North of Ventura is the turn off to "Old PCH"  (locally called both the
"Rincon Beach Highway" and PCH).  The freeway sign indicates "Beaches" and
is actually a stretch of signed CA SR1.  The stretch of highway north of
Faria Beach Colony is "on the beach side of road" camping for the motorhome
crowd for about a mile stretch.  it is NOT free, operated by Ventura County
and is about $15 per day, maybe less during the "off season".  Each spot is
marked with a number - you go to the pay stations every 1/4 mile (or less),
fill out a form envelope with the number, deposit your check or cash in
the station box and go back to your spot.  14 day limit (I believe) with a 7
day "stay away period" before you camp/park again.  Most of the rest of the
highway has free day-use parking clearly signed "No Parking between 2am and
6am", but there are also "No Parking" areas along the way, again clearly
posted.

Sometimes I go up there on the weekends if a spot can be found, but it's
clearly for the "land yacht" crowd.
--
Jim Thompson
84 GL 1.9 "Gloria"
84 Westfalia 2.1 "Ole Putt"
73 K Ghia Coupe "Denise"
72 411 Station Wagon "Pug"
oldvolkshome@gmail.com
http://www.oldvolkshome.com
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On 10/29/07, Loren Busch <starwagen@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> While discussing camping around Santa Barbara maybe someone familiar with
> the area can answer a question that has been bugging me for over a year.
> I was traveling northbound on 101/PCH somewhere north of Ventura, probably
> just north of Santa Barbara.  I was on 101 and saw a sign the directed to
> the Old PCH or something like that.  I took the exit.  As best as I can
> recall at the end of the off ramp I took a sharp left back under the
> freeway
> AND under the railroad tracks.  The Old PCH headed north from there for a
> couple of miles then dead ended.  I ended up back on 101 and continued on,
> camping at El Capitan that night.  BUT, I passed a long stretch of free
> camping along the beach side of the PCH!  About a mile long it appeared,
> quite a few 'land yachts' deployed, tow vehicles detached, slide outs out,
> obviously camped to dtay for some time.  Even Sani Cans set up at several
> places and garbage cans.  I should have stopped there or come back to that
> location but but continued on instead.
> Since than I've wanted to be able to tell people about this spot of free
> camping along the PCH but have never been able to pin it down on the map.
> I've even used Google Earth to try to find the place.  The closest I've
> come
> to finding a stretch that looks like it might be that spot is north of
> Ventura and south of Santa Barbara but my recollection is that I was north
> of Santa Barbara at the time.
> Anyway, does this sound familiar to anyone?  Where the hell was I?