Such a great spot! Several small camp loops along the river. Each offers different amenities. We were in the arroyo hondo loop and it was primitive camping…no water acces, no power, pit toilet. There are showers and potable water at the second camp loop on the road( less than a mile away.). The leaves were turning, we could walk down to the river right from our campsite, we could see a million stars at night, and we loved our time there.
No cell service for several miles near this canyon so plan accordingly.
We were visiting Santa Fe so wanted access to town. the main camp loop was very tight and seemed hard to maneuver. There was an additional RV loop with about 8 sites. We got a site in the RV loop. It's right along the road and there was traffic pretty late and early, otherwise though the loop quite. Pit toilet. Electric hook ups. No potable water in RV loop. A couple of Beautiful hikes.
We had been driving all day and this campground is one of few campgrounds in the area. So it served us well. We just stayed one night, didn't seem like much to do in the area. 10 miles from town. Power and non-power sites. One loop of the campground was closed when we were there.
We stayed 2 nights and wanted to stay a third. It was awesome to be so close to the ocean and be able to walk down to the beach. There were big groups on both sides of us, but that was just because we didn't notice how close our site was to the group site. There are bushes in between every site though so it really creates a lot of privacy. Hot showers, close to a grocery store and other conveniences. Carlsbad is also an adorable little town!
We loved the location of Ryan campground and also that it was smaller than some of the other loops. It was mostly quiet and the views of both rocks and Joshua Trees was great and it was easy to access any point in the park.
absolutely beautiful! but so buggy! the campground was also really tight--narrow road going through the campground and sites close together, however there were trees in between spots that provided some privacy. The check in process was all annoying---we had a reservation but couldn't choose our spot until we go there there and then had to drive back to the ranger station to find out which ones were available. It all seemed odd. but, there were some great trails all around the campground that led to some beautiful spots.
We planned to camp someplace else but didn't have reservations and decided to keep driving, so we ended up at Nehalem State Park. We loved it! From the staff member at the entrance station, to the view at the beach, to the actual campsites….it was all perfect for us. We wished we were staying for more than one night!