Down Horsfall Road off of 101 are OHV camps and trails, equestrian camps and trails, day use areas, and general use camps and trails. Wild Mare Camp - set up for camping with horses - was empty and very, very nice, but the mosquitoes were just brutal, so I moved to the OHV camping at the coast, where the breeze keeps the little buggers moving. Very pleasant here. Just a parking lot with large camping-only RV sized slots on three sides and parking for the beach on the side next to the ocean. I've stayed here three times now, and there's always a few OHV folks. Their pleasantness or rudeness and the amount of general hubbub varies greatly. The general rules is that the warmer and nicer it is, the more constant and unending and annoying will be the sound of unmuffled small engines.
Expensive for the non-resident, but a nice campground in a spectacular location, on the Chesapeake Bay just a few miles north of where it meets the Atlantic. There is a cool little boardwalk access to the beach, where you can walk along the beach to the boat ramp/picnic area/fishing pier a little south. Really fun place.
13 miles up the Chetco River from Brookings, then 1/2 miles straight down a steep bluff to the long, wide stony gravel bed which is Miller Bar. The Chetco in front of my site is about 10 inches deep at it's deepest, but about 40' wide. The rocks are covered in bright green algae, but it's not too cold so I had a pleasant horizontal soak. Just drive along the gravel, park wherever you want, and you're home free,
On lovely Williard Bay, the northeastern, freshwater(!) arm of the Great Salt Lake.
On the lake side of 89, a little harbor and campground next to the Native American-owned resort next door. The marina is closed because of the lake level. The highway to the south curves around the campground, so you are closer to the noisy trucks and fleets of motorcycles than you would at first think - not a good thing.
deluxe state park. Almost close enough to walk to town, beach and tidepools and trees and grass, pretty much everything
in town, next to the harbor, but kind of isolated because the little river separates it from the day use area. Small, not very private sites, but right next to the beach
in the heart of Lincoln City, tucked away on the northeast corner of the bridge over the teeny-weeny "D" River. Site assigned by front office guy. Sites are close together with little shielding, but everyone is mellow and into their thing, so it's cool.
Expensive, but oh so cool, on the bluffs at Cardiff CA. The town is right across the highway, great bluff-waking for miles northward, Cardiff Beach and beach side restaurants southward. Mornings and evenings are often pretty gray and damp. Nice firepits.
Expensive but perfect beach campground. Close to the lovely and user friendly towns of Lewes and Rehoboth Beach.
super nice and quiet and not as busy as I thought it would be. Campsites are on the bluffs above the beach, stairs were closed for repairs. Nice bathrooms, not crowded tonight).
Pretty big campground as these State Beaches go. There is another smaller campground over near the beach. There is a road straight to the beach that doesn't pass the Ranger kiosk, so you can use the beach w/o paying park fees. A mere 2.5 miles north of Fort Bragg.
Always totally full and very crowded, but not tonight! It's another little cove, the outlet of the Little River. State Beach on the west side of the road, campground and parking for the trails on the east side. Up the canyon is the Fern Canyon Trail, a lovely hike with a lot of dramatic fallen redwoods and tall pines. The canyon is very steep and the soil is slippery so at some point they just have to fall. The beach is rocky, but it's a cool anyway. A self contained vehicle like mine can pay the $45/43 fee and park in the beach parking lot
Epically deluxe RV park: pool, hot tubs, beach, playgrounds. In the middle of San Diego, two miles from Pacific Beach ocean beach, four miles from Balboa Park.
Real name is Boice Cope Campground, but that hides its coolest feature, that it's on a sweet little freshwater lake! Site T-2 also looks awesome. Turns out you can park on the grass. This place is crazy popular with kiteboarders and windsurfers, of which there are many in Oregon. Floras Lake is a pretty little jewel of a freshwater lake separated from the Pacific by just one little sand dune. Crowded though the place is, I am angled away from it all pointing at the lake so I can pretend I'm all by myself.
perfect spot to camp for the beach. On a small bluff, so you're camping off the sand in the pines, but the beach is only about 30 steps down the hill. I will come back here.
A really interesting place. The entrance and Visitors Center are five miles off the highway, then it's another five miles to the payoff, the lighthouse and actual Gulf of Mexico. The Visitors Center looks quite deluxe, but both times I have been hurrying to make sunset at the beach, and both times I forgot to return in the morning.
Funky place on the Russian River, more lo-budget than its fancy neighbors. We got a lovely site surrounded by redwoods, 40 yards from the river.
Twelve miles north of the town of Green River, on the Green River. A nice swimming beach, boat ramp, dramatic formations of the Book Cliffs in all directions.
real nice find! Crab Orchard is a pretty big place, with four campgrounds. The other campgrounds have full hookups for the big boys and cost more. But E Loop is the oldest and has become the bastard stepchild in the corner. Electric only inside the loop, no hookups outside. Its bathroom is kinda gross, but hey, $5 for overnight and a shower ain't bad.