Usal Beach
There’s truly no camping like beach camping. I was juiced to find out that Von (@von_erick) was planning a birthday camping trip to Pismo/Oceano Dunes. I hadn’t camped there in over 3 years and have been waiting to go back since. Our group booked their reservations months in advance just to find out THE DAY BEFORE OUR TRIP that our reservations were canceled by the state park due to weather and erosion conditions. The group had to quickly think of alternatives. We’ve been to Indian Valley Reservoir in the past but found out a large group of people was already going. Von then brings up Usal Beach and the group reroutes plans to the north.
On a good day, Sacramento to Usal is about 4 hours + 1 hour of trail on the last leg of the trip. 5 hours total behind the wheel, but in all honesty it felt like only half that. In comparison, driving to LA from Sac is about 5.5 dreadful hours. I feel like the drive up north feels shorter due to being able to actually see something other than dirt fields and endless pavement. Going up I5 and then hopping on the 20 provided sights of lush greenery, a couple of lakes including Clear Lake, and the mighty redwoods.
As we got closer we saw a banner for “Drive Thru Tree - Leggett, CA” and immediately made a u-turn to check it out. We quickly realized the attraction wasn’t free and upon arriving at the “Drive Thru Tree” we laughed because we noticed it wouldn’t even fit our trucks. We saw a minivan just barely fit the drive-thru so we didn’t even attempt going through. Well played, tourist trap! Though the area itself was beautiful, and we were able to make the best of it by taking some photos. Shout out to Hung (@_purehh_) for getting our admission fee!
About an hour later we found ourselves on the trail up and into Usal Beach Campgrounds. The trail was relatively mild and my stock Sequoia made it just fine. After the initial climb, you’ll be greeted by breathtaking views of the Northern California coast. You’ll find yourself heavy on the brakes during the descent, then followed immediately by several mud puddles, a nice little bridge crossing, and more mud puddles until finally reaching the beach.
Usal Beach was extremely easy on the eyes with sparkling ocean views and mounds of redwoods surrounding camp. We were lucky that we were practically the only group out there. Only a few solo campers showed and they were fairly far from us.
We had a blast being out there with everyone. It’s great seeing all the kids enjoying camping as well! It was our 6 month old son’s first time camping and I think he had a good time. Happy birthday once again to Von! We hope to be back to Usal real soon.
