Howonquet Village and Resort, near Smith River, California, is a unique campground that offers a blend of rustic charm and coastal beauty. With a mix of RV and tent sites, it’s a place where you can kick back and enjoy the fresh ocean air while being close to the mouth of the Smith River.

The campground features clean facilities, including bathrooms and showers, which visitors have appreciated. Many campers have enjoyed the waterfront sites, where you can soak in stunning views and even grill up some fresh salmon caught nearby. As one happy camper noted, “Camping right above the water was pretty damn nice.”

For those who love a bit of adventure, the area is perfect for exploring the beach and river, with plenty of wildlife to spot, including otters and sea lions. The campground has a friendly vibe, and the staff is known for being helpful, making it a welcoming place for both families and solo travelers. 

While some areas may feel a bit worn, the unique character of Howonquet Village and Resort, with its quirky surroundings and peaceful atmosphere, makes it a memorable spot for your next camping trip.

Howonquet Village and Resort formerly (Ship Ashore and Salmon Harbor Resorts) Is proud to announce the commencement
of a visioning process to restore this beautiful
destination resort.

Howonquet (Xaa-wan'-k'wvt) Village and Resort

Looking for the best campgrounds near Smith River, CA? Discover secluded campsites where you can reconnect with nature. Or maybe you like to bring your family and friends along. Either way, there are Smith River campgrounds just for you. Find the best campgrounds near Smith River, CA. Read helpful reviews and tips to find the perfect camping option for you and your crew.

Smith River

The Best Camping Near Smith River, California

This place has been chang name in : Howonquet Village and Resort. They hes few RV places with fool hookups and nice ocean front.

This campground has change his name in : Howonquet Village and Resorts.  Has mobil houses for rent and few RV spats with ocean views. They olso, accepting PA for one day, $ 25. They olso have fool hookups! Not fancy,  but very nice ocean view and nice sunset. 

Friendly staff and super dog friendly. $25 without hookups. Don’t book online, just show up. Tons of space. Office open until 8. Security there until 10. Had entire boondock area to ourselves. Place is old and probably used to be really cool back in the day...dilapidated and abandoned 1950s hotel and restaurant on site. Other side of park is a trailer park. Area’s seen better days but they maintain the grounds and keep things clean. 

Last minute stop

A little worn but worth the stop. The front desk went out of their way to be helpful

Worth the stay

I have a beautiful, fully remodeled 1991 Winnebago Micro-Minnie Warrior. This site has a 20 year old RV rule. Any site that won't let my RV book gets a 1 Star review.

20 year old RV Rule! Can't stay here. :-E

This run down little campground is one of our favorites. It’s split into two sides: 1 side is the regular tightly packed RV park with full hookups and an age limitation of 20 years for your RV. Next to the RV park is a small cute mobile home community, as well as some rental units that were under construction when we were there in the summer. On the other side of the mobile homes is the boondock/ tent side. There are water spigots at each site, some dilapidated wobbly picnic tables that are barely standing, and some rocks formed into a small makeshift fire pit. There are also showers and toilets on this side. The whole boondock side looks like an abandoned drive-in movie theater. Add to that the super friendly staff and the old hotel and restaurant that are closed and abandoned and look haunted, and you have such a unique and oddly charming place to stay. 

  

Smaller RVs have the option of staying in one of several waterfront sites, which are tucked away from the main areas and are out almost on the beach. Sadly, our 26ft Class C is too big to camp in one of those sites. 

  

The RV park side is expensive, at approx $55/night, but they offer a Passport America discount at 50% off for one night. The laundry and showers are clean. There is a community room with a great water view and there’s also a book exchange in the room. The boondock side is around $27/night, not cheap, especially considering the lack of amenities, but we love it anyway. We love the boondock side much more than the RV park side. It’s generally deserted, plenty of space all around you, and it’s so quiet and peaceful. The beach is a short walk away, and you can walk all the way along the beach along the Smith River to where it meets the ocean. There is an amazing amount of wildlife and tide pools here. We saw so many otters, sea lions, osprey, pelicans, and even a herd of elk one early morning. 

  

Cell service is good here, and the park’s wifi (on the RV park side) wasn’t bad. There are trash dumpsters throughout the park and one large mixed recycling bin near the entrance.  You can also get propane here.

Hidden Gem / Not For Everyone

Some friends of ours stay here a couple of months each summer to fish and enjoy the ocean weather. 

Despite new ownership supposedly going through a renovation process, this is a very old and tired looking rv park.  You have to drive through permanent trailers and mobile homes to get to the over night areas.  Spaces are tight and crowded when we were there. Bathrooms and showers however were surprisingly clean and well maintained.  

The light at the end of the tunnel is about a half dozen still usable spots at the very end, away from the main rv area, and right along the mouth of Smith River.  Rough.  Ours was not level at all and was tricky to get ourselves situated even with our little 16’ travel trailer.  No sewer hook ups on these sites but the electricity and water worked.  Also lots of foot traffic as many people make their way down from the main rv sites (and mobile home park?) to enjoy fishing and walking on the beach.  But camping right above the water was pretty damn nice.  Fresh ocean air, river otters, seals, birds, and we grilled fresh salmon our buddy caught just a couple hundred away from our campsite.  Turned out to be a nice 3 days and as long as we can get the spot on the water again, we would come back.  

Old and tired with surprisingly nice sites by the water

Cute desolate campground close to river. Abandoned hotel and shipwreck. Quaint walk along shore through blackberry bushes to harvest driftwood for fire, they do not sell firewood. Bathroom shower code 1120

Desolate beach 

Based on the roadside views, this park looks more like an old mobile home park then an RVpark or campground. Glad we didn’t book at this time as it looked sketchy at best to us. Here’s hoping they do a little upgrading at some point to make it more roadside appealing. This is why I won’t book campgrounds that don’t have pics on this app. 

Photos of Howonquet (Xaa-wan'-k'wvt) Village and Resort

Real photos from real campers