Gold Bluffs Beach Campground — Hotel in Crescent City

I first became aware of Gold Bluff Beach camping when my father, RV Sims, was Chief Ranger at Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. I have visited many times, and taken friends. This time, we arrived at the bottom of the access road (in wonderful condition) and encountered the stop and pay sign. We did our best to make sense of the mish-mashed cluster of signs and notes taped to the windows of the Kiosk and finally found a handwritten sign saying that our National Parks access cards were good to use in the Campground. We found not one word about the card only offering a discount. I returned in daylight and took photographs of the "professional" signage and again found nothing to suggest that the card I bought from the US Government was not adequate payment. We were happy to see that our cards were good and drove to our favorite campsite and because there is little level ground planted our little RV on blocks for our two-night stay. Almost immediately the host arrived to say that we owed more money. He said, "You know where to pay." Having no interest in taking the RV off the blocks and driving back out to the Kiosk we determined to pay the balance on our way out. At 8:20 AM the next morning, the "host" began pounding on our camper door with his balled fist resulting in a dog explosion and scaring hell out of us. "When are you going to pay" "Today" I shouted. The host apparently immediately telephoned a State Park Ranger who promptly drove from Prairie Creek and wrote us a citation for non-payment. All this time, no official had bothered to mention that there was a SECOND campground pay station located adjacent to the trash cans. We would never have had to drive to the Campground entrance in the first place. At the SECOND pay station which is easily bypassed without notice there is actually a legible sign declaring that an additional $17.50 per night is required. We didn't discover this sign until we carried our trash and the litter we'd collected from the beach to the trash cans when we left. Having lived my entire youth in California State Parks, I'm not the sort to violate the rules. I'm a very proud Californian and extremely proud of our parks. I felt we were highjacked by a pitifully amateurish arrangement of signs at the Campground entry where no mention was made of a mandatory charge of at least $17.50 would be charged. A friendly and understanding Park aid apparently thought that we were correct in our assessment. She tore up our citation, without mentioning the very local pay station, took $40. and returned later in the day with our change and a complaint form with extra paper and a pen! Because of the sour attitude of the Camp Host, I became petty and kept an eye on him. While he is empowered to penalize anyone who does not keep their dog on a 6-foot leash, I observed the "gentleman" allowing his dog to run free all day every day. Gold Bluff Beach is a singularly beautiful location, only humans can spoil it. Nice job, folks. I think that it must be an honor to be chosen to live in a State Park Campground. The Camp Jerk, at Gold Bluff Beach is not representative of Camp...

I first became aware of Gold Bluff Beach camping when my father, RV Sims, was Chief Ranger at Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. I have visited many times, and taken friends. This time, we arrived at the bottom of the access road (in wonderful condition) and encountered the stop and pay sign. We did our best to make sense of the mish-mashed cluster of signs and notes taped to the windows of the Kiosk and finally found a handwritten sign saying that our National Parks access cards were good to use in the Campground. We found not one word about the card only offering a discount. I returned in daylight and took photographs of the "professional" signage and again found nothing to suggest that the card I bought from the US Government was not adequate payment. We were happy to see that our cards were good and drove to our favorite campsite and because there is little level ground planted our little RV on blocks for our two-night stay. Almost immediately the host arrived to say that we owed more money. He said, "You know where to pay." Having no interest in taking the RV off the blocks and driving back out to the Kiosk we determined to pay the balance on our way out. At 8:20 AM the next morning, the "host" began pounding on our camper door with his balled fist resulting in a dog explosion and scaring hell out of us. "When are you going to pay" "Today" I shouted. The host apparently immediately telephoned a State Park Ranger who promptly drove from Prairie Creek and wrote us a citation for non-payment. All this time, no official had bothered to mention that there was a SECOND campground pay station located adjacent to the trash cans. We would never have had to drive to the Campground entrance in the first place. At the SECOND pay station which is easily bypassed without notice there is actually a legible sign declaring that an additional $17.50 per night is required. We didn't discover this sign until we carried our trash and the litter we'd collected from the beach to the trash cans when we left. Having lived my entire youth in California State Parks, I'm not the sort to violate the rules. I'm a very proud Californian and extremely proud of our parks. I felt we were highjacked by a pitifully amateurish arrangement of signs at the Campground entry where no mention was made of a mandatory charge of at least $17.50 would be charged. A friendly and understanding Park aid apparently thought that we were correct in our assessment. She tore up our citation, without mentioning the very local pay station, took $40. and returned later in the day with our change and a complaint form with extra paper and a pen! Because of the sour attitude of the Camp Host, I became petty and kept an eye on him. While he is empowered to penalize anyone who does not keep their dog on a 6-foot leash, I observed the "gentleman" allowing his dog to run free all day every day. Gold Bluff Beach is a singularly beautiful location, only humans can spoil it. Nice job, folks. I think that it must be an honor to be chosen to live in a State Park Campground. The Camp Jerk, at Gold Bluff Beach is not representative of Camp...

I stayed at Campsite 24 for 2 nights at Gold Bluffs Beach in August of 2020. Seems like camping is the safest form of traveling to do during the pandemic. I have been to Prairie Creek park before, but never camped at Gold Bluffs. Site 24 was pretty good - it's pretty close to the bathrooms, but not too close. And, it's right next to the water spigot and a set of trash/recycling bins. Unfortunately, it's within the interior of the loop, so it's not far from another campsite, but not too close. ||||Campsite had some fairly level spots, so I found a spot to pitch my 10'x10' tent, but the ground was a bit bumpy. Most problematic were these plants with these thorns/stickers which were a bit painful. I even felt them through the tent floor even with a protective ground cloth. I spread a thick picnic blanket in the tent so I could walk around barefoot. ||||Site had a concrete picnic table, bear box, and fire pit. Bear box was elevated and had doors on two sides, so that was really convenient. I could fit my Yeti 45 quart cooler without difficulty. The boxes are starting to rust out, which is understandable since it's near sea water, but you have to be careful to make sure they lock properly. I heard a neighbor complain that they found their bear box door swinging wide open in the night. I saw a tiny mouse running around after dinner, so there are definitely animals about. ||||The bathroom was ideal for social distancing. Was concerned about public restrooms for this camping trip, but the toilets are individual toilets with one toilet and sink in the room. So, there aren't multiple people in the bathroom at the same time. The showers are also individual. Looks like the toilets were cleaned about once a day. I carried my own sanitation supplies regardless.||||Most surprising was that I could access free wifi from the park at my campsite. It could get a bit inconsistent, but the fact that I had it at all was great. I also got 1 bar on AT&T for my cell phone at the campsite. ||||Otherwise, the campground was great. Didn't interact with the campground host or buy firewood, but I understand that it's for sale. The road in is narrow and winds around. The morning fog and dew is pretty heavy, so expect that anything that gets left out is going to be very wet in...