Stillwater Cove Park

My husband and I camped here with our two kids (ages 2 & 3) for two nights with another couple and their son (age 3). Although the campground was completely booked we took a chance and were able to score walk up site #4. Luckily our neighbor booked sites 2&3 and mostly used site 2 otherwise we would have been super close to our neighbors. You need to book in advance to get the better sites with more privacy at this campground otherwise you’ll end up somewhat on top of your neighbor.
The campground itself is really nice and clean. There is a outdoor sink to clean dishes etc with hot water, the bathrooms are super clean with flush toilets and hot water to wash up, there are two showers that cost $ 1.50 that are super roomy and very clean and the rangers are very nice and helpful.
You can take a short hike from the campgrounds to the beautiful ocean cove or take hike through the gorgeous woods to the little school house or further up into the hills.
The campgrounds are located in the perfect place to make short day trips to the other local sights… Fort Ross, Gersle Cove, Sentenniel Rock etc. There is so much to do.
We will definitely be back next year and will make sure to book the site we think is the best one (sorry, I’m not going to say what number it is because I want to be able to book it)

@ Chris L …LOL…Sorry you had such a negative experience with the Rangers and Hosts. My experience was the total opposite. I can see how bad interactions can be a buzzkill for a good getaway, though.
@ Dave H (who wrote a review in 2008) This is probably the most accurate description of all the reviews so far.
I read reviews and booked a site here. I’m getting older and I dont’ want to RV, but I still enjoy tent camping very much.
The things I liked about this campground were that the hosts were very nice (I realize they change every 3 months), it was out of the wind, the bathrooms were kept clean (Hey…I’m willing to pop a squat, but no privacy in the campground during the day), it had nice little hiking trails and an enjoyable short walk to the beach.
The sites are very close together. There are some that share parking pads with an adjoining campsite and there are some that are simply pull-​over spots at the side of the road. We got VERY lucky and the people who reserved the spot next to ours never showed up, so we had both sites to ourselves all weekend when the whole campground was otherwise full.
The one thing that I didn’t particularly like was there were an awful lot of dogs off leashes. I know Sonoma County Parks is quite strict about this at Doran and other parks, so I was kind of surprised here. I like dogs, I have one. Other peoples dogs make me nervous as I have been bitten by dogs 7 times in my life (3 which required medical attention/​stitches).
I scoped out my favorite sites and have already made a reservation to tent camp here again in January. I’ll put this place in my rotation of camp sites to go to every now and then.

I love this place, for hiking, camping, and for its delightful little beach access.
Beach access: You have to park in the Regional Park ($ 7 fee) on the east side of the road and walk through the forest for ¼ or ½ a mile or so to get to the beach. It’s a beautiful walk on a dirt path with some decent downhill elevation loss towards the beach/​uphill back to your car. You’ll have to walk across Highway 1, so be ready for that. There are several picnic tables, a barbecue, and out houses. There are great rocks for climbing and finding some tide pools, and a beach that’s pretty good for laying out on. The water here isn’t generally safe for swimming because of the swell conditions. I often find some pretty smelly collection of washed up seaweed here… so the smell can be unpleasant, but not terrible.
Hiking: The parking fee is the standard $ 7 Sonoma County Parks fee. There is an excellent, short-​ish loop trail through the redwoods. It’s beautiful. You can also take a side trail to see a little historical school house! If other visitors haven’t grabbed them, you’ll also find a trail guide with information about the history of the park.
Camping: Over Labor Day weekend I had the pleasure of camping here in spot #1 with several friends for 2 nights. There was just enough room for our 2 tents on our site. I and another friend have Sonoma County Parks annual passes, so we used our free camping nights that come with the passes… I think it’s normally around $ 30/​night otherwise. They allow 2 cars with the reservation, and extra cars are allowed, but charged $ 7/​night/​car. There was also plenty of parking in our area for the 3^rd car… so we had to pay the extra fee, but didn’t have to worry about parking it elsewhere.
The bathrooms are clean and well-​maintained. The showers are hot and coin-​operated. They sell wood for $ 7/​bundle. There is a raccoon issue, so plan to keep all of your food in your car or the locked wood cubby by the picnic table.
There is blessedly no cell reception. You are off the grid, here.
The rangers we interacted were generally kind. They do have lots of rules and a quiet time and they do come around and check on your site at night… but we didn’t run into any problems.

This is one of my favorite spots to camp. Beautiful hiking right across the way, and the beach is .3 miles away. I absolutely love it here. Try to get site 20 or 21, they are the most private areas. We were in site 20 the first time we went, but could hear everything our neighbors in 21 were saying (there are no trees or anything between the 2). This weekend we booked 20 and 21 so we have the entire area for our group.
There were no racist redneck rangers (honestly if you’re saying that it was probably YOU that was the issue.)
We had a campfire, and had an amazing time. Can’t wait to go back!

Campground was fine — showers on at least one side were not working when we went, however. That was a bit disappointing, and the sites were on the narrow side where we were, but the bathrooms and sites were clean, and the trail to the beach was nice. Our kids had a great time there, and we appreciated the extra doggie bags. Nice dog and kid-​friendly place!

Great place with beautiful scenery. The other negative reviews on here are 5 – 6 years old and don’t reflect what we experienced. We had 4 sites and a total of 8 families here for 4 nights and had no issues with rude rangers or anything. The rangers were friendly and one time very nicely asked us to keep our voices down and that was the extent of it. The bathrooms were clean, showers were hot, the sites were spacious, and the big redwood trees were beautiful. I saw Ocean cove campground nearby and that looked like a big parking lot and nowhere near the scenery. There is a fish cleaning station and it is a close walk to the cove for abalone diving. I recommend this campground.

I imagine this is how a public campground would be run in Putin’s Russia or North Korea.
Do NOT camp here if you would like to have fun.
Do NOT camp here if you would like to catch up with good friends over a campfire.
Do NOT camp here if you want to camp by the ocean.
Do NOT camp here if you are a minority — unless you like being scapegoated for any noise while your white neighbors get another warning.
If you must have flushing toilets instead of portos — then maybe this might be the place for you but you must sacrifice fun, verbal human interaction, and location.
I have been camping in Northern California since I was a Cub Scout — I have never had a more negative experience while camping than I did dealing with the racist redneck rangers at Stillwater Cove.
Go down the street and camp with normal people at ocean cove.

Stillwater Cove campground employs those kind of park rangers who were drummed out of the military and couldn’t get another legitimate law enforcement/​security guard job. Too bad. Because when these two tools flunked their people assessment skills tests, they spoiled our group’s experience in what I consider an OK campground.
My advice to Hitler and his little buddy Barney: Size up who you’re approaching before you go charging into their camp. Don’t march around the camp with a pole up your ass demanding an ID from someone who you’ve just scared the hell out of. And for god’s sake, realize you’re talking to adults — not deaf, dumb and blind toddlers.
As for the camp ground, meh. Long drive up Hwy. 1. Campsites are very close together, and/​or pull throughs right on the camp road. Bathrooms are clean, water in showers warmish (bring quarters). Ocean view is incredible once you cross the highway. But let’s face it. If you’re going to be treated like crap, I’ll find another campground that’s closer than the Sonoma Coast.

Hot water, showers, close to beach and other activities, check, check and check.
Rude host, oppressive rangers, check and double check!
Wow. I knew that the rangers were going to be strict with the dog laws, but I didn’t know that if gave them license to be bullies. Deputy Yeager came into my friends’ site as I bent to pick up my dog’s leash (she was asleep on the ground) and pointed at me and yelled «give me your licence!» Then screamed at me as I walked towards my campsite to get it. He didn’t know where I was camping. He gave me a warning ticket, but I was amazed someone that deals with tourists would be so rude in doing their job.
No thanks, I’ll go elsewhere.

Great campgound on the the northern coast. The provide a large paved slip for your vehicle (one or two full sized cars/RV’s, depending on the site), picnic table, a fire pit, and usually some sort of semi-​flat surface to pitch a tent for each camp site. There is running water in the form of faucets shared by several camp sites, a lighted bathroom with running HOT water, heated showers (paid with quarters), a sink to wash dishes in, RV toilet dumping station, and a fish/​abalone cleaning station with water and a waste bucket. There are also a couple non-​car camping site for bikers and walkers. If you forget the firewood at home, there campground managers near the bathrooms sell it for a nominal price — campfires are always worth it.
Campsites are very reasonable running about $ 20 per night, you can make reservations ahead of time for only a couple bucks extra per night by calling ahead. This is especially important for holidays and weekends with very low tides during the summer, which are popular with abalone divers.
The campground sites about Stillwater Cove with has a small protected coarse sand/​pebbly beach with outcroppings and larger submerged rocks with larger kelp patches popular with abalone divers and spear fishermen. This a a great beach for shore diving, launching small (carryable) boats and kayaks, or just relaxing. The nearby cliffs and rocky outcroppings are great for fishing, just be very careful when maneuvering. If you head the other direction there is a nice hike with clearly defined trails through the wooded forest and along the creek that feeds into the cove. There is poison oak around, but if you stick to the trail, you should be fine because it is a well maintained trail. Then there’s a ton of other places you can easily go to for day trips like Fort Ross and Bodega Bay to the south and Gerstle Cove, Point Arena and Mendocino County to the north. This area is a great get-​away from the hustle and bustle of the city. It’s quiet and the scenery is gorgeous. This is always our first choice for camp site when we head to this area.
Oh yea, if you do go there you’ll hear this weird Cawing noise that doesn’t match any normal bird or native animal. I’ve come to the conclusion that it is the peacocks (YES PEACOCKS!) from the a neighboring ranch. They sometimes venture into the campsite, which is pretty awesome. The blue jay are also quite aggressive and know that they can score a free meal when you’re not paying attention. They pecked a whole in a chip bag with had sitting on the table unattended and made off with some of our nacho cheese doritios. There are also racoons, squirrels, deer, bugs, etc that you would normally expect with being out in the woods, so those who only know the concrete jungle — BEWARE!

This is not a review of the adjoining ranch facility, but rather of the Sonoma County campground. Although the local peacocks do occasionally wander over from the ranch.
Stillwater Cove is at the heart of the primo Abalone diving real estate.
Stillwater Cove Regional Park is run by the County of Sonoma, not the State like nearby Salt Point. This is both good and bad. The state campgrounds tend to not be as well maintained, but the state rangers tend to be smarter and more professional. Similar to the level of the CHP versus local cops.
The good news is that the park is fairly well maintained. The hot showers (they take quarters) and bathrooms all work, the SoCo rangers keep the common areas clean and the bathrooms well stocked with TP. It is pretty common for the state facilities to be poorly maintained or for the bathrooms to be in disrepair. As a bonus, there is also a designated Abalone cleaning area so picnic tables don’t get slimmed.
The bad is the campground location is on the east side of HWY 1 so views of the ocean and the sound of crashing waves are not to be had at the campground. In fact if it wasn’t for the drizzle of the coastal fog, it would be easy to forget you were at the ocean. The campsites are relatively small and packed tighter together than at most state campgrounds, so on Abalone season weekends you get to meet your fellow campers, whether you want to or not. Also, since there is only one bathroom (per sex) and two showers for the entire campground, there can be a long line on weekend mornings.
As I mentioned before, the SoCo rangers are also pretty uptight. At Stillwater Cove they play the ‘good cop-​bad cop’ game, unfortunately they do it poorly ;^(. The good cop (ranger lady Cherise) comes by during the day to collect fees and read ‘everyone’ the rules. She is friendly but also very over-​controlling and makes sure she collects fees for every conceivable reason she can think of, visiting cars, bonus dog, etc. I’m pretty sure her micro-​manger personality is why the bathrooms are so clean. The night-​time bad cop (ranger-​Mike) isn’t smart enough to play the bad cop well, instead he just comes off as an immature jerk. Overly aggressive, bright flashlight in everyone’s faces for no reason, breaking up groups larger than four after dark (although the campground rules say 8 per site is OK), even when they are just sitting quietly around the campfire.
‘You get what you pay for’ definitely applies to coastal camping. Since it is about $ 20 – 25 per night, no matter where you camp, the price of hot showers (not available at Salt Point or Ocean Cove) is dealing with the Butt-​Head rangers at Stillwater Cove.
In addition to the rangers, the local raccoons tend to be pretty aggressive after everyone goes to bed. This is what happens when you feed wild animals people! You have to lock every scrap of food in the campsite wooden cubbys or in your car (and put all garbage in the dumpster) or they will make a big ruckus getting at it. They have even been known to paw at tents late at night if you are dumb enough to bring food into your tent. I learned a few years back to take a few pine cones to bed and I lay my two-​seam fastball ‘high and tight’ on the overly aggressive ones to send them on their way.
The real reason to come here is this location is prime real estate for Abalone divers. You can hike straight down to the ocean without having to load up all of your wet dive gear in someone’s car. And as the cove gets fished out late in the season, you are only a few minutes (by car) from a few other primo dive spots.