Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Oxnard, CA

Everything‘s clean and orderly. Pool area is nice with a nice hot tub. Friendly staff and the grounds are well kept. Nice dog park. Not much road noise from the 101. Has all the modern conveniences. And all this comes with a price. It is pricey, but there’s a lot of amenities.

Just to be clear, I love lake Casitas. I grew up camping here with my family. The reason I’m writing this review is to warn pet owners about the abundance of foxtails and burs. We have 2 poodle mixes with med-long hair and they both ended up with their fur filled with burs and foxtails. So much that it required a vet visit. This was from a weekend camp in our RV that had a large rug and they have raised dog cots.

Hardly anyone there when I went in March and felt like I had the place to myself! Hot showers and picnic table available. Just a 1 min walk down the hill to the lake - a perfect place to have my morning coffee! They allowed pets which is awesome. Super quiet, lots of stars, and a beautiful view. Couldn’t ask for better!

Even though you are lined up next to your neighbors, noise just doesn’t carry because the roar of the ocean is so loud! It’s amazing to fall asleep to. We loved exploring the sand dunes across the street and even saw a pod of dolphins! Restrooms were well maintained and staff was friendly. A huge bonus is that it was pet friendly, but most of the trails around are not.

Casitas Lake near Ojai in Ventura County has something for everyone, especially parents with children off from school in the summertime. The campgrounds are spacious and clean and there are at least six different types from basic tent on dirt all the way up to executive motorhome with all hook ups. Prices vary from 35 to 55$ for tents on dirt to 65-75$ for RVs with hook ups.There is also a charge for a vehicle, boat, pet, etc. The highlight for families though is the waterpark. Open during the summer, it’s perfect for the younger kids when it’s hot.Always check current Covid restrictions as most water parks are closed.

This is a very nice campground near everything but still away from it all. No issues parking our 42' 5th wheel here. Clean and quiet despite the peacocks. They can be rather loud when startled. I swear they could hear my morning alarm and squawked their disapproval. The camp host Shawn is AMAZING! Bathrooms are very clean. Showers are coin operated. DO NOT expect cell service. I could only work from this spot by placing my mobile HomeFi router on top of the camper. Our Verizon phones were paper weights. Make sure your reservations are complete online before arriving. The Rangers check the spots multiple times a week. The kids enjoyed the playground and fields. It's not uncommon to see and hear movie/TV production crews at the filming locations along the road. Pet friendly but be careful at night. Mountain lions were spotted while there.

Campground Review:

This would be the most epic campground ever for a huge family reunion! There is something for everyone here- RV sites, tent sites, cabins, yurts, even big group sites. There are tent sites overlooking Lake Cachuma, and tent sites in the shady grass, and almost everything in between. There's a dog park, and playgrounds, and a pool (since you can't swim in the lake because it's drinking water... which was strange to us as Utahns when all reservoirs are drinking water and we still swim in them), and a general store! There are close to 200 sites here, which is mind-boggling to me. It was an awesome campground, and we were cooking up plans for a someday party (be it friends or family) there.

The restrooms are plentiful and clean, the quiet hours are well observed (though that may have had more to do with the fact that the campground was pretty empty while we were there), and the facilities are reasonably easy to navigate. Every employee we interacted with was helpful and professional. We rented kayaks for several hours while we were there and it was a blast! This place is a perfect little getaway a super reasonable distance from Santa Barbara and the surrounding areas.

My only complaints were mostly about the tent sites. Some of them are a little too smashed together with unclear boundaries, and the footing consisted of kind of icky weeds. I know, it's me being absurdly nitpicky. But I can't give EVERY campground 5 stars... right..?

Product Review:

As Rangers for The Dyrt, we get products to test from time to time, and at Lake Cachuma we tested out some Optic Nerve sunglasses. We used them throughout our trip, but they came in especially handy while kayaking! The morning started out a little cloudy so we were worried that we wouldn't get a real opportunity to use them, but the sun eventually came out and the sunglasses were PERFECT. The pairs we got were polarized, which was great for cutting glare from the water (as well as driving throughout our whole road trip. The sunglasses were comfortable and seemed high quality, which was great considering they're nowhere near as spendy as some of the high-end brands of sunglasses. I'll admit I was too much of a wuss to see if they'd float in the lake, but they were awesome for keeping our eyes safe and protected (from the sun and from splashes)! If I had to have any gripe it would be that the wood grain print on the sunglasses I got (which I love) is pretty pixelated up close- completely a non-issue that only affects aesthetics, but might look better with a higher resolution for future printings.

Pro Tip for Hungry Adventurers: DO NOT MISS Cold Spring Tavern just up the highway from Lake Cachuma. Delicious food, atmosphere that is simply out of this world, and a gorgeous setting. Seriously. Don't miss it. And if you live in Santa Barbara and you've never been... GO. NOW. You won't regret it.

  This is one of our favorite spots, incredible ocean views and 1 1/2 mile dog friendly beach. Each site, along old PCH, is 45' long. Spots along the seawall can accommodate bigger rigs. Added bonus @ nearby Hobson Beach is their great pizza & calzone. At the southern end is Faria Beach with excellent homemade coffee cake. Our dog Libbi's favorite camping spot.

Campground has three separate site loops with about 90 Dry Camp camp locations. Water spigots are available in some areas, but not for permanent hookup. I was here in November and it was pretty empty except for the weekend. Some people changed their minds about camping as often in California, there is high risk of fire and no campfires or BBQ's were allowed.

Common areas and every other site was closed due to Covid restrictions. Camp host was very friendly. Some nice hills for hiking and Pyramid lake was close by, paid access to the lake was not included in campground fees.

Restrooms are available and cleaned daily.

I enjoyed my stay here and there was plenty of room for walking my dogs.

Got a great ADA campsite for my sweetie and I w our 2 little dogs. First night unobstructed views of sunset over the ocean. Decided to stay a few more nights. Beach is fantastic, but no dogs allowed so we will jave to travel for that, makes me very sad.

All in all we like this campsite and will return. Our experience was fantastic mostly because the campground was empty (only campers Friday night, 2 other sites filled Saturday).  Views from upper campsites are beautiful (we stayed in site #14), and on a full moon the sound of coyotes cackling throughout the valley is a nice way to fall asleep.

For our purposes:

• Dog Friendly: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
• Toddler Friendly: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
• Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Pros:

• Beautiful views
• Not crowded 
• Dog Friendly
• Play area for kids
• Clean bathrooms (portable bathrooms in some parts of campground)
• Friendly rangers

Cons:

• Water spigots are available but inconvenient for most sites.
• Terrain is uneven for tent pads in many sites
• No good dog friendly hikes directly accessible from camp ground (lots within a short drive)
• Our site was poorly maintained. Broken glass all over, broken fire pit, lots of scattered branches.
• Little bit of road noise, not too bad though.

This is a very beautiful area, tons of hiking and even some swimming areas that can be hiked to. Lost of filming has been done here, and there’s some cool landmarks to see. Always check before hand if the grounds are open, on occasion I have gone and they’ve had it closed. Also something to be aware of, they do not allow dogs, big bummer. Years ago, I saw dogs in the park, but the last time I went, they were not even allowed in. Otherwise it’s a very pretty place.

Carpinteria SB is one of our favorite places to camp.  Anacapa and Santa Cruz sections are all dry camping and larger sites.  The other two sections have hook up sites but the sites are very tight.  Anacapa section is right next to a large grassy area and park.  We like to take our dog to play fetch there and we take out daughter to the park at least a few times a day.  Dogs are allowed in the campground but not on the beach, so the grassy area by the park is a great alternative if your dog has a lot of energy.  The town of Carpinteria is super cute with lots of shops and restaurants to walk to.  Island Brewery is walking distance.  They usually have a food truck in the later afternoons and also have a little kids room with toys to keep the kids busy :-)

I would say the only downfall is the train is right next to the campground and it does go by multiple times a day/night