Santa Rosa Island

Beautiful beaches, great hikes, good campground, tiny foxes, dolphins, and whales. Amazing!

We stayed for two nights at the end of November and it was wonderful. The windbreaks did a great job, the restrooms were clean and even had light and running water! We really loved the whole trip to Santa Rosa and the hikes on the island!

This is such a remote and beautiful gem of a park and campground. Very quiet at night and sheltered from wind.

The island is undeniably amazing, but it can be uncomfortable: a rough channel crossing, relentless wind for days, minimal shade, rough surf, etc. Please consider the conditions carefully before bringing young children. One group brought infants and toddlers. They were miserable the entire time -- crying almost nonstop until the boat arrived days later.

Rangers were very knowledgable, water campground had actual bathrooms- what a treat on such a remote island! Even while sticking with the front country, it was rare to see other people, which was perfect. Beautiful island.

The foxes in Waterton Campground are obnoxious. There is nothing natural about their interaction with humans. Clearly people are feeding the foxes, because they have no fear of humans. This is neither natural nor healthy for the foxes. The NPS needs to find a way to put the fear of man in the foxes. This could easily be done by a group of high school kids with BB guns. You may not like/approve of such a suggestion, but SOMETHING needs to be done to correct this abnormal situation. Find a way, and do it.

I reserved for backcountry camping at remote beaches that require over 10 mi of hiking to reach. Outstanding backpacking experience! Be prepared for windy or breezy conditions, that is normal on Santa Rosa Island. Also, water is scarce, and you will need to carry, as there is only one reliable source along the route.

Great campground! The wind block structures were great, and the campground had flush toilets! Amazing to see the rare torrey pines growing in the grove.

Ranger and crew were fantastic.

As a backpacker, I don't expect bathroom facilities at all, let alone decent ones. The facilities at this campsite were backpacker luxury - flush toilets, running water in a sink, and they were clean! We appreciated the picnic tables at each wind shelter as well as the large fox boxes. There were also two potable water spigots, and a raven asked us to run him some water at one (he clearly knows how to communicate with campers!). It was one of the nicest camping experiences we've had.