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Cerro Alto Campground is a well-known hiking and mountain biking paradise. It is located a short distance from the sandy beaches of Morro Bay, where visitors enjoy surfing, fishing, kayaking, sailing, scuba diving and more. While the campground offers a serene, relaxed environment, both Morro Bay and the nearby town of Atascadero offer numerous dining opportunities, shopping, museums and other activities. Natural Features: The campground is situated in a mixed oak, pine and sycamore forest at an elevation of about 1,000 feet. It lies in a verdant canyon pass along a semiannual mountain creek. The roads are paved, but narrow, winding and single lane with turnouts to each site. Recreation: Visitors enjoy ample hiking, mountain biking and horseback riding opportunities, along with a 360-degree view of the Central California coast and inland valleys. The 4-mile Cerro Alto Trail, which leads to the peak, begins within the campground. Morro Bay beaches are less than 10 miles from the campground, offering wide sandy stretches and swimming, surfing, fishing, kayaking, sailing, scuba diving and more. An 18-hole championship golf course is located in the oceanside town. Facilities: The campground offers single-family sites for tent or RV camping. Each site is equipped with a table and campfire ring and grill. Accessible vault toilets and drinking water are provided, but no hookups are available. Trash collection bins are scattered throughout the campground. Nearby Attractions: Paso Robles, which is quickly becoming known as a premier spot for Central Coast wines, is located 20 miles from the campground. Wine tasting tours are offered daily, or visitors can select individualized tours of numerous wineries located in the area. The campground makes a great base camp for motorcyclists or day-trippers to visit the quaint, neighboring towns of San Luis Obispo, Cayucos, Harmony and Cambria, all of which are within 35 miles of the campground. Tours of historic Hearst Castle are also available. Visitors can spend time relaxing at the many available day spas located at nearby Avila or Grover beaches. Off-road vehicle trails are available on famous Pismo Beach.
From Atascadero, CA, take State Rt. 41 west 6.9 miles to campground sign (sign is tucked into hillside). Turn left into campground.
Located on the central coast of California only 15 minutes from the ocean in the Los Padres National Forest, Cerro Alto is a semi-primitive campsite. Open to RVs and tents, this campground has running water and pit toilets. Cerro Alto Campground is a great stop for those looking for a primitive style campground.
The hike is awesome. Views and lots of regulars that hike several times a week. 360 views of Atascadero to Morro Bay. These shots are from the campground and the loop not the summit. About 2 3/4 miles from base at campsite 19 to the loop that exits at campsite 15.
Pretty solid campground. We had site 17 for two nights and didn't have any major complaints really. The fire pit and table is in a bit of an odd position for the size of the site, but it wasn't a big deal. This site is also right next to two vault toilets. Surprisingly, none of the smell from the bathrooms lingered into our campsite, despite other older reviews.
One of the vault toilets door lock wasn't working and the other one was out of toilet paper for a day. They could've been a little bit cleaner, but they weren't terrible.
Site 17 has shade from about 3pm-7am. One morning we woke up in a stuffy warm tent, the other morning it was nice and cool. Just be prepared to wake up to a warmer tent. There was also some bees lingering around the flowers, but they weren't a problem. We just left them alone and we didn't have any problems. I would keep this in mind if you are allergic though. Trailhead was also really close to site 17. If that's not your thing, Cambria and Paso Robles are only a 30 min drive.
If I had to NOT recommend sites, It would probably be the 18-21 sites. They are all basically right next to each other in an open field and right next to day use parking for the trailhead. For a huge group it might work but for a 2-5 people they wouldn't be ideal.
The camp hosts were friendly and non intrusive. Just minutes after we arrived they swung by and gave us our tag and offered firewood bundles ($10 each). That was our one and only interaction with them, which is fine because we didn't need anything else after that.
I think this is a great campground for first time campers. There's no crazy animals in the area you need to worry about and it's not super deep into the mountains. I would definitely recommend this campground and can see myself coming back in the near future.
This was an amazing camping experience. If you love nature this the place for you. It is a rough campground, no showers or potable water, but totally worth the effort. The trails are amazing as well.
First time camping here. The best thing I like about camping here was the beach was walking distance. Yhey had nice hiking trails and clean bathrooms. Just about every campsite permits two cars per site. They provide a fire pit along with a BBQ grill. Come check them out!
I loved cerro alto campground. Really close to Morro Bay which makes for a quick and fun trip. Also helps cool you down if it’s a hot weekend in the mountain. I stayed in 19 which actually shares a lot with 18 and makes for a good group site. Away and private but close enough to the bathrooms and right next to the trail. There is a lot of poison oak and we did site a bob cat (was told by rangers they weren’t dangerous to human adults). The hike is a lot more strenuous than described, so go earlier in the day to avoid the heat and take enough water. You can’t hang hammocks unless you have flat straps. The camp host Justin was a little rude when we arrived and not really helpful until we started asking more questions. Apart from that the site was really clean including the bathrooms.
