Large water district camping outside Ojai Ca. Full hook ups at most sites. $50 a night plus extra for tow vehicle. 8 areas to to choose from. Water park in summer, disc golf, fishing, boating, home of the ‘84 Olympic rowing competition. Gates close at 10 pm and had to park outside when I didn’t get back in time and walk in. Dirt and grass sites depending on where you choose. Many amenities

Stayed here a week with views of the Channel Islands, seals, sea lions, whales, and dolphins. Along  frontage road next to US 1/101 outside Ventura. No hook ups but trucks come by offering sewer/ water services. Wood trucks also come by. First come first served $32 per night. Beach just feet away and I had seals right below my rig.

Beautiful beach side campground where you can put your wheels right over the sand Maybe even get ocean spray on your windows. $50 a night with no hook ups. Between the freeway/ rail road tracks and the ocean with a great long bike path adjacent running from Ventura to Santa Barbara and beyond.

The campground was very basic with just hookups but the view and beach were beautiful! As a bonus we saw a baby sealion on the beach one morning!

In the summer it is pretty hard to get a reservation as well. It's a good places for campers/rvs. It gets pretty windy. There isn't much shade. Sites don't offer much privacy and are close together. But you drive up to your site on the beach, so that's kinda cool. There is a bathroom. I don't think this is as nice as others on the road.

This campground is very touristy and not very private. There is no shade, it's mostly for RV sites, you can put a tent up, but like everywhere else beach camping I would advise a trailer or something. It gets very windy and sand gets everywhere! It is also very near a train track! It is an absolutely gorgeous beach, I can see why it gets popular. Its also quite expensive. There are well maintained bathrooms, with coin operated showers. The stars are amazing at this beach.

It's a nice campground with a little store. As with all Santa Barbara county, coastal campgrounds there is little shade. This is a campground for surfers! If you surf this is where you want to be. Coin operated showers, nice bathrooms, indoor and outdoor showers. This is a very accessible campground with great views. Just a ton of wind.

This is very close to the Ocean and the train, and the highway. It can be quite noisy. The best thing about this campground Is the wildlife. Hundreds of birds, seals, dolphins, and sometimes whales. There are a very few great sites, with shade and grass, the rest of the sites don't have much shade. No fire pits. This area gets pretty windy so I would recommend a trailer rather than a tent. Bathrooms are clean.

We drove by looking for a campsite close to the beach. It is close, and there is mountains to look at. It is a field with a parking lot that you can pitch a tent or park your rv. It's also expensive. There is no shade, there is nothing appealing about it. Right off the highway as well.

As with many southern California lakes, there is no human contact with the water due to it being a reclamation center. Unlike many other southern California lakes, this one has a pool!

The bathrooms are well maintained and there are flush toilets and coin operated showers. Each site has a picnic table and fire ring. I tent camped, like always, but they have cabins, yurts and rv spots. The guys enjoyed the fishing.

I still have a problem paying $25+ for a place in the dirt, but families love it.

Bring your bathing suits. Watch the tar.

I thought it would be quiet, being a holiday weekend. It was far from quiet. There were Porta potties and the camp site's were not large. There was a family reunion or something with many sites taken by the family. Pa systems and loud mariachi music, kids screaming.

Im sure if I had gone on another weekend it would have been fine. The boat rentals were reasonable, the lake is nice.

Very shady. If you go in the spring, there may be a creek that is close to the campground. They have bathrooms, picnic tables and fire rings.

We camped here with 10 adults and 8 kids. There is teepee yurt's. Very kid friendly with a zipline and play ground. All sites have fire rings and picnic tables. There are bathrooms.

Clean sites,good restrooms, kayaks, nature center, and well stocked store.

The campgrounds are amazing! They have showers, restrooms, running water, bbq pits or regular bonfire pits and enough space for at least 1-5 tents! The staff are super helpful and cool- just be cool with them.

I recently stayed at the lake as part of an “unofficial” anthro club trip and it was amazing! The sizes of the camp grounds were more than enough and the whole ambience was perfect!

My only complaint was the lack of water access- you can boat in the lake, kayak, paddle boat- but there is no human contact because of the water treatments. It bummed me out but it wasn’t a total killer. They have a near by store on the grounds but town is a cool 15-20 min away. Nice escape coming from LA.

The kayak launch was pretty easy to handle!

1st: It was expensive to stay.

2nd: Very loud. During the day it was difficult to conversate with my group of people or listen to any music at my campsite. The free way is right next to you. You can literally see the cars driving by. At night, it was so loud, it was difficult to sleep.

The only positive thing about my stay was the free Pancak breakfast in the morning. They served 2 pancakes to the adults and one for the kids. They aslo had fresh fruit, coffee and juice.

Small quaint BEAUTIFUL not extremely well known. And The Beach…

THE BEACH People.

It’s the best of all worlds. Camping,hiking,animal watching, fishing, Room enough to throw a frisbee or play catch

We fell in love with it in 1979 and never stop going back

E N J O Y

Thieves! I checked in here for an extended stay. It cost me $1800 a month for a spot 100 feet from the freeway. Half way through my first month the park flooded and evacuated. I asked the staff the day before if I should be concerned and was told no. The day of the flood they didn't call me for four hours after they were notified of the evacuation. By the time I got there I was in waist high water. I lost over a $1000 worth of gear and $2500 in damage to my coach. I couldn’t risk more damage so I moved moved out and they wouldn't even refund the rent for the last two weeks. Stay away if you're smart.! I’ll be seeing them in court.

Stayed in site 1. The closest flush toilets are closed but there are ones near the road that are nice. Spot 15 looks great and if I ever go back I’d try to get that one, but if you do stay there then it’s a honey hut that’s close-by. Didn’t check out the lower campground, but walked the main loop and there’s some great views of the valley and the stars. It was nice having two big tables in our spot and a water spigot was close by. There’s some road noise, but otherwise it was peaceful in the winter. There’s a day use area that I imagine gets more attention in the summer. Cell service was great for ATT (cell tower near-by). Check out The Summit drive in a few miles up the road for a tasty burger :)

Hiked from Scorpion Harbor cross-island to Del Norte Camp, great way to see the island. Camped at site 1, had the most wind but also the best views of the ocean. Food storage locker provided to protect food from sneaky foxes. No water anywhere near the campsite. About 4 miles from Prisoners Harbor ferry landing. Shared the campground with one other group. Only 4 campsites total. Great place to camp for solitude.

We stayed in the primitive campsite area. Was nice and clean even sites. Had some portable toilets with in walking distance. Rented a boat at the marina and was warm all night in the summer

Took my Gf here for her first camping trip was really nice with clean restrooms. Sites are relatively spaced out. Easy walking distance to some beautiful beaches and Bike trails

Love this campground! We were the only ones here during our stay. Many spots and group sites available. Toilets only

Great campground! Set up your tent right on the sand. I woke up and opened my tent to see dolphins playing in the water. Picnic table and fire pit at each site.

Carpinteria State Beach Campground is a one of our frequently visited “staycation” spots. We live in nearby Santa Barbara, but will use Carp State Beach as a midway meeting point when friends from Southern California and Central California meet up.

The campground is pretty large, and caters mostly to RVs and trailers. There are loops within the campground that are essentially just asphalt lots with small dirt spaces for fire pits and picnic benches - these are intended for RV campers, but we have tent camped there in a pinch. Since we are tent campers we do prefer to camp in the grassy tent sites, but they are limited in number and tend fill up quickly. Because of the moderate year-round weather, Carpinteria State Beach Campground stays pretty full all year long!

The campground has full hook ups, clean plumed bathrooms, and coin-operated showers. There are grocery stores and conscience stores within short walking distance for anything you might need. Train tracks run directly behind the campground, so there is some noise pollution from the passing trains.

The campground is at the very end of downtown Carpinteria, right next to the ocean. There are no “ocean front” sites, but the beach is a quick 1-minute walk from essentially anywhere in the campground. Some small sandy dunes separate the campground from the beach, and there is an accessible paved boardwalk running along the length of the dunes. There are beautiful tide pools just south of Carpinteria State Beach Campground that are a must see. Check the tide charts on the internet to visit the tide pools at low to mid tide.

While we really enjoy camp cooking, we tend to opt to walk into town to eat when camping in Carpinteria. Linden Avenue is right next to the campground, and is the main street in downtown Carpinteria. There is a wide variety of restaurants, breweries and coffee shops downtown. Island Brewery CO is a local favorite just on the edge of the campground - while I don’t think they have food available (yet), their beer is GREAT! Their avocado beer is a must try - I know it sounds weird, but it’s delicious (and doesn’t taste like avocados)! Rincon Brewery is a few blocks up from the campground, and also has great beer, and TASTY FOOD!

CAMPSITE SPECS

Fees: $45/night (normal campsite)

Plumbed Toilets: Yes

Drinking Water: Yes

Showers: Yes (coin-operated)

Picnic Table: Yes

Firepit: Yes

Cooking Grate: Yes

Shade: No

Cell Service: Yes

Animal Bins/Food lockers: No

Trash: Yes

I am a native of Santa Barbara, CA, so I grew up going to Cachuma Lake. Cachuma Lake’s main recreational area is on a bluff overlooking the lake. There you can find tent sites, yurts, cabins, and full hookups for RVs. There are also smaller campgrounds at lake level - we prefer to stay in the Mohawk Shores campground, which is at lake level. The Mohawk Shores campsites are in a more densely packed oak grove, offering more shade and more privacy than the upper-level campgrounds. A few years ago they started pricing the “lakeside” sites in Mohawk more expensively than the rest of the sites in the area; ironic though, since the lake has been so empty the last few years due to the drought, and these sites are no longer lakeside.

The campsites each have their own picnic table and firepit with a grate, and water spigots are available in various places around the campground. Mohawk has its own bathroom with flushable toilets and coin-operated showers - the bathrooms and showers are kept clean. I prefer to shower in the showers located in the upper-level campgrounds, as they are in their own individual, lockable stalls, rather than the locker-room type set up in the bathroom in Mohawk. There are multiple dumpsters available for trash AND recycling around all of the campgrounds.

Caution: There is a lot of poison oak around the park!

We have rented a yurt a couple times, and hope to do so again soon. The yurts have bunk beds inside (bring your own bedding!), an overhead light, and a heater. Outside each yurt is a picnic table, charcoal barbeque, a firepit, and a water spigot.

We will often bring an easy-up to use in the day-camp areas in the upper-level of the park. There are oak trees all over the park, but if day use site with a table under a tree gets snagged, it’s nice to have the easy-up for shade - if you have one, I would recommend bringing an easy-up if you are going to camp in the upper level campgrounds, not all of the sites have shade.

A small but well-stocked general store is available, as well a small (expensive) gas station. Cachuma also has a pool (for an additional fee), gameroom, playgrounds/jungle-gyms, and disc golf courses available.

Cachuma Lake is a great place for wildlife viewing and birding. I am a photographer, and love seeing all of the birds that hang out around Cachuma - ducks, coots, Western and Clark’s grebes, loons, osprey, hawks, turkey vultures, turkeys, quail, American white pelicans, cormorants, etc. I have gotten my best birding photos at Cachuma Lake. Deer can often be viewed on the shores of the lake, and we have even seen bobcats and foxes. Pontoon boat tours to view wildlife launch every day from the marina.

Keep in mind that you CANNOT SWIM in Cachuma Lake. Silly, I know, but they justify it because Cachuma lake is Santa Barbara’s drinking water source. You are allowed to boat, kayak, and fish on the lake, but no swimming! Motor boats and pontoon boats are available to rent, and now they even have kayaks to rent hourly! My dad has a small 14 ft fishing boat, and we enjoy taking the boat out on the lake to fish and sightsee.

There are endless trails around Cachuma Lake in Los Padres National Forest. There are some mellow hikes around the perimeter of the lake itself, offering nice views of the lake and the surrounding Santa Ynez and San Rafael mountains.

Figueroa Mountain is near Los Olivos - Grass Mountain and Figueroa Mountain are both beautiful hikes, especially in the spring when the wild flowers are in bloom. Both are strenuous, steep hikes, but the views are totally worth the effort.

Cachuma lake is about a half an hour from the city of Santa Barbara, 15 minutes away from Santa Ynez (if you like to gamble check out the Chumash Casino), 20 minutes away from Solvang, and 20 minutes away from Los Olivos. There is fantastic wine tasting available in any of these small towns, and everywhere in between - you are in the heart of Santa Barbara’s wine country! There are endless tasting rooms available inside the towns, and countless vineyards that you can visit to wine taste. A popular wine trail is on Foxen Canyon Road - it is a lovely drive on a country road with some really beautiful and quality wineries and vineyards.

Solvang is a fun town to visit - it was originally a community full of Danish immigrants, so the Danish theme has stuck. It is very touristy, but even as a native, I still enjoy going to Solvang. There are a lot of shops, antiques, candy stores, restaurants and tasting rooms to visit. We are partial to the Solvang Restaurant, and for more than just their Danish Aebleskivers. If you don’t know what an aebleskiver is - its DELICIOUS. Aebleskivers are round Danish pancakes that are shaped like a ball - they serve them with amazing homemade raspberry jam and powdered sugar. Everything at the Solvang Restaurant is good, from their traditional breakfasts to their Scandinavian offerings to their sandwiches.

More Food Recommendations:

Cold Springs Tavern is a historic site dating back to the 1880s when it was a stagecoach stop. Cold Springs Tavern has a full bar and serves some quality meat selections, including famous Santa Barbara style tri-tip. If you are there on a Sunday, they start serving traditional tri-tip sandwiches around 11am - BEST tri-tip sandwiches around! They cook up the meat on giant barbeques outside, and serve the sandwiches hot off the grill - just tri-tip and fresh garlic bread, YUM. They have homemade salsa and homemade BBQ sauce to dress the sandwich with. Sundays at Cold Springs Tavern is a popular spot for locals to go have a beer or a drink with tri-tip, and there’s always a fun atmosphere.

If you are in the mood for some quality Mexican food, Dos Carlitos in Santa Ynez is a favorite spot.

Los Olivos Grocery has a great deli with delicious sandwiches - both hot and cold - and a good selection tasty deli side dishes. The store also has a good selection of local wines.

CAMPSITE SPECS

Fees: $30/night

**Plumbed Toilets: Yes

**Drinking Water: Yes

**Showers: Yes (coins needed)

**Picnic Table: Yes

**Firepit: Yes

**Cooking Grate: Yes

**Shade: Yes

**Cell Service: Yes - Limited

Animal Bins/Food Lockers: No

Trash: Yes

Great spot to stop along the coast hwy with ocean front views for the RV. A little tricky to find but just keep heading toward the beach and you’ll find it.

Nice campsite right on the beach with a little point break surf spot just at the end of the cove. Came down here to surf Rincon and ended up surfing this little point for most of the trip.

The site was pretty nice, but boy can it get windy! In the middle of the night our tent got completely blown over with us in it! More funny than anything else, but a little maddening in the middle of the night.

Easy beach access, Unique beach with train tracks running above it,.Very smelly due to all the dead sea plants piled on beach. Pier closed and probably will never open since California like to use their money for welfare. All the grass is dead so lots of dust. No site privacy all crammed into a very small park. No hook-ups or dump. Water available. Bathrooms OK. Small store at park. entrance was hard to find. I missed it and had to drive a few miles up highway to turn around. Tent campers literally 5 ft from RV. Weather ok. not much shade.