By:
Submission
Nestled on beautiful Figueroa Mountain, this charming campground sits alongside the serenely flowing Davy Brown Creek. Close to Santa Barbara, Davy Brown Campground offers some of the most tranquil camping in the Los Padres National Forest. The soothing sounds of the running creek can be heard from all campsites, making this campground a favorite for those planning a peaceful and relaxing get-away.
On hot summer days, the creek provides relief as visitors splash in the water holes located along the creek. Migrating birds, such as the exquisite western tanager, are often seen from spring to August. There are ample trails to hike, or mountain bike. From mid-August to late September, this campground is very popular with hunters during the annual deer season.
Davy Brown Campground has 13 scenic and picturesque campsites. Each campsite is equipped with fire rings, pedestal barbeques and a picnic table. There are two vault bathrooms (wheelchair accessible) spaced strategically throughout the campground. Davy Brown Campground can accommodate RVs up to 25 ft. long; hook-ups are not available. Three dumpsters are located on Figueroa Mountain Road for convenient trash disposal; none are available at this site. There is no drinking water at this site; please bring your own water.
Davy Brown Campground is surrounded and shaded by mountains covered with valley oak, blue oak, live oak, and gray pine. The companion shrub species include manzanita, coffeeberry and redberry. A soothing creek offers diminutive waterfalls and invigorating swimming holes. Birds such as king-fishers, juncos, Stellar jays, white-breasted nuthatches, warblers and many more also make their home here.
Davy Brown Campground is the starting point for several trails, including the spectacular Davy Brown/Fir Canyon Trail. Two miles further are the Lower Manzana and Upper Manzana trailheads, entry points to the majestic San Rafael Wilderness. Los Olivios, Santa Ynez, Solvang and Buelton are within an hour's drive.
To get there from Hwy. 154: Take the Armour Ranch Road/Happy Canyon Road 11 miles northeast to Cachuma Saddle, Sunset Valley Road, then 4 miles north.
Absolutely beautiful! I hadn't been back that way since high school. Definitely goin camping super soon!
It’s a really nice and quiet campground. The waterfall and creek are on the Munch Canyon Trail but it was super overgrown. This trail is in between campsite 12 and 13. The bugs were a lot but just make sure to bring lots of bug spray.
It is a very nice and quiet cg and it was really a plus having multiple swimming holes and a good flow of water in the creek. Bring a bug tent with you because the little 🪰 are extremely annoying and mosquito spray doesn't seem to work. I would've loved to give this place 5 stars but being that they are now charging $30.00 per night and this place doesn't have running water for when the creeks go dry and they are cash only just isn't really worth it when I compare this cg to others up and down the west coast. We ended paying with a check because there is no way anybody is going to drive back to a town to get cash and the camp host who was very nice thanked us and eventually they will deposit the check.
We drove up here on a whim hoping to snag a spot. We ended up grabbing the last spot which was close to the trail. Trail is steep and becomes very unmaintained the further you go. Good thing we had a machete because we had to hack and crawl our way through (SHARP!) bushes and fallen trees. (I definitely recommend pants and long sleeves- I wore my normal tank and shorts and got destroyed by sharp bushes). We overall went about 6-7 miles and somehow couldn't find the abandoned cabin 🤷🏻♀️
Bugs were a whole other issue. They were mostly gnats though and few mosquitoes, so I can't complain much. Just bring lots of bug spray. Weather was nice in June, not too hot and not too cold. Overall, I would give the campsite a 4 star but the trail (and road to get there) a 3 star.
The road up to this campsite is not for everyone. Especially rvs..it very narrow and washboard and full of potholes. There is no cell signal, even with my sirius internet hotspot, zero until you get mostly down the mountain. Therefore you will be navigating a long curvy and narrow road up and down with other vehicles coming in opposite direction (some blind curves). There are also no stores super close or other services, so plan accordingly. A vehicle breaking down here would not be ideal. We helped a few folks who where lost, so download your maps beforehand. There are no water spigots, so you must bring your own water. Lots and lots of gnats, flies and mosquitoes in june-july. Some super pesky but cute skunks kept coming right into our campsite despite us sitting there making noise to deterr them. The creek nearby is really nice, but very dried up in summer and seems to get overused by folks coming in that are not camping in the area, they come and take up the little spots there that are for folks that did pay to camp. The camphost needs to check more often for day use passes, as this area should be treated with care, there was a biologist there during our visit testing the water quality and its impact on fish downstream that are endangered. Also some campsites have very decent shade, but several only partial and the heat was brutal in summer. Bathrooms where not cleaned or maintained for days while we where there. Overall the area is beautiful but an adventure to reach.
