Doran Regional Park

It sucks that so many people go here now. Allowing people to book so far in advance takes away from people trying to camp that have to travel from great distances that cannot risk arriving for the first come first serve spaces!!!

General: Located between Bodega Bay and Bodega Harbor, this county park has over 140 sites in four campgrounds: Shell, Gull, Cove, and Jetty. There is also tent camping, a group campsite, and a hiker/biker camping area. No hookups in any site. 

Site Quality: Each site has a picnic table and a fire ring. Sites all appeared to be level. Depending on your site, you may have more privacy/separation than in others. Site 21 (in Shell) was nicely positioned, however, the sites on either side of us were not occupied during our stay so we had more privacy. 

Bath/Shower: Self-contained units with a toilet and sink with soap, HOT water, and air dryer. One coin-operated shower house for Shell, Gull, and Cove campgrounds, located between Gull and Cove. Additional showers in the tent-only section and the Jetty campground. Generally clean. 

Activities: Hiking, fishing, birding, beachcombing, wading, and water sports. There was a very short boardwalk and sandy walking paths, although some of these were very overgrown. 

One thing I appreciated was propane cylinder recycling. We learned there is a program where select vendors will refill the small cylinders and we hope this becomes more readily available. This is a much larger county park campground than we have been in before and it was very busy when we were there on a weekday in late October. Nice but I prefer the smaller and quieter campgrounds.

This campground is lovely. Easy access to potable water. Helpful hosts. Access to both the cove and ocean. For us the downside is that we were surrounded by large RV’s, which is not our preference. After 8 when they generators turned off it was lovely.

If I returned to this campground my preferred spot would be 75 or 76 as they are private and have bay access.