socal camp spots with good surf access?

[dfinn]

Heading to the beach in a few days for a few days of surfing. Looking for mellow waves and hopefully a camp spot close to the beach. Some friends recommended San Onofre but it looks like it's booked up. Any other good options? Any dirtbag spots where someone could park a van for a couple of nights and not get hassled by anyone?

[PowerWhore7]

San O camping is closed in the winter...You might want to try San mateo which is across the street but still super close to San O and Trestles. State Park campground off Calaphia St is another good one, it’s located on the bluffs within walking distance to the beach and a short walk to Cottons. You could go further south and try San Elijo and surf Cardiff but that is a hard campground to get a spot at. There is also a new campground just north of Laguna Beach on the PCH, not much surf but it’s in a good location to get to surf as you are in the middle of the county so Huntington & Newport are close options as well.

Personally I like the San Clemente camping options due to the proximity of the surf, many breaks of all levels are a short drive or a walk away. Hope this helps and you score some surf

shoot me a PM if you need anything while you are at the beach, if I am around I will gladly help out.

[dfinn]

thanks, really appreciate. calling and checking around now.

striking out everywhere along the coast. Is it sketchy to head down to mexico right now? I've heard good things about a beach called La Fonda, unfortunately google also turned up some links referring to beheadings related to that.

[PowerWhore7]

Now, I’m not guaranteeing you won’t get your head cut off but I was there last month and last week...And I didn’t get beheaded

Everything was smooth, and no problems. $15 to camp and there is sort of a guard, lots of stray dogs to pet though. If you have a truck or sort of rugged car you should check out Playa Saldamando campground just south of Salsipuedes. Good luck

couple shots of La Fonda, there is a bar and general store there as well. And a dentist

[nickwm21]

Best options are the campgrounds between Santa Barbara and Ventura and the campgrounds in North Co SD.

Faria was too fun yesterday.

[BS720]

+1 For San Mateo campground. Quieter than San O for sure. The stuff north of Ventura is cool, but right off 1, so noisy. Refugio has great access to inconsistent surfing. I think you can camp on a large group of islands nearby there.

I used to do the coast from SF to SD in a Vanagon. Problem is, the state parks all hit $35/night to camp(probably went up since then). I usually get the Crowne in Garden Grove for ~$55/night on Hotwire. You can be to Trestles pretty quick, or HB, or any number of other places nearby.

As for Baja, you could get beheaded. Or you could get shot in LA. Or you could be driving in LA, as I was on my last trip, and have someone pull out in front of you off an exit ramp and slam their brakes on-while you are doing 70mph. Keep your eyes open and you should be fine. Lots of people are still traveling to Baja for surf, and they are just fine with all the people that are too scared to go. It's definitely less crowded than it was.

[supermodel159]

Refugio, El Cap, Emmawood, all good spots. Surf might not be that consistent at Refugio or El Cap, but cool spots either way.

[dfinn]

I've checked all the socal camp spots mentioned today plus a bunch of others and it doesn't look like there's anything available this weekend. My bad for not booking further out but this is kind of spur of the moment and we are pretty spoiled here in the rockies, rarely do we have to pay for camping. Find a dirt road and pull off for the night and no one will bother you. Speaking of that, I was looking at google maps and it looks like there's some pretty rural areas and dirt roads in the hills above San O and north of there, are those open to the public?

I'm kind of leaning towards mexico right now. I talked to the dude running the Playa Saldamando campground today and he has a spot open and it's pretty cheap. He said my 2wd van will make it there no problem? Just a little sketched out about the border crossing and other drama.

PowerWhore7, those pics of La Fonda look pretty damn nice. Is that at the Alisitos campground? I'm just curious why you suggest driving further south to Playa Saldamando? Is the surfing similar at both? Safer further south?

[SurlyRightClick]

Heading to the beach in a few days for a few days of surfing. Looking for mellow waves and hopefully a camp spot close to the beach. Some friends recommended San Onofre but it looks like it's booked up. Any other good options? Any dirtbag spots where someone could park a van for a couple of nights and not get hassled by anyone?

San Elijo further south is a good option too. Might be a little less crowded. North is Califia State Beach, which is pretty mellow when it's small, but when it's bigger it can get a little more interesting.

[Tye 1on]

Playa Saldamando is only an hour south of TJ? I'd do it in a heartbeat. Stop at that little resort south of Rosario that's famed for their lobster too...
My only concern would be that it's Easter weekend, that's a huge holiday timeframe for the mehicanos...

[hutash]

Weekends are especially difficult, but weekdays have not been filling up at some of the Ventura county area beaches. Weather and waves are more hit and miss, but both have been good of late. Ventura has a lot of county campsites beside the state campgrounds.

[Ottime]

It is Easter weekend, and it is SoCal.

If water/air temps being a bit cooler are not an issue, plenty off free, pull off tot he side of the road, camping just north of Santa Cruz.

[dfinn]

Saldamando was rad! It's an awesome, secluded little camp spot right on the water. The dude George that runs the place is really friendly and super accommodating. $17 per night. I know next to nothing about surfing or waves so I didn't have a ton to compare it to but the waves were probably not the best this weekend according to some of the more experienced in our group but we still got out there every day and messed around. Also surned San Miguel and La Salina. It's right around an hour south of the border, I think it was in the 90 kilometer range or so. I had heard that it was a holy weekend down there and that it would be super busy everywhere, didn't seem busy anywhere that we went except Ensenada and that seemed busy because of the cruise ships, I'm guessing it's always like that.