Gaviota State Park — Attraction in Lompoc

Love this campsite. It’s a super weird beach, in all the right ways.

Pros: The campsite is super clean and well-maintained and has an extra parking lot for day parking. Tons of amenities: showers, a snack/supply shop. Bike lockups. A public sink for toothbrushing, etc. Lots of water spigots. Tables with grills for day visitors. Real toilets instead of pit toilets. I stay in National Forests, State Parks, etc and this was one of the cleanest/nicest I’ve ever seen.

The path up to the caves had a ton of yellow flowers growing everywhere (I think we were lucky and came at just the right time in late April). It was beautiful and easy to get to the trailhead.

Theres a really cool vintage-y looking train trestle near the campsite. It was dope looking and I don’t remember hearing any trains, I slept fine.

It’s a five minute walk to the beach, which is full of awesome tide pools with barnacles and mussels, and some of the coolest cliffs I’ve ever seen. We found tons of crabs and cool seaweeds and other sea life at the beach, and there was an adorable flock of tiny birds living in the roof over the bathroom. Really great campsite for anyone who likes to play with sea life.

The rangers were both super nice and very helpful. They gave us instructions to get to the caves, good advice about having a safe fire, and were pretty chill about giving people enough time to pack up and leave in the morning.

I hate parks that say check out is at 12 but then the ranger is up your a** at 11. This park was the opposite of that: they clearly generally trust campers’ intelligence and ability to follow rules without hovering.

Cons: Word of caution for people with tents: the valley the campsite is in turns into a MAJOR wind tunnel at night, two families packed their tents and left because of it within an hour of sundown. We were fine in our van, but it’s just not a good spot for tents. Starting a fire was a little hard, but we felt very accomplished when we got it. You DO have to babysit your fire and keep it low for safety reasons, a big fire would definitely be dangerous.

Campsites are close together, there’s no trees and no privacy. Met some cool people though, we personally didn’t mind it. But if you’re trying to avoid other humans, it’s not the place.

There’s no shade so camping would probably be uncomfortably hot in the summer if you plan to sleep in after like 9 or 10.

No dogs on the beach.

The ocean also eats the whole beach at high tide, so be mindful of it when you go and don’t bring your kids too far up the beach from the main access. Don’t wander too far at night because the whole beach goes underwater and it is VERY dark when you get too far from the campsite. It’s beautiful and I loved the raw nature vibe, but it’s one of the few beaches I’ve been to in CA where you absolutely need to be mindful of tides. I could see it being a safety hazard for people who don’t fully understand how the ocean tides work.

Generally if you’re the type of person who is afraid of seaweed and bugs/animals on the beach, don’t come here. There’s seaweed everywhere. It’s definitely a more natural beach that’s for more rugged and experienced campers. Glampers are unlikely to appreciate or enjoy it.

Overall it’s a great, weird beach that was surprisingly cool. Really interesting people out there too. We plan to...

Ok. It was windy. I don't suggest tent camping, but it you have a pop up or trailer, this place it beautiful. Pay attention to the tide schedule and if you head out while it's low tide you can hike quite a ways and see some pretty awesome things we found starfish and sea annemies and tons of crabs. So in the morning we would head out along the beach to go check out tide pools and it's kind of cold in the morning but I like 9:10 a.m. it's nice. Showers are clean, restrooms are clean. There's a small gift shop. I got a really cute shirt and the kids find some keychains and stuff. It's also only 25 min from Solvang so we took a short three hour trip to walk around and eat ice cream and local treats. The guys took the 4x4 down over by Refugio road. Lots to do for a weekend trip. My kids said it was the best trip. Probably because the other camping trips didn't include the beach twice a day but either way. The kids didn't mind the wind. Fires were not allowed because of the wind and cooking was hard. My suggestion is cook your hot food during the day when the wind is lower and then just plan to eat inside in the evening when my wind kicks up but even when Windy when's the sun goes down and the Moon is up it's totally worth it to walk up that little hill just to look out. Seriously this camp has a train track a creek but you don't want to play in it but fun to look at the beach a pier you can walk under but not go on, and lots of fun stuff to play in the sand in the rocks. Overall it offers a lot for such a small campground but mind the wind. Also there were lots of sparrows and when it's really windy it is a lot of fun to just watch The sparrows...

This state park is a wonderful gem. While the campground itself is lackluster, the hiking options are fantastic!

The campground area is pretty barren and is plagued by the regular evening winds that blow through the Gaviota coast. The facilities there provide a fair amount of light pollution and due to its proximity to Hwy 101 there is an ever present drone of car noise.

But don't be turned away by that. the hiking is fantastic. The coastal trailhead leads directly up to a series of wind caves with a nice view of the ocean. Continuing past the caves takes you to a very tall bluff that looks down almost straight down on Hwy 101. From the overlook you can easily reach the true backcountry trails. If you are going to do these, be sure to have plenty of food and water as the temperatures can get high quickly, especially in the summer.

One of my favorite parts of the trails is the Hwy 101 underpass trail. Just as it sounds, it goes under 101 connecting the two halves of the park without having to take your feet out of the dirt.

The true challenge of the area is the road to Gaviota Peak. At over 2,600 feet this is a great climb with a gorgeous panoramic view of the Gaviota coast and inland to Santa Ynez. Absolutely, 100% worth the climb.

Have fun and take...