McGrath SB and Santa Clara River Preserve

Okay, so first of all, I wouldn't really call this a hiking post. The trails near McGrath State Beach were, in my opinion, quite meager. There all went into a dead end and when they did dead end, it was either into a road, or the stagnant Santa Clara River. Being that it hadn't rained in more than a month, I was not surprised to see the river stagnant. This river is a typical SoCal river in that it only flows to the ocean during the rainy season. Otherwise, the natural sand berm builds up and blocks the river's access to the ocean.

On our particular trip, the low clouds and fog hung around for the entire weekend, which at the beach, makes my level of motivation seriously lack. Anyway, we did check out all of the trails and even went on the main trail that is behind the sand dunes. (side note on the sand dunes: It was refreshing to see how a "real" SoCal beach should look, with iceplant and dunes and not houses right up to the water). The only bummer about the dunes is that they are protected habitat for nesting birds from March 15 to November 15 and you have to walk around that area. Not a big deal, merely an inconvienence.

As far as the campground goes, I thought our site was really nice. It had good privacy because there were plenty of trees to block the neighbors. The ground was nice and soft (I only know this because my air matress failed; never trust someone's elses gear) due to the campground being on the flood plain of the Santa Clara. Also, behind most of the sites in the park, there is a large grassy area for bocce, football, horshoes, redneck golf, etc. Some people had set up their tents, but I would not want to do that because the area is really exposed, and I hate having my tent in the sun. Dogs are allowed in the campgound, but not on the beach (got to love the state of California). I find it funny that federal land allows dogs, and state land doesn't.

My biggest complaint was the cost of the campground. Because every campground on the southern/central coast was booked, we had to reserve online and it cost $35 plus an $8 reservation fee. You could almost get a motel in Vegas for that price. And on top of that, they charge $10 for a 2nd vechicle. You can bring a car and a trailer, but you can't bring 2 cars. That doesn't make any sense and is just another gross mismanagement of OUR state land by the horribly mismanaged state of california (not capitalized on purpose).