Large sites with plenty of room for tents and all the other camping necessities. This site backs up into the hills and there are black bears that roam the area so be sure to prepare for that. The lake is full and lots of areas to fish.

The Aurora RV Park & Marina is a work in progress. I can see what they want to make this campground into, but the reality of what it’s currently status is makes it difficult to stay there. I did get to try a couple of the different blends of Nature’s Coffee Kettle while I was there. Unfortunately I did have to cut my trip short as there was a mandatory evacuation order put into place due to wild fires.

Campground Review

First off this park is designed for RV use, but the owners have converted a few spaces for tent camping. During my visit I stayed in a tent. I booked the site through booking.com and paid $22.00 a night.

The Good

Each site has its own water sipget and two electrical outlets that work well. There was plenty of space at the site to setup two 4-person tents. The site is at the North end of Clearlake and you have some pretty spectacular views all day long. There is a beautiful public BBQ sitting area right next to the private beach. You can use the canoes, kayaks, or paddle boat all free of charge and they provide life jackets. There park does provide WiFi at no additional cost and it worked reasonably well. The mangers there are very friendly and approachable. They checked on me multiple times to make sure everything was okay.

The Bad

At the time of my visit the campground was undergoing renovations. The office area where the bathrooms/showers, laundry room, and community lounge were all at some stage of construction. THe bathrooms were clean, but only one shower and toilet worked. There was no mirror in the bathroom during my stay. I could not for the life of me get the shower to spray warm water at all so I had a week of cold showers, which wasn’t too bad given how hot it was. I did report this to the mangers, but the issue never got resolved. For tent camping the site were too close together and no picnic table was provided at the space I was at. If I had booked through AirB&B I would have been in a different area that had a picnic table.

Product Review

As a Ranger for The Dyrt, I get to test products in the field. At The Aurora RV Park & Marina, I tested two different blends of Nature’s Coffee Kettle. I tried the Colombian and Sumatra blend. Overall I would give this product a 4 out a 5 stars.

What I liked about camping with the Nature’s Coffee Kettle:

• Portable and easy to pack. It takes almost no space at all as it is completely flat when empty.
• Easy to make. Boil water and pour into the kettle and wait. That’s it!
• Easy to clean. Once you’ve had your coffee take out the coffee pod and dispose of it. Rinse out the kettle and your done.
• The kettle is reusable! You can re-order new pods and keep using the kettle
• Many different things you can brew. Currently they have variety of coffee blends and tea blends. They also have Hot Chocolate, but that comes in its own kettle.
• Some of the best coffee I have had while camping. The coffee was really good! Way batter than my normal percolated stuff.

THings to be aware of

• You have to be really careful when pouting the boiling water into the kettle. It is easy to still some of that water on yourself (I did this).
• The pouch is not insulated so if you want to drink hot/warm coffee you got to drink quickly.

I spent the weekend at the bandtail campground at the Lopez Lake Recreation Area.

The lake is about 10 miles East of Arroyo Grande. The campground is well maintained and patrolled by rangers often. 

The views that can been seen from the campsites are incredible. Take a look at the photos. 

THINGS TO KNOW

You can make reservations online and you can reserve a spcific site. They have sites ranging from primitive to full hookups. 

Check-in is at 2 pm, but they normally will let people in earlier, checkout is at 11 am. 

The cost is $20.00 a night. This includes one vehicle per site, you can pay an extra $10 a night for an additional vehicle.

Dogs are allowed in the campground, but they must be on a leash at all times. Dogs cost $3.50 a day.

There a launch ramp and marina store in the campground .

There are multiple trails throughout the park that range in their level of difficulty.

I spent the last 5 days at the Washburn campground and it is an amazing place to stay.

The park is right off of highway 1. The campground is about 2 miles east of the entrance and about 200 feet above sea level.

The Salmon Creek Trail in the Los Padres National Forest is about 15 miles north, right before the area that was closed due to the landslides. I’ve included photos of that as well.

The views that can been seen from the campsites are incredible. Take a look at the photos.

THINGS TO KNOW

You can make reservations online, but you cannot reserve a specific site, it is first come, first serve.

Check-in is at 2 pm, but they normally will let people in earlier, checkout is at 2PM.

The cost is $20.00 a night. This includes one vehicle per site, you can pay an extra $10 a night for an additional vehicle.

Dogs are allowed in the campground, but they must be on a leash at all times.

It is one vehicle per site, you can pay an extra $10 a night for an additional vehicle.

The Washburn sites are primitive, basically there are water spigots every few sItes and pit toilets. The rangers come by every morning and clean them, so they are not too bad.

There is a trailhead that leads to two different trails at the entrance to the campground. Both are nice, but dogs are not allowed on the trails.

You can reserve spot online line up to 2 days ahead.

3.50 a day charge for animals

They have a multitude of trails.

This site is in the Los Padres National Forest and is managed by a third party and not the USFS.

It is a clean and quiet site with lots of shade provided by huge oak trees.

Each site has a table, bbq, and fire pit. There is running water. There are flushing toilets.

each site is allowed one car, but there is parking right outside the site along the road.

The site is near many trails and about 6 miles from the red rock day use area.

It was 20.00 a night to stay. You can make reservations online but there is a 10.00 charge to do so.

Dogs are allowed must be on leash.

This campground is amazing. Beautiful pine trees everywhere. TYhe scent is amazing. Some of the campsites are right on the shore of the reservior.

Numerous trails to hike and bike on.

Stayed with friends at the RV site. This site is for RV Only so you can not pitch a tent and there is no place for a hammock. The site does not have a picnic table or fire ring.

What it does have is a beautiful unobstructed view of the pacific.

You can bring your own fire ring for campsite fires and I slept outside on a cot. It was great!

This campground is popular in the summer months and spaces get reserved up to 6 months in advanced

This campground is primarily setup for RV use, but allows for tents.

After checking in at the ranger office you pull into your site. Each site has a fire pit and picnic table. (After a quick walk of the campground it looks like many of the fire pits no longer have a functional grill). You setup your tent right on the beach (there are plenty of large rounded rocks to use in place of steaks). The views from the beach are amazing!

The site only has chemical toilets and water facets are spaced throughout the campground. Ours was about 75 feet away.

There are many hiking trails on the other side of Highway 1 (you can walk to the north end of the campground and use a tunnel under the highway to get to the trailhead)

We checked in on Friday (earlier than the posted 3pm time) and setup camp. The site is clean and fairly level. Very little wind and lots of shade made for a perfect weekend.

Spent 4 days at this campground. It is a wonderful place to visit. The individual site are large to allow multiple tents and still have room to get around. Wonderful hiking trails and close access to the beach.