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Van Damme State Park Campground

Trip

Sea Kayak - Van Damme State Park Campground

(Mark your 2026 Calendar!) Explore premier California sea kayaking in a spectacular coastal playground of Arches, Caves, Tunnels, Surfing and Rock Gardens. Many options. Both protected and exposed day trips to leverage various conditions.

Contacts

Alan Marshall
Alan Marshall
Primary Leader
  • Sat, May 2, 2026 — Sun, May 10, 2026
  • Seattle Sea Kayaking
  • Sea Kayaking
  • Adults, All Who Qualify
  • Moderate
  • 8 (25 capacity)
  • 2 (11 capacity)
  • Fri, May 9, 2025 at 6:19 AM
  • Sat, Apr 25, 2026 at 5:00 PM
  • Cancellation & Refund Policy
  • iCal Google

https://maps.app.goo.gl/zTtQNakdUH6CDfbD6

Interested? Please keep your likely participation/registration up-to-date so those on the waitlist can plan. 

Overall, similar to other recent coastal gatherings, this is an opportunity for experienced paddlers to loosely assemble in a coastal area, and paddle together. We’ll travel to Mendocino on our own schedules, hopefully camp close to each other, optimally cook and/or share meals together as you desire, and paddle in conditions that may range from casual fun to challenging. We'll attempt to assemble each night before to decide our plan for the next day based on conditions, group skills and dynamics - hopefully posting outings listed below so plans are clear and not arbitrary.

Leaders? I've been there about a dozen times, though only twice in the last 2 years or so. It is a vast diverse area - always more to explore. Let me know if you're willing to help lead. (Goal is to have about 8 leaders actively engaged/posting many of those days, so that each day some leaders can be followers.) 

Chart curious? An annotated zip file of 'Mendo Charts' is available for download here. They include notes on where some of the many arches and tunnels and other features are. Sending these in email...

  • NOAA Booklet Chart 18620 - Port Arena to Trinidad Head (i.e. North of where we'll primarily be)
  • NOAA Booklet Chart 18626 - Elk to Fort Bragg (i.e. the Mendo area where we'll primarily be)

Day Trip options are bountiful: Often the following departure venues are leveraged. Most of these sites have beach-side rinse showers and bathrooms. Almost all of these have semi-protected launch spots but open up to exposed waters as much as you're comfortable with.

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< RECOMMEND: Downloading Google Maps for the area while you have data access on your phone. >

#5 Planned launch spots are listed here from furthest NORTH to SOUTH (initially listed here in opposite direction; now with N on top as you'd look at a map)...

NOYO RIVER:  

    RUSSIAN GULCH STATE PARK:

    BIG RIVER BEACH AT MENDOCINO HEADLANDS STATE PARK:

    LITTLE RIVER at VAN DAMME STATE BEACH PARK:

    ALBION RIVER CAMPGROUND:

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    Style

    Everyone is welcome to join.  However, don’t expect that an experienced leader will organize a trip for you.  This is an opportunity for self-responsible paddlers to organize trips with peers within shared ability to develop skills and confidence.  Official outings will be posted as Mountaineers trips. If you don't partake in a posted Mountaineers day trip during this week, then take responsibility to have your own day separate from the Mountaineers. There are many options there: hiking, art gallery exploration and more!  On Mountaineers outings, we will take standard shared responsibility for risk management.

    To support this, we will meet each evening to discuss conditions for the next day and organize into groups of shared interest and ability.  

    Because conditions are highly variable, signup for this is low-commitment.  If conditions for the week look too rough for your comfort, you are free to cancel. 

    Example Conditions for Big River area in Mendocino County:

    WARNING

    The ocean is a rough playground. We prepare well but nothing's guaranteed, including what ocean creatures might show up. There are only 3 to 4 known fatal attacks on kayakers by sharks in the historic record (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fatal_shark_attacks_in_the_United_States): none happened in the Mendo area where our activity is located. Sharks are known to hang out in the Point Reyes area much further South, but that's 150 miles away. However, there was a recent non-fatal incident involving a surfer in the Mendo area. Thanks to Lori Stole for bringing this to my attention: https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/shark-bite-california-beach-22085668.php - I personally have never seen one outside of an aquarium and don't expect to. Cheers!

    < new info below as of Mar 28, 2026 >

    OVerall Guidance on the water

    • Mendocino venues encourage casual exploration through many beautiful nooks and around various features, not vast distances at speed.
    • While the charts below are important for orientation, once you launch, keep your positional awareness active from where you came so you might return safely with diligence: e.g. how many primary Points or Coves have you passed since launch.
    • Keep track of time so you know how long you can explore in one direction.
    • Literally enjoy getting 'slightly' lost. :-)
    • Ultimately, there's a natural North/South coastal orientation; it's not a maze, although parts of it will seem like one at the micro-level.
    • Once oriented, I've rarely used my charts on the water, but I've been there multiple times too.
    • Oh, and enjoy Disneyland! While there's many different rock-garden features to enjoy, there's one particular one called 'Disney' that is a very well known relatively friendly, well-protected pour-over feature with an extra safe landing called 'Disney' south of Little River. See its mention below in small blue print on p.9 of the annotated charts. It's a tidal height dependent feature of course...

    CHART GUIDANCE

    There are 3 chart links in the activity description above. Here's how to optimally leverage them relative to our #5 different LAUNCH SPOTS, which are also listed in the activity description, from N to S.

    Primary Charts:
      • 18626 Page 1 - Table of Contents - for positional reference
      • 18626 Pages 5, 7, 9, 11 - Noyo River --- NORTHERN MOST LAUNCH
      • 18626 Page 9 - Russian Gulch
      • 18626 Pages 9, 13 - Big River
      • 18626 Pages 13 - Little River at Van Damme
      • 18626 Pages 13, 17 - Albion River --- SOUTHERN MOST LAUNCH
      • Other pages in the booklet are just water and/or less useful.
      • If you have limited time, resources Pages 5, 9, 13 are the key ones.

    Annotated Charts:
    • https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/17BMuRvE5URG3OkibKVsjvltUr0LR7T5k
    • The annotated charts are good supplemental info identifying various features but have less contextual info around the edges of where they are due to how they were zoomed into by the creators (not me).
    • Printing these can be helpful but aren't required.
    • Enjoy just discovering options rather than trying to find what others found.
    • Not all tunnel, arch, lunch spots are listed. Some might not be right.
    • Here's which might be most useful:
    • Annotated Page 3 and 4 - Russian Gulch - Northward; note Point Cabrillo lunch beach.
    • Annotated Page 5 and 6 - Russian Gulch - Southward
    • Annotated Page 6 - Big River - Northward
    • Annotated Page 7 - Big River - Southward
    • Annotated Page 8 - Little River at Van Damme - Northward
    • Annotated Page 9 - Little River at Van Damme - Southward; note Disney feature and Lunch Beach 
    • Annotated Pages 10, 11 - Albion River - Northward
    • Annotated Pages 11, 12 - Albion River - Southward
    Other chart booklet:
    • The 18620 booklet is for further North than we're likely to be.

    TIDAL INFO

    https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/noaatidepredictions.html?id=TWC0777&units=standard&bdate=20260504&edate=20260508&timezone=LST/LDT&clock=12hour&datum=MLLW&interval=hilo&action=dailychart

    NAVIGATING TUNNELS

    PREP:
    • Mendo tunnels are typically longer, narrower and much shorter-in-height than many in the PNW.
    • Helmets are a must. A headlight can be handy.
    • At tunnel mouths, watch multiple swells go in and out to determine primary swell direction and amount of headroom.
    • Low tide assists greater headroom. Don't enter with marginal buffer. 
    • Examine both ends of the tunnel if possible.
    • Consider unusually large swells that might come through.
    EXECUTE:
    • If you commit, keep a steady pace throughout; don't linger.
    • The first person through the tunnel communicates to the rest of group.
    • Keep sufficient space between paddlers. Don't crowd each other. 
    • If a gigantic swell comes through that might crash your head into the tunnel ceiling, consider rolling down, waiting momentarily until the swell dissipates - then roll back up.

    < END of new info above added on Mar 28, 2026 >

    --------------------

    Travel to/from: Hopefully getting there and back is part of the fun. Self-organize your travel/camping partner(s). It's about a 13 hour drive straight with bountiful choices to experience our world renown Pacific coast. The drive can be done in 1 day; better to break it up. A separately posted activity to hit the SW Oregon Samuel Boardman corridor for a day trip on the way down, beforehand, may arise. Others may initiate other options either to/from. (Explore Trinidad area perhaps?).

    Primary Paddle Days: There will be about #5 days we're on the water in the Mendocino area, Mon-Fri, leaving the Sat/Sun's weekends on each end of the week for travel to/from WA State area. Come early or late. Leave early or late as you wish.

    Camping Reservations in CA State Parks are allowed 6 months before arrival on or around Sun Nov 2nd for first digs, depending upon your intended arrival date, such as Sun May 3rd, to allow for optimal site selection.

    Camping Venue and Site Selection: Van Damme State Park. Pick an Upper Loop location (i.e. Sites 31-74) to be with the group. This upper loop area has a 'Hobuck' like open field in the middle that encourages separate site intermingling, and is similarly used by BASK.org for their annual September 'Mendo Madness' event that has occurred for a few decades. All Sites are fairly good with hot shower options nearby etc. Sites on the South end of the Upper Loop are closer to the newer bathrooms/showers. Sites on the WNW (e.g. 60-70) have earlier morning light. Sites on the 'SE' of the (e.g. 46-56) have longer afternoon warmth. I will likely pick one in the 40's closer to the newer bathroom near the Camp Host indicator to leverage post-paddle gear drying sun and warmth and cleanup. I will share my site # in the spreadsheet once finalized around Nov 2nd when reservations are enabled.

    Need inspiration to go? Here's a simple query to see if this is what you want to do! Lots of dynamic water and protected nooks. 

    Route/Place

    Van Damme State Park Campground

    Roster
    Required Equipment

    Required Equipment

    Bring all the safety and comfort gear you'd normally take for a multi-day, car-based sea kayak gathering.

    Trip Reports