Sunset State Beach

Found the picnic tables and food storage cabinets pretty dilapidated in most of the campsites. A nearby crowd of rowdy campers carried on until late in the night both nights we were there. No rangers around and the camp host disappeared after several daytime rounds hawking firewood. The one uniformed park employee we did encounter after checking in seemed sullen and grumpy when we greeted him. The park setting is picturesque and the nearby beach is spectacular so there is much potential here. But increasingly across Ca state parks it seems the staff is often stuck in some kind of malaise.

The park is beautiful. Spaces are big and although not very level, I had enough blocks to resolve any issues.*
The sites are spread out and there is a feeling of spaciousness. Campers were all very friendly and the camp host came over and introduced herself when she saw me outside and asked if I was having a good time.
The ocean is over the hill at the last camp grouping. It was an easy and pleasant hike for me and my dog.

The first day, the park ranger at the booth told me I was early (I'd been told to arrive no later than noon because there were only a few spots left and they were FCFS) and I should park and come back in an hour. (It was 5 minutes past noon. Check out time is noon. I don't know what their system is, but she apparently could not tell if there were any spots open without sending someone up to the campground to look?) Anyway, I came back at about 1:45 and she had confirmed an open spot. I paid and asked if I could possibly reserve a spot for the following night if there were any openings. She was fairly rude and said "I can only deal with one day at a time." She seemed frazzled even though there were no other cars waiting to get in and no other campers looking for a spot. A ranger behind her sat in a chair, checking text messages.

The campsite was nice and secluded. We took many walks through the campground and nearly everyone was friendly. The view of the ocean from the top of the hill was amazing.

The following day, I went back down and there was a different, younger ranger at the check in station. I told her I wanted to stay another night and she came out (there were a long line of cars waiting to get in and it was a Friday, so I didn't hold out much hope). She had a map with 7 campsites highlighted. She said they were all open and that I should go look and see which one appealed to me. I did and got an amazing site. The difference between her and the other ranger the day before was like night and day. She was so helpful, so enthusiastic.

There were two families camping on the other side of the ring. They had young kids who were fairly noisy and ran rampant most of the time. This of course is not the fault of the campground. Being a full time Van-life person, I find it not always easy to camp with rookies who don't have any camp manners. I guess that's just part of living on the road.

Cell coverage was sporadic--from poor to none. It was foggy much of the time, and it seemed I could get 1 bar of Verizon only when the fog lifted and the sun came out. Is this a scientific thing, or just my imagination? Does heavy fog interfere with cell reception?

Overall, a pleasant experience. I didn't use the rest room because I have my own on board. I wanted a shower, but it took quarters and I had none. The facilities seemed dated, but very well kept.

We lucked out on a Monday to roll in at 4 pm and find 1 spot left. I am glad the sites are spacious because you will have search out a level spot for you tent/RV. You are NOT camping on the beach, but it is a nice walk to get over to the wonderful beach. The trail over the dune directly to the beach was closed due to wildlife rehabilitation, so we walked to the main beach access at the part gate. The site was quiet and pleasant. So easy to pull off the road and camp here.

We were booked for 3 nights and stayed for 1. Upon pulling in, our site had a lot of trash in it, and the tree line separating our campsite from the strawberry fields was also littered with garbage.

We drove down to the beach and tons of wrappers, bags, cans, plastic bottles, etc littered the huge beach.

Looking for a change of scenery, we drove to Natural Bridges Beach (30min) in Santa Cruz and surprisingly, it was even dirtier.

We do a lot of coastal camping in Sonoma, Mendocino, and Big Sur and this was our first time camping on the coast in this area. I'm not sure if it was a fluke or if this is normal for beaches in this area.

Not a major issue- our site was really uneven and we had to raise the trailer 4in. It looks like most sites were also uneven.

Verizon was spotty even with using a WeBoost.

Small state park between the Pacific and strawberry fields behind. Feels secluded.
We went Monday through Wednesday. We stayed at the south camp. There were plenty of empty sites. Basic facilities. Clean.
We have a 24’ trailer. Easy to park. It is paved and level. The site across us was empty so we had view of the ocean and we could hear the surf. That was neat. We really enjoyed it.
Cell service (AT&T) was good.

The campsite is fine. I filled up my trailer tank with water on the way in, so we didn't use the toilet block so can't comment on that. Site 140RV had a good amount of privacy, if that is what you are looking for. Personally I prefer views. Site 24 has good views of ocean and the hills behind, the only downside is you have more people around you.

Site 25 and 26 have a partial view of the ocean, no view of the hills, but have their own space. Site 25 is very nice, but almost always booked up on the weekend. But site 24 and 26 are very nice also. If none of those are free, sites 31, 32, 22, 21 look good also.

The kids enjoyed riding their bikes around the site and everyone seemed friendly.

Being so close to the beach has it's pros and cons. Pros are that the beach is nice and quiet (at least when we were there in November) and the sunset is out of this world. The Cons are that often clouds appear from nowhere and cover the beach and campsite, but you'll find a mile inland it's blue skies.

Unfortunately the site doesn't have a dump station, so we ended up driving North to New Brighton State Beach, which is free to dump at with your receipt from Sunset State Beach.

If you (like me) have forgotten everything you dislike about staying in a campground then you really need to stay here.

It is a great combination of being pricey and run down at the same time. Uneven and broken picnic tables and a shower for a quarter that was too expensive for me given the condition...I’m the section we stayed there was no convenient beach access so most people drove and you can’t see the beach anyway from your site.

Quite a few of the sites are merely wide spots in the road.

This state park is merely a slice of land carved out of the agricultural area surrounded by dilapidated homes.

Loud rowdy music playing neighbors really completed the picture for us.

Sorry - not my thing...we left a day early... maybe they can keep my extra $35 and clean a shower stall.