Kirby Cove Campground

Beautiful location, great way to spend the day or weekend. If you book a spot, make sure you get the parking pass for the Kirby Cove campground and park near the campsites. The road that leads there is a narrow dirt road with lots of pedestrians so you may not think to drive down it but if you have a campground/picnic site you can unlock the gate and drive down it to the parking lot at the bottom.

Bring lots of water. It would be nice if they provided a water tank for their campers.

Very good place with a beautiful view and full of calmness.

Wonderful place to camp! The fog can roll in, as with anywhere on the Northern California coast, but the views are incredible. You're right below the bridge and right near the waves. Fishing is great, exploring the nearby batteries is very enjoyable, and the amenities are plentiful. There's room for about 10 cars in the parking lot at the bottom of the dirt road, and there are trash and recycle bins there. The campground also has 2 pit toilets and a food storage box (for racoons, not bears) at every campsite. Each campsite also has a great fire pit, at least one picnic table, and a raised tent platform. All in all, I'd definitely recommend.

Gorgeous!

In short, Kirby Cove Campground is amazing, and you feel special just being there. Now i'm going to write the review that I was looking for, listing the pros and cons of each site. The truth is there isn't a bad site, and it's rare that you get to pick your site, you take what you can get. Site 1 has unobstructed views of the bridge. The site is shaped like a J with the bridge view at the top, then it bends behind a little hill and trees and you're pretty much blocked from the wind. I would not book site 1 if you have small kids because there's a cliff edge. Site 2,3 and 5 are fairly close to one another. Not car camping close, but about 40-50 yards from each other. Site 2 & 3 also have good bridge views through the trees. Site 4 is the furthest from everyone and the furthest from the beach. Its tucked in with eucalyptus trees which is beautiful. We stayed in site 5 which was the closest in walking distance to the beach, and has a beautiful ocean view. We stayed Sunday through Tuesday and on Sunday you get a lot of foot traffic by your site from people who have walked down from the road, but it didn't bother us. Monday and Tuesday there was hardly anyone and at one point for about an hour we were the only people on Kirby Cove. The bathrooms were clean, and we made sure to bring enough water. We didn't have any issues with raccoons, in fact we didn't even see one but we made sure to lock up our food once it started to get dark. We think one took my husbands shoe in the night but we later found it up the hill. The fog horn is loud. I had ear plugs, and a white noise machine going for the kids and I still heard it over, and over again. It's the one con, but everything else is so amazing its worth it. We got lucky night 2 and there wasnt any fog which meant no horn. During our 2 days we saw a whale, seal, 2 bucks, deer, hawks, quail, lots of pelicans and a cute little fox that came into our site one evening while we were sitting out. My 3 & 5 year old had a blast.

Beautiful

I wanted to selfishly give this place a one star review and say it was terrible, just so it wouldn't get any harder to get a reservation. But, I can't. The world deserves to know about this little slice of heaven.

Kirby Cove is a dichotomy. It's miles away from anything, and yet it's right in the middle of everything. Look to your right and you could be on a desolate island somewhere in the Pacific Northwest with craggy, pine-lined cliffs and calm, cold Pacific waters. Look to your left and you're on Instagram. The most famous bridge in the world towers above you, bright pink cargo ships glide past, and the best skyline on the West Coast sets the background for your new profile pic.

The campsites are large. Ours had three tent sites and three tables, meaning we could social distance even if we invited two other families. Bathrooms are primitive pits with no running water. No sinks, no dishwashing stations, to showers to get the sand off of you, nada. Be sure to pack in a few extra gallons of water to help keep things clean.

Weather in July was cool, but not uncomfortable, at night (standard San Francisco weather -- pack layers) and the days felt warmer than they actually were thanks to warm, dark sand on the beach. It's coarse sand, but the kids had fun digging in it. Doesn't hold up well for sand castles. The waves were calm and the seals were only 5-10 feet offshore. Check the tide charts and be sure to explore the east side of the beach at low tide. There are some great tide pools, and a few caves (one that opens up into almost a grotto). They are totally inaccessible at high tide.

And hope the rangers haven't taken down the #BlueLagoonSwing before you arrive, because it's wonderful.

This is by far my favorite campsite I have had the privilege to stay at. We were lucky enough to nab campsite 001 and although it was only for one night it was an incredible experience. The campsite is secluded so even when you play music it does not disturb others which we really enjoyed. The firepit had a ring grill over it, so if you brought aluminum foil and skewers you could easily cook on top of that grill over the campfire which is great. For us, it got quite windy around noon but at night it was miraculously calm. The view of the bridge is breathtaking during the day and at night. Kirby Cove beach is gorgeous, the water is calm and the rocky sands made it a lot easier to sit on. I would recommend bringing a picnic mat so you can go down to Kirby Cove beach during the day and relax as well. We are already looking forward to going back again.

We were there the weekend before the stay at home notice went out for covid-19. Our scouts had a great time camping before the lock down went into action.