Tent camping in Big Sur/Monterey
Jul 15th, 2005, 06:22 AM
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Tent camping in Big Sur/Monterey
We would like some help deciding on a tent campsite in the Big Sur/Monterey area. We would love to be near the ocean but realize that these fill up early. After doing some research it seems that the following campsites are what we had in mind and would love to get some feedback:
1)Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park
2)Ventana Campgrounds
3)Manresa Uplands State Beach Campgrounds
and of course if there are others you think we might be interested in. Thank you very much.
- Oh and, we couldn't afford it this time around, but if anyone has experienced the yurts at TreeBones Resort we would love to hear about it.
1)Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park
2)Ventana Campgrounds
3)Manresa Uplands State Beach Campgrounds
and of course if there are others you think we might be interested in. Thank you very much.
- Oh and, we couldn't afford it this time around, but if anyone has experienced the yurts at TreeBones Resort we would love to hear about it.
Jul 15th, 2005, 08:21 AM
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You need reservations for State Park campgrounds any time you will arrive on a weekend. There is also a National Forest campground up in the hills, 7 miles from highway 1 between Carmel and Pfeiffer Big Sur SP, but I suspect that it will also be full. The National Forest campground along highway 1 close to Hearst Castle tends to be full.
Jul 15th, 2005, 11:54 AM
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Camping right by the ocean can be a damp, windy, chilly experience in the summer at Big Sur.
Anyway, Manresa is a good base for visiting Monterey. It's in an agricultural area, so there could be crop dusting or other farm machinery being operated nearby. I've never camped there, but have at Sunset Beach nearby. Manresa sites are walk-in, you have to park some distance away and carry everything to your site. But they're spaced apart, and may have some blockage from the ocean "breeze". Go to this site
<http://www.californiacoastline.org/>
and search for "manresa uplands" for an aerial view of the campground.
Pfeiffer-Big Sur campground is away from the ocean in the Big Sur River valley. You'd have to drive to see the ocean. It's a large, traditional campground with RVs and tents mixed together, over a hundred sites, pretty close to one another. There's a store and restaurant in the park.
I've never stayed at Ventana but I think the campground is in a redwood canyon just off the coast. And the sites will be more roomy than at Pfeiffer.
Other campgrounds at Big Sur are Andrew Molera (walk-in north of Pfeiffer, about a mile from the ocean), Plaskett Creek is on the east side of the highway, Kirk Creek is on a high bluff overlooking the ocean, similar to Manresa, but not walk-in and in a wilderness area. These do not have showers.
Anyway, Manresa is a good base for visiting Monterey. It's in an agricultural area, so there could be crop dusting or other farm machinery being operated nearby. I've never camped there, but have at Sunset Beach nearby. Manresa sites are walk-in, you have to park some distance away and carry everything to your site. But they're spaced apart, and may have some blockage from the ocean "breeze". Go to this site
<http://www.californiacoastline.org/>
and search for "manresa uplands" for an aerial view of the campground.
Pfeiffer-Big Sur campground is away from the ocean in the Big Sur River valley. You'd have to drive to see the ocean. It's a large, traditional campground with RVs and tents mixed together, over a hundred sites, pretty close to one another. There's a store and restaurant in the park.
I've never stayed at Ventana but I think the campground is in a redwood canyon just off the coast. And the sites will be more roomy than at Pfeiffer.
Other campgrounds at Big Sur are Andrew Molera (walk-in north of Pfeiffer, about a mile from the ocean), Plaskett Creek is on the east side of the highway, Kirk Creek is on a high bluff overlooking the ocean, similar to Manresa, but not walk-in and in a wilderness area. These do not have showers.
Jul 15th, 2005, 05:00 PM
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We will be going around mid September. The campsites I listed are not listed in order of preference. They are just sites that I chose based on what I had researched on-line and some tent camping books. It would be great to be near the ocean so we can hear it at night but I have the feeling those will be booked already for the weekend and I hear Kirk Creek is tough to get into first come first serve so I wanted some inland reserved sites as back-up. Ventana looked nice because of the redwoods and it seems that the sites are pretty private.
Jul 16th, 2005, 10:18 AM
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pfieffer big sur state park can be crowded and noisy, but i liked it MUCH better than Ventana campgrounds. Riverside camps can be booked loooooong in advance so reserve now! if you go to the reserve america website they will show you what is available so you can decide.
ventana campgrounds is pretty, but it just felt too manicured for my tastes, and i have stayed in many redwood groves that weren't by comparison. i took my brother and his wife and their three year old daughter camping at big sur for her 1st time there and we rented two spots next to each other to keep our space more private which was expensive but worth it imo for her 1st time and they were visiting from NYC.
Kirk creek is another favorite of mine and we went last weekend and didn't get a spot cause we got there so late in the day on a friday. they had been full for a while already and we got there at 5pm. even their over flow was filled up. i have stayed there before and i love it there. we never have gone to plaskett, but that's because the campground host at Kirk creek will tell you if it's full or not.
i never stayed at andrew molera state park but i passed by the sites on our hike to the beach. they seem too close together for a good stay in such an open area imo, but i woulkd choose that over some other other options. when we were not able to stay at kirk creek we discussed it and decided to head up nacimiento road to pescadero about 12 mi into ventana wilderness to car camp for $15/night. the spots were private enough and you are certainly far into the wilderness for it to have a nice feel. just buy firewood at kirk creek because the host didn't have any when we got there.
we gambled on kirk creek and if you don't want to take that chance i say go with a big sur reservation. you can always drive down to kirk creek, try to get a spot and then cancel your reservation at big sur for a nominal fee. i think it's worth the extra $20 to get exactly what you want, if that is what you want.
are you backpacking, or willing to backpack? ventana wilderness is amazing and there is a wonderful campsite that is 5 miles (5 somewhat difficult miles for out of shapers) away from the trailhead just across the street from kirk creek called Vicente Flat. it's free which is a plus, but it's also beautiful, one of my favorites in fact.
big sur has almost 300 sites but you almost can't imagine it the way that they have got it set up, which is nice. the sites vary from a dark redwoody feel to open meadows to georgous riverside sites.
i would:
1) make reservations for big sur riverside and stay there. no riverside then go to #2)
2)make reservations for big sur and try to get a site at kirk creek. decide on which one you like better depending and cancel the reservation with the $20 loss.
learn to identify poison oak no matter what. buy some tecnu or poison oak block or something. that place is crawling with it. i would hike with long sleeves and pants only no matter what and even wear such in the campgrounds if i were you. the showers at big sur are nice for cleaning up after a potential eposure to the poison oak, but we camped in a sea of it. of the five of us, including a 3 year old, i was the only one who got it and it lasted for four weeks and i was laid out for a lot of that time. truuuuust me and buy some tecnu. did i say tecnu yet? here ya go: http://www.teclabsinc.com/pro_tecnu.html
hope this helps.
enjoy!
ventana campgrounds is pretty, but it just felt too manicured for my tastes, and i have stayed in many redwood groves that weren't by comparison. i took my brother and his wife and their three year old daughter camping at big sur for her 1st time there and we rented two spots next to each other to keep our space more private which was expensive but worth it imo for her 1st time and they were visiting from NYC.
Kirk creek is another favorite of mine and we went last weekend and didn't get a spot cause we got there so late in the day on a friday. they had been full for a while already and we got there at 5pm. even their over flow was filled up. i have stayed there before and i love it there. we never have gone to plaskett, but that's because the campground host at Kirk creek will tell you if it's full or not.
i never stayed at andrew molera state park but i passed by the sites on our hike to the beach. they seem too close together for a good stay in such an open area imo, but i woulkd choose that over some other other options. when we were not able to stay at kirk creek we discussed it and decided to head up nacimiento road to pescadero about 12 mi into ventana wilderness to car camp for $15/night. the spots were private enough and you are certainly far into the wilderness for it to have a nice feel. just buy firewood at kirk creek because the host didn't have any when we got there.
we gambled on kirk creek and if you don't want to take that chance i say go with a big sur reservation. you can always drive down to kirk creek, try to get a spot and then cancel your reservation at big sur for a nominal fee. i think it's worth the extra $20 to get exactly what you want, if that is what you want.
are you backpacking, or willing to backpack? ventana wilderness is amazing and there is a wonderful campsite that is 5 miles (5 somewhat difficult miles for out of shapers) away from the trailhead just across the street from kirk creek called Vicente Flat. it's free which is a plus, but it's also beautiful, one of my favorites in fact.
big sur has almost 300 sites but you almost can't imagine it the way that they have got it set up, which is nice. the sites vary from a dark redwoody feel to open meadows to georgous riverside sites.
i would:
1) make reservations for big sur riverside and stay there. no riverside then go to #2)
2)make reservations for big sur and try to get a site at kirk creek. decide on which one you like better depending and cancel the reservation with the $20 loss.
learn to identify poison oak no matter what. buy some tecnu or poison oak block or something. that place is crawling with it. i would hike with long sleeves and pants only no matter what and even wear such in the campgrounds if i were you. the showers at big sur are nice for cleaning up after a potential eposure to the poison oak, but we camped in a sea of it. of the five of us, including a 3 year old, i was the only one who got it and it lasted for four weeks and i was laid out for a lot of that time. truuuuust me and buy some tecnu. did i say tecnu yet? here ya go: http://www.teclabsinc.com/pro_tecnu.html
hope this helps.
enjoy!
Jul 18th, 2005, 08:16 AM
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I loved Ventanna when we camped there last summer. The camp sites are very private compared to Pfeiffer. The best sites are in the lower area up to around site 40 or so. What I liked best about Ventana was that they don't allow radios or those awful generators. Pfeiffer is lovely if you don't get a big loud family right next to. Ventana was more relaxing and I loved listening to the little creek running through our site.
Big Sur is actually pretty much fog free compared to Manresa. I live about 5 miles from the Uplands
campground and I can be in full sun and that area is covered in fog. Uplands is located on a bluff above the ocean and can get pretty windy. Also you can't park your car at your site. You have to carry all your equipment to your site. That said if it's the only place you can get into it's fine for a few days. It's about 40 minute drive to Monterey and a little over an hour to Big Sur. There are no agriculture fields next to Uplands, you'll drive through some getting there but there are none near by.
September is a good month to avoid fog. We usually get a good off shore breeze during Sept. pushing the fog bank out to sea. The campgrounds in Big Sur are located in a small valley, not on the coast so the fog almost always burns off by noon.
Big Sur is actually pretty much fog free compared to Manresa. I live about 5 miles from the Uplands
campground and I can be in full sun and that area is covered in fog. Uplands is located on a bluff above the ocean and can get pretty windy. Also you can't park your car at your site. You have to carry all your equipment to your site. That said if it's the only place you can get into it's fine for a few days. It's about 40 minute drive to Monterey and a little over an hour to Big Sur. There are no agriculture fields next to Uplands, you'll drive through some getting there but there are none near by.
September is a good month to avoid fog. We usually get a good off shore breeze during Sept. pushing the fog bank out to sea. The campgrounds in Big Sur are located in a small valley, not on the coast so the fog almost always burns off by noon.
