By:
Submission
Stillwater Cove Regional Park on the northern Sonoma Coast features a picturesque crescent of beach, a small campground, and hiking trails through redwood forest and along ocean bluffs. The park is a popular spot for tidepooling, picnicking fishing, diving (abalone season is closed), and ocean kayaking. The historic, one-room Fort Ross Schoolhouse is located in the park's interior, moved there decades ago for preservation. Stillwater Cove features an inland campground with 23 sites available for year-round reservation. Stillwater Cove offers more than 3 miles of trails. The 1.6-mile Canyon Trail loop follows Stockoff Creek through a canyon of towering redwoods filled with ferns. Just north of the cove, Stillwater Bluff Trail curves above the rocky coastline and offers beautiful views of the Pacific. Parking is available at the day-use parking lot east of Highway 1. A pullout at the cove entrance allows for loading and unloading of small craft.
From town: Go 16 mi N on Hwy 1.
$7 Parking Fee
The campground was very small but it didn't feel that way. The campground hosts were very polite and pleasant, as were the park rangers that came around to say hello and give us our parking pass. The walk to the beach was .3 miles from where we were so it's an easy stroll there and back. The restrooms are well lit, clean and well stocked. The camp hosts have firewood bundles to sell you and they even provided a bit of newspaper and kindling. All in all it was a pleasant experience. We had a shared parking area for our camp site for two nights and both sets of campers that stayed next to us were friendly, polite and quiet. We had some fish tacos about 3 miles north of the campground and the view is excellent.
Nice and quiet. Our campsite # 11 was underneath the trees and was very close to #12 which would've been perfect for 2-3 families camping together. The facilities were well maintained but the only issue was the water source. They have E.Coli. I hope that they can fix the problem. The view of the coast is just across the street. Our camp host was very friendly and we enjoyed our stay here. I would love to camp here again someday!
Absolutely loved the hike. It was a little difficult in some areas, but the beauty was worth the effort. Had to cross the creek twice due to a bridge being out. It's not an issue at this time in the season.
