Elk Prairie Campground

We camped here in early October, the campground drive is paved, the campsite pads are stone. Our site had plenty of shade trees with lots of privacy, table, fire ring, and bear box. Water and trash containers were located nearby, clean restrooms and hot showers - 50 cents for 4 minutes. There are great hiking trails located at the entrance to the campground, as well as many hiking trails located along the beautiful Newton Drury Scenic Parkway.

Rolled in at 6pm and there were a handful of sites, all were gone by 7pm (nice to know other 'no-plan' campers exist ;) Our site was in the grassy open area but backed into a little private rose hip patch. The campground was partially closed, but that loop along the river made for a great place to take a walk with the dogs before it was totally dark.

No firewood for sale after close. Bathrooms were fine. Elk in the meadow before the campground were amazing. Had planned to try Gold Bluffs, thankfully they had a FULL sign at the start of that long gravel road so we headed here.

Good to know: if open, Site 35 would have been great right on the creek.

A beautiful area with many accessible trails through the giant redwoods. Our main issue was that many of the sites, including the one we were assigned, were angled the wrong way for backing in a trailer. Fortunately for us, we only had a small teardrop. Still, it took far longer than it should have to manuever into our spot. The couple who came in behind us were not so lucky. While their rig wasn't particularly long, there was not enough space for them to make the turn into their reserved site. At least they were allowed to park overnight in an overflow lot.

Enjoyed stay at elk prairie. Lots of hiking trails through impressive redwoods. Saw elk herd daily as they wondered through the large meadow. Last day they grazed through the campground sites lining the meadow!
Negatives. Showers were ice cold, didn’t warm up despite feeding 3 quarters.
Dump station out of service, doubt it’s functioned for several years.
Campground built by ccc, therefore many sites are smaller, most would accommodate our 26 ft class c . However a few could only generously be called a camp site with large roots and very uneven parking pad.
Would stay again but would recommend being careful of site chosen.
No Verizon service.
Water available.

[Internet. No Verizon or T-Mobile signal in the campground. You might get a blip by the park entrance but the park entrance also has a wifi station you can park near and use.]

PROS

→ Lots of sites on the creek!
→ Provides a wonderful outdoorsy camping experience.
→ On Fridays (and perhaps Saturdays too) you can walk to the visitor center and catch a ranger guided tour.
→ You are guaranteed many elk sightings.
→ The bathrooms and showers were clean.

CON

→ The showers are quarter operated at 25¢/minute. The water pressure is very low and the shower rooms are chilly. The water is warm. Not all showers have signage on how to operate the shower. Put a quarter in and pull the shower handle towards you.

4.5 stars - As always, the shower gets me. But as always, I mark 5-stars on my 4.5 star reviews since I believe it’s a great campground overall and don’t want my shower obsession to affect the rating at all.

——————————
[Rig. Mercedes Sprinter. 22 feet]

Dump station? - No
Water fill? - No but there are water spigots
Clean site? - Yes
Clean bathroom? - Yes
Flush toilet? - Yes
Showers? - Yes but they are 25¢/minute
Laundry? - No
Dish washing sink? - No

Oct 3 & 4, 2021...These Coastal Redwoods are the biggest in the State. We reserved one of the open Prairie sites as this is a damp, foggy and bone chilling rainforest and we loved the warmth of the sun when it came out. Also great for star gazing...There may not be much privacy but who cares cause we're all really just camping together right?
Most all of the sites' asphalt pads are real short so really pay attention if your rig and tow vehicle will fit when you book. Older bathrooms, showers barely got warm and I really needed a hot shower.

Trails are in abundant right outta the campground. Visitor Center is quite sparse since the covid. Only guest wifi was at the unmanned kiosk, no cell coverage...Unmanned due to staffing shortage the sign said. We never saw a Ranger here just mantinance staff and a camphost. Half price for seniors with pass.

This is a very isolated area so bring everything you will need. There is at least an Indian Casino just north of here with hotel. gas, and a small market.

So this is a little campground off the 101 that has some fantastic trails through the redwoods. Seriously there are so many interconnecting trails including some that go out to the beach. However - beach access is not easy. It's either a 4ish mile hike or drive south and then out a dirt road for a while. The campground is well named, there are huge meadows that have lots of elk and deer. I saw one on a trail run one morning, they are everywhere.

The campground itself has spots that are very different. Some are full sun and out near the meadow, some are in smallish scrubby kind of trees and some are in larger pines/young redwoods as you might expect. So just pick your site carefully especially if you need solar. There's a creek running along the campground so you can get a site that's right on that as well. Bear boxes are raised up which is nice but on the older side. Campground itself isn't very picturesque but the trails in that area are really amazing.

Cell coverage is good in the parking lot across the street form the visitor center and out on the beach close to Orick. Otherwise not great.

You can walk out of your camper and experience some of the largest living things on earth. It’s an awesome location. The amenities aren’t great though. No water or dump when we came for a camper, so we had to purchase in crescent city on our way down to the campground. I recommend going online and getting a permit for tall tress grove as well. One of the best hikes in the entire NP system. Bathrooms and showers were subpar from what we have experienced at other NP campgrounds.