Rutherford Beach Dispersed Camping

Seemingly miles from anywhere, this is a rare find as boondocking in general, not to mention beach boondocking, is hard to come by east of the Rockies. Bring your provisions, for there's no supermarket this side of Lake Charles. The sand is firm enough to support any rig, including a full-on tour bus from Pennsylvania (not an RV) that we observed on the beach. During our November visit the mosquitoes were inconsequential:
https://youtu.be/X4pxmS8QLK4

I arrived around noon, I parked in the parking lot until I could assess if I would drive on the beach. It was foggy and I thought I was alone. Until the fog lifted and it was RV’s as far as I could see down the beach. The beach is like driving on a dirt road. Real easy. The mosquitoes are terrible so keep your screens closed. The beach itself is clean, but you are not allowed to swim due to RIP tides.The cell service is amazing. Who wouldn’t like to have the ocean outside their front door?

There used to be a pavilion with picnic tables, an outdoor shower, water, many porta potties, large garbage dumpsters, the entire beach was covered in shells. It's all gone. Good news is you can now drive on the beach better as it was iffy before. They have put up rock barriers. There is a couple porta potties when you drive in. Small trash bins. No tables, no shade, not sure on water. I'm not sure on camping as I didn't see anyone but it was July in Louisiana so I'm not surprised. I am going back this week as I love to drive my jeep on the beach.

Stayed in the beginning of June. It was pretty windy but we set up the tent just fine, and had no trouble driving over the sand in a two wheel drive sedan. There were others camping but tons of space to spread out so it still felt private. Flies, sand fleas, and other bugs were pretty normal at first but it rained a bit in the area the day before we left and the mosquitoes were insane that night. Seriously worse than anything I've experienced before. There is a sheriff that patrols regularly.

Rutherford Beach is a local beach which allows camping. The sand is hard packed and we were able to drive on the sand with zero issues in our small SUV. There were numerous big rigs here as well who did not seem to have any issues with the sand. There are dumpsters and portapotties available.

There are obviously bugs including mosquitoes and yellow flies.

Overall, a lovely camping experience for the price! Only thing that would have made it better would be if they added actual restrooms and showers.

I loved this white sand/shell beach. Campers are spread out. You can walk on the beach for miles. I spent 3 nights here in a Class C. It was hot and humid but because of the wind, it was bearable. Very remote, there is nothing nearby for many miles.

The cons:
It's noisy, it's the beach. The wind is strong. The water is brownish.

Overall, I loved it.

April 22, 2022 - Many state parks, rv parks in the area are closed due to storm damage which was very visible through Lake Charles and Creole as you drove in, but arrived to a sunny afternoon, 10-20mph winds, 80 degrees but breeze is perfect. We have a 4wheel drive Chevy truck w/ a T@B 320 CSS in tow and did just fine on the hard pack sand which is from the dune fencing to the low tide line. It’s a Friday day so a lot of day visitors, but it is clearing out no in early evening with about 12 RV’S many of them 30+ in length.
Beach is not the prettiest, but it’s the Gulf with a lot of wind blown, wave washed in, and visitor trash (bring trash bags for your walk). Lots of cockle shells, lots of folks surfcasting and catching Catfish all along the beach. No facilities on the beach at all.

Stayed for five days. No limit as far as I could tell. The weekend was busy with campers and four wheelers but everyone seemed courteous and made an attempt to spread out. I went all the way down the hard pack and through the gate. It is legal to do so and the gate is never locked. I would not go past the gate without 4 wheel drive. I drove all the way down and finally settled about halfway. You will have cows as close neighbors on this side of the gate but they stay away for the most part though I did have one curios calf come to get a brief petting. Trash and port a pots only. No food/water and no where near to get any so bring with you.