We stayed in the Gold Bluffs Beach campground and it was our favorite in the redwood region. Our campsite was on the beach side of the loop and the facilities were great.

It's a great campground for a redwoods region base camp. 

The redwoods region has fantastic trails - ranging from less than a mile to many miles. Some of the trails are paved and ADA compliant.

We saw a lot of wildlife here - elk, fox, birds, harbor seals, etc.

We'd recommend spending a few days here to see everything in the area.

We think this campground is the best of the redwood bunch. It had views, wildlife, hiking, and great bathrooms/showers.

The only hitch is that you must be less than 24 feet and without a trailer. The road getting to the campground (and Fern Canyon trail) does not allow long rigs and you have to pass the ranger station on the way.

The road is dirt and a bit curvy but otherwise it's great for a dirt road. In July 2023 we hit no major washouts or washboarding. 

The road from the campground to Fern Canyon does have two small streams you need to ford but they are easily managed in any vehicle. If you are uncomfortable with the water level there is parking so you can walk the road to the trail.

We think the outer campsites on the beach side offer the best views. Any of the sites will offer solar and a short walk to the beach. The bathrooms and showers are centrally located and a short walk from any site.

Most of the sites have a small pullout for parking and we found it a bit challenging to get our 19' van off the road and level.

The bathrooms and showers were clean and in much better shape than the other California state parks we had visited. 

Both bathrooms and showers were single use locking door types. 

There were 2 showers and 4 bathrooms which seemed enough for the campsites.

There are water spigots throughout the campground. We only found one with hose threads to fill our van with. It was located near sites 16 and 17.

There is no dump station nearby, so plan accordingly as the drive out to "civilization" gets tedious.

Trillium falls trail is nearby the campground and has one of the best trails through the redwoods. You can take the short but steep 0.5 mile hike to the falls and back. Or you can do the entire 2.75 mile loop. 

This trail starts in a big parking lot right off route 101. We found plenty of parking available.

Fern Canyon trail is also nearby the campground. This unique canyon follows a small stream.

The canyon walls are steep and the canyon is narrow. The uniqueness comes from all the ferns growing along the steep walls and floor.

There are many little waterfalls down the sides of the canyons. 

Fern Canyon is a 1.1 mile loop but it's easy to hike into the canyon a bit and then come back out.

The redwood state parks are enclosed by the national park so there is a lot to do nearby. Visit each state park for different trails and views.

Some state parks in the system are close to the beach and some are more forested and inland.

We were able to find grocery stores and gas with 30 minutes of any of the parks.

Gold Bluff Beach Campground is an amazing campground in a great park with beach, harbor seals, elk, and hiking.

Can only book 48 hours in advance online.

Within the 48 hours window, cancelled and empty sites become first come first serve. You can call to get info on sites available but can't book over the phone.

No other entrance fee, camping fee gives access to day use areas, even different parks.

California

Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park

A good little base camp for the northern portion of the Redwood National Park. However, internet is non-existent here so plan accordingly. 

We stayed at the Mill Creek campground for a single night during our trip through the Redwood National Park.

The national park is a strange one since several state park existed before and the national park encompasses all of them. You won't find a specific national park campground here.

The various state parks in the area are based on various old growth redwood groves. You will see lots of very tall trees throughout the area.

There's a steep road into the campground and it's a bit curvy so bigger rigs may not be able to get in. The dump station and water is down the hill between the two campground loops.

There's no internet here so you'll need to download park information beforehand if you are planning things in the evening.

There's also not much to do inside this park other than a few short trails. We just used this as an overnight stop when visiting the parks.

The campsites are decently spread out and fairly level, though it varied a bit from site to site. 

The sites are definitely no-frills, but you have a nice wooded, quiet site for the night.

This campground was definite on the quiet side and there's no road noise.

The bathrooms and showers were generally clean but the fixtures and building are pretty dated. 


The dump station was adequate and there was fresh water fills available.

There's just one short trail available from the campground and we ended up just talking a walk through the campground. There are plenty of trails and sights in the surrounding area.

This park is in the northern section of the Redwood National Park and there are numerous trails and redwood groves to visit. 

There are visitor centers scattered through the national park as well. This is a good place to pick up a map.

Make sure to use Google Maps for points of interest and AllTrails to find interesting hikes. 

A small campground in a redwood grove. Few trails and dated amenities, but a decent base camp for the northern end of Redwood National Park.

Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park

A wonderful park in an old growth redwood grove.

This state park is located in Redwood National Park. This national park is a little confusing. The state parks were created first and the national park essentially wraps them all up.

You'll find a separate state park for most of the old growth groves with an accompanying campground. Therefore you won't find any specific national park campgrounds.

You will definitely want to stop and spend some time in the visitor center to learn the history of the area. You'll also learn about the plants and wildlife found in the area.

There are a few trails and there is a river near the visitor center. The river has a swimming section and we saw several families spending hours down by the river.

This park is a good base for exploring the surrounding parks. Or you can hop from park to park in the area like we did. We wouldn't recommend planning to spend a lot of your time in the campground itself, especially with kids (there just isn't that much to entertain you here).

The campground itself was heavily wooded and located close to highway 101. The road noise was dampened by the trees and did die down at night.

The sites are well spaced and other than the road noise, the camp felt quiet. The size and levelness of the sites varied pretty dramatically, so check the site details and satellite map.

The bathrooms were pretty disappointing here. They were relatively clean but the fixtures and structures were very dated. 

The showers here take some sort of token which means you'll need to change quarters to tokens in order to shower. This was the only park in the area that takes tokens (that we saw).

The bathrooms down by the river and visitor center were much nicer.

We took a ranger guided tour around the visitor center trail. Our guide was friendly and knowledgeable which made the hour walk very informative.

Our visit was in July and the river was pretty calm. I imagine the flow varies quite a bit throughout the year. You will want to watch children playing in the river.

The park doesn't have a lot of other activities, but the surrounding area has lots to explore. 

There are lots of hikes in the surrounding area. We found AllTrails more helpful than the actual park map but we still recommend picking up an official park map at the visitor center.

We especially like the Trillium Falls Trail and the Fern Canyon Trails. Both are pretty easy and around 1 mile each.

Wonderful grove of old redwoods, trails, river access and a visitor center. Campground facilities are pretty worn out.

Richardson Grove State Park

Hendy Woods has two beautiful groves of coastal redwood trees - Little Hendy and Big Hendy. Both are accessible from the campground.

There are a few miles of trails in the park and a river flowing by to explore. 

We would stay at this park again if we were in the area, but we wouldn't go out of our way to visit again as there are plenty of redwood groves that we need to see.

This park is a great stop over when traveling between highway 1 on the shore and highway 101 further inland. However, for the price it leaves a lot to be desired.

The park lacks hookups and you have to hunt to find water spigots with a threaded connection. In the Azalea campground there was a decent shower house with flush toilets and showers. 

At the other end of our campground was an older set of bathrooms that really seemed neglected. They weren't dirty, just had very old fixtures, flaking paint, rotting wood, etc. We've seen much better pit toilet setups.

The website lists the max trailer length at 35 feet and we did see a few bigger rigs. While we were there most sites were occupied by smaller rigs and tents. 

If you have a bigger rig you should definitely check google maps for the specific site because they varied widely. The site across from us couldn't fit their 5th in site #29 and fortunately were able to move to #31 where it barely fit.

The sites are well spaced with lots of of trees (which rules out Starlink) and mostly level. We were able to level our 19' van with 3" of blocks under the back 2 wheels.

The park lacks hookups of any kind and most of the water spigots lacked threaded connections.

There were plenty of garbage dumpsters and a dump station.

One set of bathrooms was pretty run down but the shower house was newer and both were clean. All had flush toilets.

The shower house had our favorite single room showers with locking doors.  It also had 2 single room bathrooms with locking doors. The showers were paid and take quarters.

The main attraction is the coastal redwoods in the two groves - Little Hendy and Big Hendy. 

We walked Little Hendy 1/2 mile loop from the campground trail. Getting into and out of the grove is short uphill/downhill path. Once into the grove the path is pretty flat and well maintained.

Big Hendy is accessible from the campground, but we chose the short drive to the day use area (we needed solar charging). 

The Big Hendy trail head has pit toilets and water available. 

The trails through the grove are very well maintained. We found them a bit confusing to follow since people seem to walk off the trail quite often.

The area is flat and the trails are very easy. Many are rated as ADA accessible.

There isn't much nearby so make sure you stock up on food and gas before heading over.

We mainly used this park as a nice break while moving from highway 1 to highway 101. It's a beautiful drive and the park has some beautiful hikes.

Big trees and wonderful scenery but outdated facilities hold this park back.

Information for California

Booking

Fees

Reviews for California

Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park

Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park

Richardson Grove State Park

Hendy Woods State Park