Lori and I took a short trip down to Santa Cruz, about an hour and a half away. We are “test driving” a new cat sitter and didn’t want to go too far away or be gone for too long, and New Brighton is one of the most popular campsites in the area. Let’s check it out.
The campground is located immediately south of Capitola, which is a small town just south of Santa Cruz. The campground is located on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean.
New Brighton is in high demand and Lori was only able to get two nights–weeknights–by going online again and again for several weeks ahead of time to watch for cancelations. In the end, she found two nights, one at one campsite and one at a different campsite, about 100 feet away.
The first night we did not have hook-ups, the second night we did, though in any case we didn’t need them as the temperature, originally forecast to be in the 80s, was much cooler and we had no need of our air conditioner.
The RVs at the campground were primarily trailers and Class A rigs, though there were tent sites scattered about.
I was a little surprised at how much stuff some people brought. Next to us on the first night was a sort of tent/RV city, with what appeared to be two campsites combined for a family gathering. So much stuff!
Another site, just around the corner, had as much, plus they had the additional feature of a free-standing movie screen, upon which they projected kid-friendly films each night. You could hear the movie if you were up on the campsite but just a few feet away the sound was inaudible.
Other campers brought very little.
The campsites themselves all featured tall fire pits and paved areas, with a picnic bench. Some had hook-ups.
The ones like the one pictured above, the Premium Sites, offered cliffside views of the ocean.
Our campsite on the second night was also a little crowded, with day tents from the Class A next to us set up right at the imaginary boundary line of our sites.
So we just parked hard to one side, opening up the shielded area for a lovely nighttime patio area, lit by the warm-white light of our newly installed LEDs.
The campsite features numerous bathroom/shower buildings–one was never more than a short walk away. Bathrooms and showers were clean, even though the campground was sold out and had been sold out for weeks.
An auditorium with ample seating at picnic tables was open for use and to get to the cliff’s edge for the views.
And a rotating series of campground hosts were always available. They sell firewood until 8 pm, $15 a bundle.
Which is a good thing because Lori and I weren’t sure they allowed campfires when we reserved the sites and didn’t bring any wood. We bought wood and cooked over the fire.
And enjoyed the ambiance of the fire on into the night.
The town of Capitola is a half-hour’s walk away. The most scenic way to get there is to follow the train tracks north (the tracks have not been used in years) and it will take you directly from the campground to Monterey Avenue, which leads immediately to the town square.
Capitola is largely a tourist-oriented town with a full selection of knick-knacks, women’s clothing, and art/gift shops (not our thing), but there are a few good restaurants, especially if you are willing to walk a bit. Many of the restaurants have beach-side seating.
Back at the campsite, watch out for the poison oak, which is everywhere, and often it is poison oak that divides one campsite from another!
California Quail appear to be the local residents of the campground and, though they are still highly skittish, they rank as being outright courageous compared to the quail that live near our house, which scatter in a frenzied way whenever you encounter them.
