With excellent beachfront camping and beautiful panoramic views of the Pacific Ocean, Emma Wood State Beach offers campers and day users an incredible place to unwind and soak up the golden rays of Southern California’s summer sunshine.
Positioned along the southern California coast and christened after one of Ventura’s late 19th-century settlers, Emma Wood State Beach marks the final bend in the coast between Ventura proper and the points and reefs beyond.
With a 90-site self-contained campground that is about as close to the ocean. Emma Woodis a popular year-round destination for swimming, surfing, fishing, and hiking. The Mediterranean-like climate is warm, dry, and breezy during the summer, often prevailing with cooler, damper winter conditions.
The Ventura River Estuary is at the mouth of the Ventura River at the southeast end of the park. Several ecological communities come together near the mouth of the River, creating dunes, a floodplain, cobblestone beaches, woodlands, and wetlands.
Botanists will enjoy over 300 plant species in the area, while wildlife lovers can get pleasure from various wildlife, including raccoons, red-tailed hawks, pelicans, and great blue herons.
Once you settle into your campsite, visitors can explore the coastline along the Promenade or the bike path that connects the park to nearby Ventura and the coast highway to the north. Bicycles, rollerblades, and skateboards can be rented just east of the campground and at several bike rental shops along Main Street. The walk to town is certainly doable, but it is a jaunt.
Visitors will be pleased with the City of Santa Buenaventura if they decide to venture into the town. Very quaint, with great restaurants and shops. They even have a farmer’s market where you can buy some delicious locally grown veggies to take back to your campsite to cook up with your catch of the day.
Emma Woods State Beach is an angler’s dream with various species, including surfperch, striped bass, corbina, cabezon, mackerel, and halibut. Although the beaches are very rocky, once the tide is out, there are usually some sandy areas to walk or play on, making for fantastic surf fishing spots.
The surfing is also incredible, home to a handful of tasty wave sets throughout two miles. However, its franchise player is Ventura Overhead, a famous big-wave break that used to be the Sunset Beach training grounds for California’s bravest big-wave pioneers.
If you’re more Ocean’s Edge Trail can explore the landlubber, the park’s diverse riverfront and oceanfront, a 12-stop interpreted nature trail that provides an exciting topography of mixed rock and sandy beaches, along with the fading remains of a World War II coastal artillery site.
These two large concrete rings, every 38 feet in diameter, stand as mute reminders of a time during World War II when the U.S. Army established a coastal defense battery. A pair of massive cannons sat atop the concrete rings, protecting the town of Ventura from invasion or attack.
The beach offers a view of Anacapa Island, and the occasional dolphin may be seen just offshore as the sporadic spray of water from a migrating whale.
Emma Wood State Beach is located west of Ventura. The family campsites are two miles west on Highway 101 (State Beaches off-ramp). Ventura River Group Camp is at the west end of Main Street in Ventura. Emma Wood State Beach 900 West Main Street Ventura, CA, CA 93001. Campground Reservations. The campground is for self-contained vehicle camping only, with no tents.
Too bad it’s a 5 year wait list
Is there just day trips at the park
Emma Woods offers 90 campsites for self-contained vehicles only. No tent camping is allowed. You can also visit for the day. There is a day use area parking area. A trail connects Emma Woods SP to Ventura.