooms and showers. There is an added bonus for all self contained vehicles. Since there's a temporary bridge in place, they are allowing self contained vehicles (potty in your vehicle) to stay at the beach parking lot instead of a camp site. That means you can wake up to a view of the beach.

Our site and tent were burglarized while we were gone for part of a day. They stole all cooking equipment since it was closest to the car then they started on the tent. Sleeping bag and clothes are completely gone. The only saving thing was they were scared off by some unknown reason, probably a car passed by.

Not only that they had pulled about half the tent stakes out as if they were just going to lift the whole thing (4 person grand hut rei)

There is an manned entry booth so we were lulled into thinking it was safe. We were supposed to stay there another 2 nights but without cooking gear and and one of the sleeping bags we had to pack and return home.

Not to mention feeling completely creeped out.

I loved the ferns. It felt like a nice jungle. It close to the beach although the beach is a little small. Dogs were allowed. We had a little stream by our site which was nice. Not to far from town.

Nice valley with great campsites - tent camping for me, but great for RVs as well. They are spaced well and have good tree canapy. The facilites are good and well maintained and even have showers scattered thoughout. At the moment I am referring tot eh site in the two lower loops along the creek.

The beach is great for sunsets and if you are a diver.  Can do some limited tidepooling if the tides are right. Great place to explore the Mendocino Coast from.

There are great forest trails, a stream throughout, a waterfall to find and some choice hike-in sites back in the canyon.

Just was there again (9/2020) stayed in upper loop for the first time.  These sites are very different  Some are open in a meadow with no shade.  Some are also not very private. They have recently done some tree work thee is thin things out which effect privacy and shade. Choose wisely.

Unfortunately, we were only passing through here on our way north. The bonus to that however is that the park allows overnight parking for RVs across the highway in the beach parking lot, I want to say it was a $5 fee. This is an area with a history of abalone fishing, and you can still catch them here for non commercial use. Being a rocky beach rather than sandy, the shells wash up and are easily found during low tide.

The main campground has a sanitary dump station and potable water, the beach parking lot has vault toilets.

This campground is in a lush forest right next to the beach. What more could you want?

The beach is a stellar fishing spot or perfect for collecting shells or building driftwood shacks. This place is cold year round so dress in layers.Restrooms were clean. Firewood available at the entrance kiosk, which is a hell of a hike up a hill so drive there. Go for the highest number sites. The Pygmy forest trail is worthwhile and very accessible for all abilities.

In my opinion, the upper loop is a more legit campout setting. We loved the space and the trees. The reason why i wont give it 5 stars is the fact that, although the kiosk claimed the whole upper loop was booked after our first day, it was not true for the days we were staying. We were leaving the day this ginormous group was arriving so we were pretty disappointed that we couldnt have a site when clearly it was not occupied.

Another reason I wont give it 5 stars is because the website claimed they dont do reservations but the whole upper loop was reserved...? We were staying Mon-Thu and just wanted to lock it in. It was frustrating.

Other than that, the workers were friendly. They delivered firewood on a daily basis. We had a great time. It was super that the ocean was right across the street. I loved hearing the waves at night and seals in the morning!

i recommend it but its tricky/I need a better understanding of how to reserve ahead of time.

Lush and moist campground with large banana slugs. Helpful park rangers.  Bike and hike area includes table and fire pit. Near cute little towns and the ocean.  Lots of vehicle traffic on weekends.

This campground is across the street from the coastal beach and just south of Fort Bragg, CA.

Reservations can be made and are a good idea as this is a very popular campground. There are bathrooms with flush toilets and paid showers. Plenty of hiking or biking can be down through the pygmy forest. Coastal fishing can also be done nearby. It is cold year-round, so come prepared for wet, coastal weather.

Sites include a food storage cabinet, table, and fire pit. The campground is a short walk from the beach and there are plenty of nearby cities for food or other forgotten essentials.

Inner sites on a meadow have lots of space! Outer sites are in a more wooded landscape. Campground can be foggy in summer months, but is very close to the beach where ocean kayaking is common. Only a few minutes away from Mendocino. Bathrooms have flush toilets and showers are available!

My family and I stayed here once on a road trip to California. We like to play each day by ear which can sometimes become challenging when it’s time to find a place to stay for the night, relying on last minute availability. The night we stayed here was the most difficult we ever had finding a campsite, but we got lucky with a well-timed, last minute cancellation just as we were checking to see if they had any openings. The car just before us had checked for openings and had just been turned away. When we pulled up the ranger took a call canceling one of their best tent sites for the night. So lucky!

The campground is incredibly beautiful, wooded, cool and fresh. The campground sits in a deep narrow valley of trees with a stream running through just across highway 1 from a beach. The bathrooms are good and clean. There’s an amphitheater where we were able to see a ranger/scientist presentation on sea birds of California. Lucky, lucky, lucky.

We had dinner in nearby Mendocino - which is a cute, small town on the coast which attracts many tourists. The town has a rich history and some mystique with the local freemasonry statue “Time and the Maiden” statue which looks down over the town.

The next morning the Ranger suggested we check out a nearby Pygmy Tree Forest as a point of interest it was pretty cool and definitely worth checking out.

I would stay here again in a heartbeat. It’s like an oasis of cool and fresh in the hot August of California. The coast is breathtaking and the local sights are not to be missed.

This campsite was lovely. We were in site 4 across from the visitor center, grassy with half shade half sun, lovely new food storage box, super friendly camp host and rangers, super easy beach access with dogs allowed on the beach.

Showers were $1 for 5 minutes, private and very clean. Could have used a hook or two but otherwise very nice.

Mendocino was super cute right up the road, if expensive. Be prepared, not a lot of choices to stop for supplies after fort bragg.

We were not able to camp at Mackerricher as planned, so we pulled into Van Damme. Beautiful little beach and woodsy, shady campsites. The downside for us was that dogs were restricted on trails, so we had limited hiking opportunities available to us.

Took a youth group to Van Damme for a few nights and grabbed the group camp site. Had a huge fire ring, a nice large group grill and multiple tables/food storage boxes. There was plenty of shade and open spaces for tents to be covered or uncovered. And still a ton of room to run around.

The bathrooms were pretty close, and the family sites looked nice but a little too tight for my liking. Weather was in the 60s for highs and low 40s for lows. The beach was across the highway which is a big reason why I took a star off.

Really enjoyed our short camping trip here! The sites were nice, the bathrooms clean, and the scenery amazing. The beach was a fun spot to watch the sunset. Who wouldnt love camping in the redwoods with a couple fun hikes to check out?!?

This is a beautiful campground in a beautiful section of the CA coast. I camped here with a class of soil scientists here to study the unique soils of the nearby ecological staircase. It was overcast and a bit drizzly, but still quite comfortable. The temperatures were nice and cool – great for summer! We stayed at the group site which was in an incredible spot, secluded near the creek with a large meadow like field. There were bathrooms nearby, all clean. The park had a few trails though I did not use them. The cell service was also terrible though I suppose most people don’t camp expecting it to be great. This campground was close to Mendocino which has beautiful views and beaches and ample shopping and dining. The beach at the park is really nice. We went for a quick swim despite the cold temps of the Pacific. The beach is walking distance from the camp. Overall this is a great spot and I would definitely recommend it for everyone! Though I would plan ahead and make reservations early as is it quite popular.