Elk Prairie Campground — Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park

Perfect spot right by so many incredible hikes. The campground is secluded and you aren’t on top of everyone which is nice.

Stayed near Thanksgiving. First day was absolutely beautiful. Second day — despite the weather forecast — had light rain all day and night.

Camp spaces are nicely marked, with a table, fire-pit, bear locker. Couldn’t buy firewood there despite what’s said in the literature.

Had a small cargo trailer and a free-standing canopy, so the rain wasn’t really an issue.

Because they do not have running water had to close

I try to go to different places. But this is my favorite place to camp. Always clean, most sites feel private, clean restrooms and showers. So many hikes right around the campsite. On the first Saturday of the month, Newton B Drury Pkwy is closed, and everyone rides their bikes up and down the Pkwy. You are guaranteed to see elk and moose.

I know that recreation.gov let you reserve the site. I know that it looks DELIGHTFUL on paper. Trust me though, unless you have a small class C or a van, or a TINY teardrop trailer, you're going to have a bad day parking your rig. Both entrances into the main loop are steep, narrow, and crooked. The sites are shorter than promised and challenging to back in to. All this for no water, no electrical. Fun! Oh, but the trails are nice...

Wonderful place to stay among the Redwoods if you don't mind being without hookups and love the all nature experience. Our site was right next to the creek!

What an amazing place to stay. It was a little chilly and wet from the rain. It was my first time camping in the rain but was still absolutely amazing. Pack for the colder weather if you’re visiting in April. There are a lot of banana slugs to see and mushrooms to find. The hikes throughout the redwoods are breathtaking. It was the perfect place to unplug from the world.

Very quiet! Would love to stay again in the summer.

[Internet. No Verizon or T-Mobile signal in the campground. You might get a blip by the park entrance but the park entrance also has a wifi station you can park near and use.]

PROS

→ Lots of sites on the creek! → Provides a wonderful outdoorsy camping experience. → On Fridays (and perhaps Saturdays too) you can walk to the visitor center and catch a ranger guided tour. → You are guaranteed many elk sightings. → The bathrooms and showers were clean.

CON

→ The showers are quarter operated at 25¢/minute. The water pressure is very low and the shower rooms are chilly. The water is warm. Not all showers have signage on how to operate the shower. Put a quarter in and pull the shower handle towards you.

4.5 stars - As always, the shower gets me. But as always, I mark 5-stars on my 4.5 star reviews since I believe it’s a great campground overall and don’t want my shower obsession to affect the rating at all.

—————————— [Rig. Mercedes Sprinter. 22 feet]

Dump station? - No Water fill? - No but there are water spigots Clean site? - Yes Clean bathroom? - Yes Flush toilet? - Yes Showers? - Yes but they are 25¢/minute Laundry? - No Dish washing sink? - No

We stayed at one of the hike into camp sites. The hike in isn't very far at all but it's separated with from the other campers that it creates a peaceful and private environment. There is a specific campsite that you can really hike into, that one is a 3 mile hike and you have to call ahead to reserve that space. But our little hike (a few hundred feet) was wonderful. The forest was so quiet and peaceful I've never experienced such a quiet forest. There were showers, bathrooms, lots of hiking spots, fire pits, near by pond for fishing, and a little cute town 20 min drive away. I will definitely be coming back to this camp site again.

We reserved the last site in the campground. It was great. Bathrooms were a little far away, but there was plenty of room. 4 family shower rooms. You can get creek side spots just below us. Hiked from camp. Saw elk in the prairie. Like someone else said, close to Fern Canyon.

Wonderful campground in the redwoods. Lots of good sites, mostly mostly in the northern loop. Plenty of hiking trails around and elk everywhere!! Fern canyon is just a short way up the road and a definite must hike!! We will be returning here often

I didn't expect there will be actual elk there. I woke up to bunch of elk in front of my tent! Beautiful hikes, nice camp host and camp spots are in nice wooded area, some are by the creek, lots of privacy.

Excellent facilities, stunning location, great hiking. Spot 20 is secluded, choose wisely here! One of the few sites I've wanted nothing more than just stay and hang.

Beautiful! Showers and bathrooms. Awesome spots to roam around and check out the site. Can’t see main road from site. Good amount of space between spots.

We camped spot 40 and would absolutely want it again!

I really love this campground, especially because of how lush all the plants are. Some sites back up to the small river running through the park, and the lush vegetation give some privacy which is a huge plus! This park has TONS of trails, you will certainly not run out of things to do. I did the ~8 mile hike to Fern Canyon in the rainy winter and it was beautiful. 

Star gazing in the clearing right before the campground is spectacular on clear nights, and the last time I was there a family of deer were grazing next to us while we stargazed. I have stayed here 2 times and each time I was very happy I did!

Nothing compares to camping out amongst Sequoias. It's a great site. Coin showers are little cold, but run the sink faucets until they're hot and then start your shower. Your neighbors will be very close, but the foliage makes you feel slightly secluded at night especially. Each site is compact for tent camping... You'll be able to fit two 4-person tents comfortably. Firewood is $10 per person. Access to some amazing redwoods hiking trails are a short walk through the grounds. I didn't have cell service at all. Bring walkies for the trails.

I love to return to this place.  It has campsites in a redwood forest along a small stream. And then there is a meadow in front where the elk come down to graze.  They have benches all around the meadow so you can watch the elk from a safe distance.

There are miles and miles of trails through old growth (and second growth) redwoods.

Magical. You can hike to the beach, pick up a section of the coastal trail, or simply visit different groves of redwoods.

It can be damp here - think beach and redwoods, so be prepared fro dampness.

Siate ahe typical tables, fire rings and food lockers. Clean rest room and coin showers as well.

You can strike out north to the mighty Klamath River, over the hill to the Fern Canyon or hang with the elk.

Long, sometime harrowing downhill to get to the park. Beautiful redwood grove with large campsites and a lot of space.  All the site I saw were under the redwoods so well shaded.  Have regular ameneties and all seemed well maintained.

We did a lot of hiking here - there are waterfalls and ponds to find.

Was here for 3 nights and couldn't have been better. weather is great with all the shade provided by the beautiful trees. Plenty of hiking!!

Easy shady campsites. Miles of trails and very easy to get to from most parts of the Bay Area.

the site was very secluded, slightly “hike-in” pretty close to the parking lot but not close enough to see headlights or hear too much from our site. lots of tall trees and bushes hiding away our little plot. great hikes and waterfalls, only issue was mosquitos ate us alive in July.

Campsite #9 and it was right by the bathroom but the site was spacious and waking up nestled amongst all those redwoods is just the best. Host was super nice and accommodating and the girls loved riding the scooters all around the campground. Slugs and meets all over the place . The mosquitoes drove us nuts so make sure you have candles and repellent!

This review is for the backpacking/trail camp area at Slate Creek in Portola Redwoods. Stayed here for a one-night intro to backpacking trip with my younger sister. The hike to the sites was very manageable, a great way to test out gear while also spending time in a lovely forest. Well maintained trails and brand-new food lockers at the sites. When we were there, there was only one other set of campers in the site next to ours--they were so quiet we hardly could tell they were there. This trail camp has a composting toilet which was well stocked with toilet paper, and Slate Creek is not a far walk to collect and filter water. We loved all the banana slugs and little calochortus wildflowers on our hike. The park's visitor center has great displays about the local flora and fauna.

Gorgeous redwoods nice trails stellar ble jays squeaking up a storm and plenty of beautiful trails to hike. Added bonus the camp spots aren’t too close to each other!

We questival'd here and it fulfilled all our needs. We loved it! Thanks guys

What a beautiful spot to camp. Roads are super curvy must drive slow. But worth the log drive there.

Fun times in the redwoods for #questival #cotopaxi

We stayed here for Cotopaxi and loved it

Great campground near some really run trails! Tiptoe Falls is a really easy walk - probably awesome for kids!

This place was really fun. I came this summer and it was really cool and shady. Got to stay at camp 43 and it was really awesome. We had a fire ring and picnic table at the location. We had a restroom which was really maintained about a 2 minute walk from the campsite. We got there around 5 in the evening and went to the visitor center. It turned out that dogs were not allowed in the visitor center. you do have to bring your own firewood because it is prohibited to collect wood here. The wood here is also pretty damp. The sun comes down at about 8 which is pretty late. A tip coming here is to wear clothing that covers your whole body and bring deet. The mosquitoes here are really annoying and ferocious. Other than that the site is actually pretty nice and there is a nice cool breeze at night. We got up the next morning and did the Peters creek loop which took us about 6 hours for 13 miles. I recommend this hike because you are really secluded in the wilderness.