After 2 nights and one full day at Uvas Canyon we left for El Capitan State Beach. With memories of our cross country trip still fresh in our minds, the roughly 4 hour drive down the 101 really didn’t feel like much.
El Capitan State Beach is just north of Santa Barbara, with the campground located on a coastal bluff just above the actual beach (about a 5 minute walk from our campsite). The setting was definitely beautiful but I couldn’t help think about the differences between public land camping in California versus other states we’ve visited. El Capitan State Beach charges $45/night regardless of whether you’re in a RV or tent. They also had zero utilities at the campsite and no dump station in the park (nearest one was at a gas station 7 miles away). They did have a fresh water tank fill up station though. Other states we’ve visited charged around $30/night with either full hook ups or water/electric, and if there was no sewer connection at the campsite, they always had a dump station somewhere in the park. This definitely isn’t going to keep us from exploring our California State Parks system, but is worth noting.
It was also very nice to see some friends who ended up coming down to camp for a night.
We spent our 3 days alternating between hanging out at the campsite, relaxing at the beach, walking the trail along the bluff, and catching some amazing sunsets. Despite my earlier mini rant about the state of public land camping in California, if you’re ok with boondocking and like the idea of staying close to the beach you can’t go wrong with staying here. I’m not sure we’ll be racing to come back, but it was definitely worth the trip to stay here at least once.
