Kirk Creek Campground
1Heads up1 fire 20 mi away
We don’t think it should be. Every campground should hold some sites for whoever drives up.Tell your representative →
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 30 of the next 30 nights read 16:08 UTC
- A night
- $45From, per site
- Sites
- 32All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 9 notices
In the agency’s own words
Kirk Creek Campground is an oceanside paradise, with each site overlooking the Pacific Ocean. It offers a variety of opportunities for relaxation and recreation. The campground is located on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean, and is close to a variety of scenic trails that lead visitors into the Los Padres National Forest. Keep reading
Recreation
There is short walk to a rocky beach from the campground. A five mile ride will take you to Sand Dollar Beach, the largest sandy beach in Big Sur. It's a very popular spot for surfing, fishing, swimming, exploring, sunbathing and more. Fishing permits are required for anyone over age 16. Anglers can expect a catch of yellow perch and other coastal surf fish. The beach is dog-friendly, as long as dogs are leashed and waste is picked up. A variety of trails exist along the beach, which lead to the bluffs that overlook the beach and coves in the area. Additional hiking, mountain biking and horseback riding trails can be accessed within a short drive of the campground, and offer scenic views of waterfalls, redwood groves and mountain meadows and streams. Directly across the highway from the campground is the Vicente Flats Trailhead, which leads into the Ventana Wilderness.
Facilities
The campground offers single-family sites for tent and RV camping. Utility hookups are not available and parking surfaces within the campground are gravel and grass. Each site is equipped with a table and campfire ring with grill. Vault toilets are provided throughout the campground.
Natural Features
The campground is located on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean, at an elevation of about 100 feet. It offers fantastic views of the Big Sur coastline. Campsites are spacious, open and grassy. Each site has a view of the ocean, where sunrises and sunsets are outstanding. Wildlife in the area includes fox, bobcat, deer and raccoon. Mountain lions and bears are occasionally seen, although they have never entered the campground. From November to February each year, whales migrate along the coast and can frequently be viewed from the campground.
Nearby Attractions
The Nacimiento Road, which offers a scenic drive on a paved road to an ocean overlook and picnic area, can be accessed across the road from the campground. The road climbs to the peak, 2,500 feet above sea level. Sand Dollar Beach is located 5 miles South of Kirk Creek. Sand Dollar Beach is the largest Sandy Beach in the Big Sur Area.
What the agency tells you
In order to contact our offices, please use the email: customerservice@pmcparks.com or view: www.CampOne.Com | @camponenation | @kirkcreekcampground for answers to frequently asked questions.
Poison oak is abundant in the area.
No water is available at the campground.
Everything else this campground posts · 6
No Cell Service available in area
No Public Showers available in area
Reservations can be made three days in advance. All single campsite reservations are good for 6 people and 1 vehicle.
Maximum number of people per single site is 8 ($10.00 additional charge per person per night after 6 people). Maximum number of vehicles per single site is 2 ($10.00 additional charge for 2nd vehicle per night). Extra vehicle and person fees will be charged at the facility. Limit of 2 vehicles per site; additional vehicles are not permitted.
Click here for more information on the Los Padres National Forest.
Don't Move Firewood: Protect California's forests from tree-killing pests by buying your firewood locally and burning it on-site. For more information visit firewood.ca.gov.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 32
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 56 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…a table and campfire ring with grill. Vault toilets are provided throughout the campground. Natural…”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Waterfall, Creek, Beach, Coast, Meadow
- Biking
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Hunting
- Water sports
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 301st darkest of 1,201 in CA
- Bortle 2
Full this Saturdayread 16:08 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
OpenBooked
Every one of the 30 sites on offer is taken this Friday and Saturday. 4 are free on Tue, Oct 20. read 16:08 UTC Why the weekend fills and the week doesn’t
Watch for a cancellation
Watch this campground
One email when a night opens, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We read recreation.gov once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time a site in your window is free for the nights you asked for.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
1 person is watching this campground.CAMPANAC watch signups, counted live · derived: distinct confirmed addresses with an active watch on this campground
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 15
What you actually pay
“Maximum number of vehicles per single site is 2 ($10.00 additional charge for 2nd vehicle per night).” · the U.S. Forest Service’s own agency notice
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $45 a night, plus one $8 recreation.gov reservation fee for the booking, plus the agency’s published $2 weekend rate on Friday and Saturday. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night, booked once. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.
Who keeps the booking fee
The agency’s own policy text says the reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee are “retained by the reservation service contractor”, and that a campground concessionaire will decline to refund them because “they did not receive these fees”. Recreation.gov is run under contract by Booz Allen Hamilton. What share of your booking fee the contractor keeps isn’t published in any federal dataset we can read, so we print no number for it. Our reporting on the contract →
How we know this receipt · 6
recreation.gov availability, read 16:08 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
32 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 32 mapped sitesAll 32 sites
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 32 of the 32 sites listed. A site with no reading is unknown, never far.
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 32 of the 32 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
Measured shade is NLCD Tree Canopy Cover 2024 (USDA Forest Service / MRLC) read at the site’s own coordinate, 27% canopy or more, and only for the sites the agency gave no Shade value. It never changes the agency’s own shaded count beside it.
| KIRK CREEK CAMPGROUND | 001 | standard nonelectric | 46 ft | 27 ft | 1.9 mi | 178 ft | $45 |
| KIRK CREEK CAMPGROUND | 002 | standard nonelectric | 41 ft | 27 ft | 1.9 mi | 180 ft | $45 |
| KIRK CREEK CAMPGROUND | 003 | standard nonelectric | 43 ft | 61 ft | 1.9 mi | 234 ft | $45 |
| KIRK CREEK CAMPGROUND | 004 | standard nonelectric | 46 ft | 24 ft | 1.9 mi | 220 ft | $45 |
| KIRK CREEK CAMPGROUND | 005 | standard nonelectric | 37 ft | 24 ft | 1.9 mi | 243 ft | $45 |
| KIRK CREEK CAMPGROUND | 006 | standard nonelectric | 48 ft | 23 ft | 1.9 mi | 248 ft | $45 |
| KIRK CREEK CAMPGROUND | 007 | standard nonelectric | 46 ft | 23 ft | 1.9 mi | 267 ft | $45 |
| KIRK CREEK CAMPGROUND | 008 | standard nonelectric | 43 ft | 69 ft | 1.9 mi | 288 ft | $45 |
| KIRK CREEK CAMPGROUND | 009 | standard nonelectric | 53 ft | 46 ft | 1.9 mi | 282 ft | $45 |
| KIRK CREEK CAMPGROUND | 010 | standard nonelectric | 38 ft | 37 ft | 1.9 mi | 243 ft | $45 |
| KIRK CREEK CAMPGROUND | 011 | standard nonelectric | 37 ft | 37 ft | 1.9 mi | 228 ft | $45 |
| KIRK CREEK CAMPGROUND | 012 | standard nonelectric | 56 ft | 92 ft | 1.9 mi | 138 ft | $45 |
| KIRK CREEK CAMPGROUND | 013 | standard nonelectric | 38 ft | 31 ft | 1.8 mi | 126 ft | $45 |
| KIRK CREEK CAMPGROUND | 014 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 31 ft | 1.8 mi | 134 ft | $45 |
| KIRK CREEK CAMPGROUND | 015 | standard nonelectric | 44 ft | 39 ft | 1.8 mi | 182 ft | $45 |
| KIRK CREEK CAMPGROUND | 016 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 39 ft | 1.8 mi | 176 ft | $45 |
| KIRK CREEK CAMPGROUND | 017 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 38 ft | 1.8 mi | 221 ft | $45 |
| KIRK CREEK CAMPGROUND | 018 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | 38 ft | 1.8 mi | 208 ft | $45 |
| KIRK CREEK CAMPGROUND | 019 | standard nonelectric | 43 ft | 53 ft | 1.8 mi | 180 ft | $45 |
| KIRK CREEK CAMPGROUND | 020 | standard nonelectric | 26 ft | 23 ft | 1.8 mi | 124 ft | $45 |
| KIRK CREEK CAMPGROUND | 021 | standard nonelectric | 39 ft | 23 ft | 1.8 mi | 135 ft | $45 |
| KIRK CREEK CAMPGROUND | 022 | standard nonelectric | 39 ft | 89 ft | 1.8 mi | 136 ft | $45 |
| KIRK CREEK CAMPGROUND | 024 | standard nonelectric | 34 ft | 60 ft | 1.8 mi | 99 ft | $45 |
| KIRK CREEK CAMPGROUND | 025 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | 60 ft | 1.8 mi | 76 ft | $45 |
| KIRK CREEK CAMPGROUND | 026 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 71 ft | 1.8 mi | 67 ft | $45 |
| KIRK CREEK CAMPGROUND | 027 | standard nonelectric | 31 ft | 33 ft | 1.8 mi | 100 ft | $45 |
| KIRK CREEK CAMPGROUND | 028 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 33 ft | 1.8 mi | 132 ft | $45 |
| KIRK CREEK CAMPGROUND | 029 | standard nonelectric | 29 ft | 26 ft | 1.8 mi | 182 ft | $45 |
| KIRK CREEK CAMPGROUND | 030 | standard nonelectric | 38 ft | 26 ft | 1.8 mi | 196 ft | $45 |
| KIRK CREEK CAMPGROUND | 031 | standard nonelectric | 41 ft | 64 ft | 1.8 mi | 148 ft | $45 |
| KIRK CREEK CAMPGROUND | 032 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 67 ft | 1.8 mi | 84 ft | $45 |
| KIRK CREEK CAMPGROUND | 033 | standard nonelectric | 47 ft | 75 ft | 1.9 mi | 77 ft | $45 |
25 of 32 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Plaskett Creek CampgroundLos Padres National Forest · 5.4 miPonderosa CampgroundLos Padres National Forest · 6.2 mi
Ponderosa Campground6.7 mi
Memorial CampgroundLos Padres National Forest · 8.8 mi
Escondido CampgroundLos Padres National Forest · 10 miHwy 1 is TEMPORARILY CLOSED from the Monterey area
From San Luis Obispo, take Highway 1 north for approximately 60 miles to the campground.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Fort Hunter Liggett, CA
Typical weather
Typical October night 49°F, day 74°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 42°F. Bring the bag rated for it.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or more
A normal is the 1991-2020 average for the month, not a forecast: about half of all Augusts are colder than the August line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
The land, and who answers for it
what threatens it · who answers for it · a letter you can send
What threatens this place
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Kirk Creek Campground is in California’s 19th congressional district. Its representative, Jimmy Panetta (D), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: A+. See every public-lands vote →
Who can change it · 3
Two offices, two different asks. The draft to the agency asks it to set aside a published share of the sites here for whoever drives up. The draft to Congress asks why that share is zero and presses for a published minimum at the campgrounds it funds.
- The member who votes the moneyJimmy PanettaU.S. Representative · California’s 19th district
- Your senator, on the same appropriationAdam B. SchiffU.S. Senator · California
- Your senator, on the same appropriationAlex PadillaU.S. Senator · California
Read the draft, or change the wording
For the camper who turned up, or tried to book, and couldn’t get in. Every draft is written from this campground’s own record (its agency, its unit, its site count and its own weekend) and the buttons above copy whichever wording is selected here.
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Kirk Creek Campground, Los Padres National Forest, California
Dear Jimmy Panetta, I’m a constituent in California’s 19th district. I tried to camp at Kirk Creek Campground, Los Padres National Forest, California, and couldn’t. All 32 sites at Kirk Creek Campground are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 30 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Kirk Creek Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Kirk Creek Campground. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Kirk Creek Campground (Los Padres National Forest, California) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Kirk Creek Campground, Los Padres National Forest, California
Dear Adam B. Schiff, I’m a constituent in California. I tried to camp at Kirk Creek Campground, Los Padres National Forest, California, and couldn’t. All 32 sites at Kirk Creek Campground are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 30 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Kirk Creek Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Kirk Creek Campground. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Kirk Creek Campground (Los Padres National Forest, California) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Kirk Creek Campground, Los Padres National Forest, California
Dear Alex Padilla, I’m a constituent in California. I tried to camp at Kirk Creek Campground, Los Padres National Forest, California, and couldn’t. All 32 sites at Kirk Creek Campground are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 30 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Kirk Creek Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Kirk Creek Campground. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Kirk Creek Campground (Los Padres National Forest, California) via campanac.com