Expert: Steve Summers - 4/28/2008

Question
Hi Steve,

We are a family of five with three grown up children (20, 20, 22 years old). We come from the Netherlands and the whole month of July we will travel trough California. It is going to be our first trip to America since the 70’s and our plan was to reserve nothing so we would be free to decide where we would like to go. But when looking around on the Internet everybody says you have to reserve in advance. We will arrive in San Francisco and booked a hotel for the first 5 nights. But after that we would really like to go tent camping. Our plan is to visit Yosemite en then travel down in de direction of LA (using Highway 1) to end in San Diego from where we will take the plane back to Europe. We also have reserved a minivan but that’s it.
My question to you is if you think this is possible? Are there campsites where you don't have to make a reservation? Do you think we will be able to find campsites along the coast of California in July without a reservation?
And then something else. Is it true that most campsites come without showers or toilets?

I hope you can answer our questions. Many thanks for your help!

Kind regards,

Maria Smit


Answer
Hi Maria,

Perhaps you could do that back in the 70's, but no longer. In the summertime, people in California (and around the US) like to get out of the city, and visit beautiful places like Yosemite. It's no fun to drive hundreds of miles to find that the campground is full. So the reservation system has evolved. You could easily find yourself without anyplace to stay, as highway 1 is very popular in the summer.

With Yosemite, you have a small chance of getting a campsite, since there are a lot of campsites, and some people don't show up or cancel. There is a small building near Curry Village in Yosemite Valley where you can go to see if you can get a site for the day. But you need to be there early in the morning, since people line up for this. Your only other option is to try the walk-in campground near Yosemite Village or some first-come, first-served campgrounds further away. http://www.recreation.gov/ for reservations.

Campsites along the coast are EXTREMELY popular with locals and travelers alike. It's usually hot inland, and people want to go to the coast where it is cooler. Most of the beach campsites are operated by the State of California, and most are booked many months in advance. I have been at the ranger station many times when people have come without reservations, and have to be turned away. All the campgrounds are full that time of year, and the rangers shake their heads in disbelief when people ask if there are any openings.

My opinion is that you could go camping without reservations, but you will have a very difficult time, driving from place to place looking for an open site. It will be time-consuming and frustrating, and that's not what a vacation is in my opinion. It would be much better to check out the reservation web sites everty day to see if there are any cancellations.

Most campsites run by the state have flush toilets and showers. Bring quarters to the state beaches, because you will need to pay for showers. 25 cents will get you about 2 minutes of hot water. Cold water is free. Yosemite Valley campsites have flush toilents, and a shower house in Yosemite Village and Curry Village. A number of campgrounds have only pit toilets and no showers. We usually don't camp at these, since my wife likes to feel clean.

Just so you know, it takes about 5 hours to get from San Francisco east to Yosemite, and another 5 hours to get back to the coast. I mention that because you said you wanted to go down highway 1, and some of the best scenery on highway 1 is south of Monterey.