Van Damme State Park

Stayed here Sunday through Friday - very quiet during the week in August. Showers have hot water and kept clean. Dollar tokens are purchased at gate entrance or use quarters too. Have a 27’ trailer and feel like the first 10 spots are the best for trailers. Large, level campsites with easy access. Also a shorter walk to the beach for sunsets. The trail going up the canyon is closed due to storm damage. Sounds like it might be closed for a while. But camping permit gets you into Russian Gulch state park for day use. There is a beautiful canyon trail from that campground. Couldn’t work from this campground - Verizon and T-mobile hotspots couldn’t get me much of a signal and didn’t get Starlink out - too many trees. Starlink might work in upper campground. The loop is a large open meadow with good sky views.

Not actually Beachfront you have to walk across the highway to get to the beach but very close. Site was nice and had a lot of room but it was a little difficult to back into. We stayed in the lower camp area since we had heard it was difficult to get to the top site. Having walked around the campground I must agree I don't know how one would get a big rig up top. We really enjoyed touring Mendocino and walking on the beach-the sunset was gorgeous. Bathrooms were clean but if you want to use the dump station it will cost you $10. Also fuel up before you get there gas is expensive, if you can get to Fort Bragg it is cheaper. We took Highway 128 over from 101 it was a curvy difficult road to get over then we took Highway 1 out and it was even worse. Beautiful but it took us over an hour to go 30 miles. Then 1 becomes easier to travel.

We spent 2 nights in the upper campground at site 42 near camp host Mike who was very helpful. The showers/toilets are new and pristine. Our site was large overlooking a meadow. The campground is walking distance to Little River Inn (and Wild Fish Restaurant) through a path from the picnic area near the park entrance (walking on highway one is treacherous). Location is perfect for exploring Mendocino area. Our campervan easily made it across the narrow bridge and up the hill to the upper campground, but motorhomes, 5th wheels should reserve sites near entrance.

While we were out for the day someone stole all kitchen gear (it was nearest the cars), all fire making gear, then they started on the tent. I mean literally.

About half the stakes had been pulled out like they were going to take the WHOLE tent. They were clearly interrupted probably by a car driving by, so they instead grad one of the sleeping bags and clothing that was closest to the tent door.

It was a 4 person REI grand hut that they were trying to steal.

Luckily they got very very little all easily replaceable. But we will never return to Mendocino. We were actually scheduled for 2 more nights but minus a sleeping bag, clothing, all cooking gear And all fire supplies we had to pack up and go home.

We arrived on Thanksgiving evening without reservations. The campground was full, so we pulled into the Day Use Lot across the highway along the beach. Same price to camp, dry camping only, in a parking lot, but we had the entire lot to ourselves. We were able to run the generator for a few minutes without bothering anyone. Some road noise, but more wave action, so very relaxing. The only caveat is vacate by 9 am. Great for a stopover without planning ahead.