Wright's Beach Campground

We live close to that stretch of coast and have been to this campground a couple of times. Read the other reviews first, I write this mostly to make visitors aware that this is a rather cold part of the California coast, particularly in summer.

Yes, this place is right on the beach and has a winding fairly steep access road. It's a small campground. Pro's are you are almost always allowed to have a campfire even in drought conditions because it's literally on the beach. Cons are you need to be prepared for 5 to 20mph winds most of the time and night temperatures hovering in the low 50ies in summer and 40ies in winter and there's almost always fog in summer. Most days the daytime temp won't go beyond mid 60ies and you have a good chance of seeing sun for 2 or 3 hours late morning and being stuck in for the rest of the day.

If you happen to be there on one of the fog-free warm nights/days it's a gorgeous place to be, if you're there on one of the more common nights for this area of coast you better have warm clothing despite your campfire.

For cell service: the coast north of Bodega up to Fort Bragg and Mendocino has almost no cell service. You may get some using Verizon but the other providers lose it shortly before you hit Bodega Bay.

PS: I marked noisy for this location - not from traffic or visitors but from crashing waves all day long. If that's your favorite sound you're good, if like me you prefer the silence of the Mohave desert you're in the wrong spot (obviously, it's the ocean)

The location of this campground is beautiful. It is on Wright’s beach with amazing unobstructed views of the ocean and just a few minutes of walking distance to the sand. The beach and campground are both dog friendly which is a big plus. There is security that regularly drives by the campground which was nice. The campground is quite small and the sites are pretty close to each other, so not much privacy. But otherwise, gorgeous beach and nice clean campground.

Site: Mostly level
Pets: Allowed in the campground and on the beach, but not on the trail
Hookups: None, but a fill station and dump station are located at Bodega Dunes Campground
Generators: Are allowed during specific hours
Amenities: Flush toilets, but no showers. Water spigots are available for limited use. Fire pit picnic table and food locker at each site. Close to Bodega Bay, Jenner, hiking trails and the beach (It's right on the beach).
See blog for more information.

Likely our favorite beach camping spot so far along the coast, as you are literally backed into the beach (and not parked parallel to the beach, tail-to-tail like many other campgrounds). Sites are inconsistently sized, but all are tight in one or multiple dimensions, and there's thick brushes that divide the beachfront sites. You'll want to aim for the beachfront sites that are open to the beach, as many of the other sites are dark and tight, so plan to book early! There are a couple of beachfront sites which have brush blocking the views, so plan via. Google Earth to help make your selections.

No dump station on-site, but you can use the dump station at Bodega Dunes Campground which is just a few miles south on HW1. The coast is simply gorgeous along this stretch, and there's endless photo opportunities. Be careful walking along the beaches as the surf tends to be unpredictably high here.

On signal, there's no signal within the campground itself due to the hill that backs the campground. With our SureCall booster we manage 1-2 bars of LTE periodically, though it drops in-and-out. With our Panorama antenna we manage -93 dBm of LTE which was just barely usable for conferencing, however it was unreliable so I ended up parking my vehicle at the top of the hill overlooking the campground and bridging the two Cradlepoint LTE routers together. There's plenty of Verizon signal along most of HW1 on the coast.

The road getting here from Bodega Bay is a bit twisty. Some advice: If coming from the South, detour as much of HW1 as you can after the golden gate bridge by taking 101N to Petaluma and then meeting up with HW1 again. Once you hit Bodega Bay it really gets twisty and tight, so take it slow, and use the pullouts where possible. Turning left into the campground is a bit of a gamble as it's a completely blind turn and oncoming traffic would NOT be able to stop in time if going 45mph, so if possible attempt to find a turnaround further north on HW1 and head back south to make a much safer right turn.

I also ran into a couple who were towing a smaller Airstream with a Tesla Model X, which was extremely cool (and committed!)

We made a last minute decision to stay at Wright's Beach last week. Since we didn't have a reservation, we were surprised to have 4 spots available to choose from in this small campground. Nestled in the wooded area, we chose the one that could fit our 24 foot trailer. Sort've a tight squeeze, dirt site, not quite leveled. Short walk to the beach! The sites not on the beach are nothing special – basic and very close together. But of course the hard to get beach sites are worth it!

The night we picked was extremely windy so sitting on the beach was quite the hassle lol! Even so, it's beautiful and clean and makes up for the close sites and lack of amenities.

Cell service was non existent at our site however I had 3 bars of 4G by the check in area and out in the beach area :)

We camped at Wright's Beach over the New Year's weekend in site #7. This campground is very small and does not include a dump station (a dump station is available for free at Bodega Dunes State Park, which is about 5 miles south of Wright's Beach). Most of the sites here are pretty non-spectacular and not very private, but there are about 5 sites right on the beach that offer amazing views. These beach front sites are hard to get in the off season and essentially impossible to get during the summer months. But if you are lucky enough to grab one it's worth the extra money and the hassle of logging into ReserveAmerica at the crack of dawn six months ahead of time.

We stayed here over spring break and had a variety of weather. The campground is very clean and picturesque; especially sites 1-18 as they overlook the ocean. On the warmer day we sat on the virtually empty beach and even spotted a whale! There is no internet access so you'll need to drive in to town if you need connectivity. You have to take PCH to get here and it's definitely windy, but doable.

Wrights Beach Campground is a part of the Sonoma Coast SB. It is a smaller campground with sites 1-10 claiming beach front. Each of the beach front sites do differ in size and view. Our site had a paved pad that was level. Due to our lengthy tow vehicle and trailer it made sense for us to come down the loop the wrong way to make backing in easier. We noticed with our length that sites #7 and #8 would work perfectly for us. After backing in we did have to unhitch and park across the site at an angle to clear the road. There is overflow parking for vehicles too. Each site does have a picnic table and campfire ring with grill.

Cons:
No hookups
No cell reception
No showers
No dump station
Not safe for swimming in ocean

Pros:
newer and clean, individually locking bathrooms
Level, paved pad
Privacy in between sites due to tall and lengthy hedges
3-4 million dollar view for $45 a night
Dogs are allowed in campground and on beach
Nearby to restaurants and other beaches
Can use dump station and shower at Bodega Dunes Campground up the road a mile

We enjoyed our time here. We stayed the last weekend of Feb. The weather was sublime and the wind was just a breeze. I imagine it can be windy here though and with a beach front spot the full blunt of the wind could be cold. This is also a popular beach for those with dogs. Warning, soap box announcement: Please remember to always clean up after your dog. Thanks.