Gualala Point Campground

Armed with warm clothing and our new Carsule, Dennis and I were ready for another adventure. Dennis’s coworker, Cheryl, recommended Gualala Point Campground (part of Sonoma County Regional Parks). Dennis found a spot available for Friday and Saturday night. Gualala Point is next to Sea Ranch on the Pacific Coast off of Hwy 1. Figuring it will be about a 3.5 hour drive, we scooted out the driveway about 1pm.  Sunset is about 4:30pm and we are trying not to setup in complete darkness. We stopped at a bakery on the way up for some cookies and then continued to our spot. The campground is located right before you cross the bridge into Gualala. It is tucked back in the redwoods next to the Gualala River. The sites are close together but situated in a way that you don’t feel you are on top of your neighbor. A ranger came over shortly after our arrival to give us the lowdown on the facilities...the host is on vacay, firewood is self serve and our campground pass gives us free access to all Sonoma Regional Parks for the next couple of days. We walked down to the bathrooms (very clean, flushing toilets, showers) and grabbed some firewood at the self serve area ($10 a bundle). 

This time we are using the Carsule. We back up the van and up pops the tent. We also pull out the Blackstone and the sink setup as well. It got dark quickly under the redwoods and a fire was in order.  The smoke is a bit of an issue for me and a solo stove is likely in our future. After cards, dinner and time by the fire, we decide to try out the Carsule. We setup our chairs inside, turn on our gas heater. I’m pretty tired so I head to bed but Dennis enjoys a couple episodes of Yellowstone on my iPad before joining me. He is so excited the next morning about the Carsule setup with use of the gas heater. 

We make coffee and head out on a short trail walk towards the beach.  What a beautiful area! We have a great day exploring the coastal area. We drove up the coast a little further and hiked on a local nature preserve. We found an awesome vegan bakery with the best cardamom cake. We may need a bumper sticker that says “I Brake for Bakeries”. We checked out the beach on Sunday as well. 

The trip was great. Everything is working so well including the window insulation panels at night. We stopped at other campgrounds on our way home and scouted out sites we liked and ones that would not work. Definitely a trip to Bodega Bay will be on our list for 2021. We were feeling confident for our next big trip in two weeks to Joshua Tree!