Central Avenue Walk-in Sites

beautiful, quiet site near water, dunes, marsh, etc

Loved the seclusion of Central Ave campsites. So nice not to see cars , RVs or even other tent sites. We are generally car-campers and did learn a few things: coordinate with our group better and pack a lot less; apply tick spray more often. Can't wait to camp here again.

We love staying here. Note that because of the incline and sand these are truly hike in sites. This site is NOT for anyone trying to hammock camp as the trees are too far apart.

Camp site 5 is the furthest from the parking lot, as explained in the description, but therefore it was the closest site to the lake! It’s a short walk to a secluded look out over the water for great sunrise and sunset views. We could also hear the water from our tent at night, which was very relaxing. We used a gear cart to hike our stuff to the site, so the distance from the parking lot was not a problem.

Very basic campsite, no view, pretty buggy, but private (as in you cannot see other campers). It was also quite loud with train, truck, and other city noises, but it there was a nice walk down to the beach for camp dinner or breakfast.

It was a nice private campsite. You can tell the Rangers put a lot of effort into keeping them nice. The biggest downside was the noise. All night, all we could hear was trains, car horns, police sirens, etc. The secluded feeling of the woods was definitely tainted by very loud city noise.

This is a true walk-in, a good hike to the campsite. The ground was pretty uneven and makes it difficult for setting up a tent. It is quite secluded.

Make sure to keep food in a racoon safe container. We didn’t bring one so we had to bring all of our food into the tent with us.

A little overgrown campsite and the trail was overgrown. Bugs were kind of bad. Site was really cool, and the proximity to the beach was a huge plus.

Pick up your parking pass from the visitor center before going to the campsite!! We got what we paid for. The site map was not well laid out on rec.gov and the map at the entrance was covered in bushes and hard to see. Campsites were clean and private. We went during mid June so there were A LOT of mosquitoes and biting flies. Campsite 5 was the least buggy, had a nice breeze, and was the most secluded. Be aware that the nearest bathroom is the public beach access bathroom so you will have to walk anywhere from 0.2-0.7 mi to go before bed/in the morning. It was good for what it was, had fun still!