Rutherford Beach

Camped in a Dodge promaster van. The dirt/sand road is easy to get through. Be careful not to get into the soft sand. We almost got stuck. Try to stay on the grass. The beach itself was pretty littered with trash and washed up debris. The view was beautiful. There are also cows freely roaming the beach so expect a lot of cow patties everywhere.

This is a really nice area to camp for free. Good Verizon service, dumpster, porta-potty, covered pavilion with grills, and regular sheriff patrols.

I camped on the hard gravel area near the pavilion. There's another easy place to park along the road to the right of the pavilion as you face the gulf. Tides fluctuate on the beach, and they were high during my visit, so know the local tide times if you choose the beach. There was also flooding in the area and some closed roads. If there has been a lot of rain, and google maps is sending you down a secondary road, reconsider. I got some practice backing up.

The dumpster and porta-potty are emptied weekly. Gators are rare on the beach, but I saw two of them during my stay. You probably want to be careful of your dog running around in the wetlands behind the dunes.

I spent my days walking up and down the beach. People were friendly. The area gets a lot of day use: fishing, picnicking, and beach walking. You probably want to do your shopping before arriving. Lake Charles has about everything that you would need but is an hour away.

Stayed in March 2019.
We picked this place on the good reviews and we were not disappointed. We arrived late Friday afternoon and chose to go left onto the beach, and we set up against the barbed wire fence that is in place to keep campers off the dunes. It was much like parallel parking along the fence, which gave enough room or others to pass by. Sand was hard and easy to drive on. There were roughly 4 other campers with various rigs and one in a tent. There was also the option to park just before the beach on a paved parking lot, and there were 5 or so campers set up there with plenty of room for more. Yes, as mentioned there were mosquitoes and flies, but not too bad. They seemed to congregate on the leeward side of the trailer and truck, so we had to open and shut doors on that side quickly. Listening to the waves at night was pretty awesome. Neighbors were quiet other than some loud music on Saturday night. Watched a few fishermen during the day. They cast out their lines and sit in their chairs waiting hours for a bite, so they too were very peaceful. Saw one VERY LARGE redfish pulled in. The porta-potti came in handy, but there is no water so be sure to bring your own. We drove here from New Orleans on Route 82 and it was very scenic including alligators in the canals by the road as mentioned in another review. We should add that if coming this way - be sure you have enough gas in your tank. We topped off in Abbeville. We met some of the other campers and everyone was nice. This was our first beach camping and we liked it very much and are planning on doing it some more. And what about - FREE??? Please be sure to "leave no trace" in order for this place to continue to be a great free spot to camp.

We were here on a weekend, March 22, 2019, through March 24, 2019. It was quite crowded, although people did make an effort to space apart. Most of the crowd was quiet. Lots of fishermen, small children, and many were there for the day only. The area between the water and the dunes was only about 40 feet at low tide, and the road used to drive down the beach was very close to the campers. Several vehicles got bogged in the soft sand and required assistance to get out. One camper had a 8500 construction type generator in the back of his pickup, and ran it almost constantly. It could be heard up and down the beach. The beach was quite clean, especially considering the number of people there. There is a covered area with dumpsters and an outdoor cold shower, and there is parking on the gravel for a limited number of vehicles, which would be a good option if you don't want to risk the beach. You would still be very close to the water. We camped here because of the great reviews, but we wouldn't come back on a weekend.

Three days of listening to the waves, beach combing, and beautiful sunsets. Rotation of a couple rvs, mostly vans. Cleanish ports potty’s, outdoor showers, grills, dumpster, and picnic tables available. We parked on the gravel because the packed sand spots were occupied when we arrived but we still loved it. Even though there were always several other campers it still felt like we had the place to ourselves. Great place to get away for a few days while still having a great cell signal.

We love camping on the beach! There is nothing better than sleeping to the sounds of waves crashing outside your RV. We saw dolphins while we were there, walked the shoreline, and talked with other campers. The best part? It's FREE! We stayed as close to the dune as possible while still being beach side. We had no trouble with soft sand considering our size of 36 ft. There were other campers, but everyone left enough space between each spot. We look forward to being able to camp here again!

This was an easy to get to (all paved roads) and scenic even though oil rigs for the horizon. It was also really cool that you can drive on the beach.

I give it three stars because we were tent camping. We hadn’t camped on the beach before and learned why people don’t. There was sand everywhere on our stuff, it was either really windy or really buggy, and the humidity was suffocating.

However, I can’t complain too much because it was free and it saved us during a moment of desperation during the government shutdown.

My verdict is that this would be a great place is you have an RV or van but is not ideal for tent camping.