Great spot to go if everything else is full which it was, first time we've ever headed to the coast with no reservations in an act of "spontaneity" or "adventure". I advise against doing that in the summer, lol.
Key Points:
- Bring Cash. Cash only.
- First come first serve.
- We got conflicting rate info from another source, it is $25 a night.
- Firewood is $5 a bundle but it is much more than you normally get for $5 at other campgrounds; it's a plastic tub that you just stuff with wood.
- Ice available $2/bag.
- Hot showers are 50 cents for three minutes. Shower area is kept clean and fresh smelling, restrooms are gender specific and each have two toilets and a shower stall.
- There was no check out time as long as we didn't stay another full night.
- Traffic noise is moderate, you are near the hospital so you may hear sirens which then trigger the coyotes to get in a yelling match with each other.
- Dog friendly, lots of dogs, on-leash only but lots of 'em.
- Mixture of sites with shade and full sun, not level but you're not sleeping on slope either.
- Close to town so getting extra marshmallows is easy.
For an RV oriented place, the campgrounds are pretty okay. There aren't site numbers or designators, it's just pretty much anywhere on the grass that has a picnic table. There were at least a dozen sites that we could see and we got the impression that you could really pitch a tent anywhere as long as you didn't try to move the fire rings or disturb the RV folks, we were literally instructed "just stay on the grass".
There is definitely a mixture of long-time residents and short term weekend warriors in the RVs themselves which I always find interesting. In one site we had a family in a rental RV rolling in from Cali and in another site, there was a shirtless old man playing with bubbles and blasting Spanish opera music. If you use the expression "variety is the spice of life" then you might enjoy it here. If camping alongside folks who live in their older RVs 24/7/365 makes you uncomfortable, then this won't be the place for you. There is a Harley riding resident who seems to make a lot of motorcycle trips in the day but not late into the night and not early AM, everything was peaceful and quiet by 10pm.
Additionally, if you are a camper that doesn't want nature too much in their face, this may not be the place for you either, there are a butt-ton of coyotes in the area and we had some stubborn garter snakes in the site that didn't seem fazed by us at all.
This fella did a great drone video of the grounds, you can get an idea of all the options for water play options with the river:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTkGoLyQv_g
Lots of fishing access though we didn't get a chance to try it, we could see 'em swimming which is always promising.
We will probably come back here if we have plans to kayak as it is easy, gentle access to the river and we know we'll have a basecamp and a hot shower (albeit a paid one) to paddle back to. Other than that, we'll probably only come here if Cannon is full.
